How Has the Coronavirus Affected You?

I shouldn't have read "The Stand" by Stephen King 3 times because I think that's distorting my view of what a real pandemic should be like.

There was fear, of being unable to obtain enough groceries & necessities but I currently've 2 months worth, of toilet paper. I've enough food, for a month but food insecurity might be an issue, if the panic buying continues into next month.

I hope that the hoarders're done shopping & don't return for 2nd year's worth when stores replenish their stock, to give the remainder of us an opportunity to reasonably shop.

There’s a lot going on that affects me personally. Primer: I live in Finland.

The first confirmed virus infection in my city is with a person who goes to the same gym I go to (or should go, now I’m thinking it was a smart move to be lazy and skip last couple of weeks). I appreciate the gym chain’s response to close all of their locations in 4 different countries for two weeks, but it also means I don’t have gym access. My husband’s employer ordered him to self-isolation and remote work because he’s not lazy and had been at the gym the same day as the infected person, so I have to deal with him being super upset and mad at everything because he’s stuck home and he’s also missing out on social events that are cancelled.

Most of the social events in my calendar are cancelled or rescheduled, including at least one trip abroad. All hobby and volunteer organizations I’m active in have suspended their programs and events.

I have several friends who don’t have a very stable job situation, or have their hours cut severely due to said event suspensions as they work in fields related to event services. Being a lawyer, I have spent a good part of my day today answering my friends’ questions about their questions regarding their rights regarding employment and wages

I have to deal with the epidemic and how it affects my workplace, on top of my regular duties. This includes cancelling and rescheduling events and meetings, updating staff on our policies and instructions, taking care of office hygiene, making sure everything runs smoothly when people work remotely, monitoring the situation and news outlets for any new official information or limitations, and at the same time prepare the backup plan for layoffs and cutting hours if the financial situation blows up. I also have a few colleagues currently abroad (for varying reasons) in countries that just announced border closures, so now I might have to figure out if we can get them back to the country, what kind of quarantines they are facing etc.

The skin on my hands is starting to crack and bleed because it dries up and can’t handle this much soap. I’m guessing getting the virus on cracked skin isn’t exactly helping either, so I have to find some kind of balance between hand-washing and keeping my skin intact.

To top this off, today is the day I found out my dishwasher water valve is so fancy it requires a battery to operate. The valve has been there for 5 years, and the battery died today. It’s not a regular battery, my husband made a late-night run to a specific store to get a new battery, and the one he bought was a dud. Now we don’t have a working dishwasher (because we can’t get water in it without the valve), have to leave home again tomorrow to try to find a working battery, and this is a pain in the *kitten*. Why today, of all days within the last 5 years?? (I don’t know if the dishwasher water valve is a thing elsewhere, but at least here all dishwashers and laundry machines have to have a water valve that is closed when the machine is not in use and especially if you aren’t home, otherwise you are pretty much guaranteed to not have home insurance coverage for water damages).