Coronavirus Diary

Day 1 18th March 2020

I live in Northern Ireland where there are 68 confirmed cases of covid-19. I'm trying to stay in my house as much as possible because my dad has health conditions and both of my parents are 60. The shops all around me are out of toilet roll, pasta, rice and hand sanitizer. Thankfully there's a store room in my house and it's always stocked up, even before the coronavirus. So I'm hoping that we won't run out of food.

I've heard really bad things happening at the shops; my friend told me that his mum saw someone stealing toilet roll from an elderly person. And there was a fight at Asda so I find it pretty scary that people are being so mean and uncivilized. My parents have been going out shopping for things and thankfully they haven't been attacked or anything. When we get home deliveries some of the things don't come, like lentils.

I haven't been out in public much but I've heard that restaurants and places are pretty much empty. And a lot of things have been cancelled like the St Patrick's Day parade and my university lectures aren't on anymore. So I'm doing the coursework from home but I've no idea what will happen with my dissertation which is where I have to do research. I was meant to be interviewing 6-8 people and I only interviewed one and I'm sure no one will agree to participate now. And I don't really want to be going to people's houses and risk getting infected. I also took 2 weeks holiday off work to reduce the risk of me getting infected.

A lot of public places are closing; the cinema and a lot of pubs and clubs are closing. I've heard that we'll be going into lockdown on Friday, although I don't know if that's true or how strict it would be. And I've heard the army will be out on the streets. I'm a bit worried because I live in the countryside and there are only 2 small shops near me, so I'm hoping they'll still let us into the towns so that we can do our shopping.

I work in a shop and there's literally no toilet roll in the staff toilet so I've had to use my tissues. I don't know if my work will close or not because it has food in it but it has loads of other things as well. I kind of want it to close because I don't want to pick up the coronavirus while I'm there. But I also don't want to lose my job or anyone else who works there.

I'm worried that I may have already got Covid-19 because I was out with my driving instructor on Monday and someone else he teachers had contact with a coworker who served a man with coronavirus. And I did an interview for my dissertation yesterday and the man was coughing. Then tonight my throat felt like it was burning and I've been coughing quite a bit. Two weeks ago I had a bad cough and a fever but I never got tested so it's possible that I've already had it. But I think it's unlikely so I'm doing my best to stay in my house as much as I can.

My sister is in California and she isn't coming home, so I hope that she'll be alright over there. The whole thing is very worrying and I'm hoping that we'll all be alright. Feel free to message me if you're worried.