Covid19 measures are destroying people’s lives

This year has been a horrible one for many – I am not exempt. One of my best friends died suddenly.  Another disappeared without a trace.  Loss of income. Loss of freedom.  Feeling isolated as the months rolled by.

My feelings of unease and unhappiness have grown and I felt a compulsion to express a few of the many thoughts I have.  Before doing so, I sent this out to a few friends and was surprised to hear back from them saying that they too were going similar times and that we all need to reach out and be more open. 

I would like to clarify a few things first. I am the eldest of five.  Always looking out for my family and helping when I can…they might say at times too much!  I have parents who are 85 and 79  – both still active, making the effort of looking smart and keeping as healthy as possible. By the way, my dad has had open heart surgery and is healthy and fit. My mother has battled with cancer and recovered.  I am a mother and have a son and daughter – both expecting new additions to their families.  I am also a grandmother to two beautiful girls.   The last thing anyone can say about me is that I am selfish, uncaring or spoilt.  I am saying this from the get-go as I have seen others being called these things the moment they express an opinion.  I am, on the whole a positive person, enthusiastic about even the little things in life and think I have a level-headed way of looking at things.

When this Covid situation started back in March, no one knew what we were dealing with.  I was the first one to go around telling everyone, “Wear a mask!”  “You have to protect others!”   As citizens, we listened to what the media, governments etc were saying to do our bit in this “pandemic” and braced ourselves for the horrors we were being told would  happen.

One of my foreign friends living here was disgusted when I told her I did not hug my mother on Mother’s Day.  She angrily told me “No one is going to tell me to keep away from my family!” Another friend living in South Africa calmly ignored me when I expressed my surprise that she would not wear a mask.

In the ensuing months, I have been forbidden to see my grandchildren.  Our family, who usually meets regularly and always has been close-knit, has become divided.  My own brother last week, on my father’s 85th birthday, said something which hurt me deeply…”I hope your stupidity will not cause this to be our father’s last birthday!” – (referring to us meeting to sing happy birthday to my father).   I did not hug my parents on that day. Everyone was tense – not knowing what to do and keeping apart from each other – hardly a fun party.

When the first lockdown was imposed, I said to my dad – “I’m sorry that not only did you go through the hardship of war, but now you have to go through this!”  Do you know what he answered? “This is much worse – being told to keep away from each other!  In the war we were all in it together, helping each other!”  How poignant is this?

Just look around and see what is happening.  Read an article and then read the comments.  People ready to attack others for anything they say or do.  People pointing fingers.  People crossing the street or giving you a wide birth. Children forced to wear masks – unable to see smiles; to be hugged; to play with their friends. How sad.

Over these months, I have watched, listened, read, researched, exchanged thoughts and I kept coming up with nothing but questions. So what has pushed me over the edge and made me publicise some of them.

A few weeks ago, we were told to wear a mask even when alone in the countryside.  I just could not understand this.  Many have not understood it.  When people tried to ask why, they got the usual litany and attacks …”How spoilt!” “Do what you are told!”  “How selfish!” etc etc.

One of the few remaining things which I can do and enjoy is trekking.  So, no! I will not put on a mask when I am on my own.  It just does not make sense.  Have people become so compliant that they will do whatever they are told without questioning? 

To add insult to injury, when so many people are suffering financially, fines are being given under the most ridiculous circumstances. Someone taking out the garbage? Someone coming out of the sea?  A couple walking on their own? Why?

I have no answers.  Only more questions.  Questions which I believe should be asked if we are not to become more controlled, more divided, facing more loss, more problems – both mentally and economically.  

Why are the PCR tests still being used when many experts are finally speaking about how they actually work and as a result, labelling people erroneously as “Positive”, “Sick” and that they must be quarantined when in actual fact they are not infectious? 

Why are masks still being made mandatory when the facts and figures show that they have not worked anywhere? 

Why are lockdowns being repeated when they did not work before and have resulted in horrendous loss of jobs, mental health problems, suicide, isolation, loneliness etc etc? It pains me to see people who have worked hard all their lives to establish a business now facing ruin;  people in previously great jobs fired due to loss of business in their sector.

Why are people ready to accept all the media’s hysterical, non-stop negativity and not listening to respected, intelligent people who are saying that it is illegal to impose all these things? 

Why are people living in a state of blind fear and panic rather than opening their eyes and seeing that in various countries people are fighting these imposed measures in court and winning?

Why were those vulnerable and elderly with underlying conditions not protected as they should have been leading to cases spreading in the very places where they were supposed to be safest?

What quality of life is being “allowed” to us all as a result of very questionable “laws” (without opposition), when studies are showing that there are other cures besides hurriedly produced vaccines?

I do not know.