The day before Sports day was filled with lots of rumours and hesitations. Some persons were reluctant to attend because they were concerned about the large crowds.
During the days before this day most if not all ears had heard that the virus had crossed borders and it was being said that it was becoming uncontainable because of people to people contact.
People were concerned that large gatherings would cause a spike in the rise of the virus. We had doubts but there was no directive from the Minister that we should not convene so we went a head with our planning. A few parents did not turn up as expected but it was a very good turn out.
The navy blue, green, red and yellow colours swayed in the wind as the shouts of encouragements were thrown at the children. Their happy faces could be seen even if they were not winners because they were still given a button of appreciation. This made their day as they sported proud looks from both parents and teachers.
I kept saying to their parents, let us enjoy this day because no one knows if it will be our last day to see each other. My words were profound.By the end of the Sports day and the announcements were being done the Ministry penned this message that all schools should be closed and further noticed will be given. It was met with mixed feelings. We did not have time for proper farewells. Some parents were disgruntled because they thought the officials did not do a good job on the placement of the children. While some just wanted to rush home because of the uncertainties . We had to do our quick goodbyes to the staff , students and parents . It was a Thursday so there would be no school tomorrow. That was the first of many other firsts to come.
The virus had now taken wings and was now hovering over more than ten countries by this time. It was no more unknown. It was now being called the Corona virus.
It was not only in China but had surpassed the borders of more than 10 countries sweeping widespread panic and fear into unwilling victims and death on the weak. It was destructible!
It was not Chinas business anymore it was becoming a world crisis. All of us were now involved.
The Caribbean watched keenly at the events taking place and began to make strategic moves of new legistrations, laws and guidelines in case of the eventuality. This was a good move. As a teacher I had always lived these words that the' earlier the detection, the quicker the fix'
Trinidad was the first Caribbean country to be hit by this disaster. It was now too close to home. Too close for comfort.
You could sense the change in the environment, the uttered sighs, the unanswered questions, something big was coming. Were we prepared? Did we have enough testing kits? How many ventilators did we have? The biggest question. Were we knowledgeable enough to handle this thing?On March 12,2020 our lives took a big turn.
We now had our first patient. She came visiting from the United Kingdom to attend a funeral ,which in the days to come caused a lot of chaos and shock .Patient 0 would always be a word etched into our memories. With Patient 0 came fear. With Patient 0 came worry. With Patient 0 came new legistrations. With Patient 0 came turmoils but the worst of all with Patient 0 came more infections.
Jamaica has now joined its ranking neighbors in fighting this deadly virus Covid 19.. And deadly it was.
China had no options but to lock down its borders. People were not getting better they were dying daily in hundreds .As a teacher you have to learn to be innovative . School still had three weeks to go before the Easter period began. It meant that children should have been at school but because of circumstances beyond our control they were now at home. It also meant that as a teacher your work was incompleted. It was the first time in my life that I have ever participated in online learning. They was no handbook for this. I had to pull out every dramatic skills I possessed to get my lessons across. They were short but they were appreciated by the many parents who showed their appreciation to me, after those weeks came to an end. It was something new and fulfilling so I decided to continue.
One of the topics in our curriculum at school is about Transportation. We talk about land ,sea and air transportation as a sub topic of the latter.
Patient 0 was now a hot topic. The Ministries focus was finding the persons that were in attendance with her at a large funeral in the Bullbay , St.Thomas area. She was seen hugging persons which was traditional when trying to comfort persons who have lost loved ones. Person to person contact was a red flag here.
In the back of my mind ,my thoughts were running wild.Where did Patient 0 catch it and the question that was overlooked by the officials until a week later when there was an increase to 10. Did they look back on her mode of transportation?Patient 0 came by air transportation. A plane. How could we overlooked that? During all of this time, countries were already grounding flights from most of the infected countries . The decline was devastating for the airline industries and also for cruise ship industries.
Who are the people who came on that flight with Patient 0 ?
It was not long before her father had become sick and was also admitted in isolation.
Still the flights continued and the numbers grew. All the main patients that caught the disease were persons that had arrived in Jamaica on flights between March 12 -24.
Could the picture be any clearer? It was some days to a week later that the flights were ordered to stop their services. Persons from these flights were now being called in for testing. It was chaos that the Prime Minister did his best to get under control.We now had 29 cases and 1 death.
The new words now were' Stay at home ' and 'Social distancing'If you could work from home, then do that and if you had to socialize then no hugging or kissing.
Elbow digs was now a new way to greet people. It was quite funny actually but effective.
Large groups were being disbanded to 20 persons and no more. A trip to the supermarket required you to clean your hands with alcoholic solution before entry and only a few at a time. We were now required to wear mask and gloves if necessary and stand three feet apart from each other.
It was troubling times and the trouble came right to our doors.
YOU ARE READING
The Year We Were Forced To Stay Home
Short StoryIt was the best of times but eventually it became the worst of times. We watched from afar until one visitor changed our lives ,then all 'hell broke loose'. We weren't watching from afar again because we were now involved. The wreakage it left behin...