Days of lockdown

The first lokdown of COVID-19 19 started from 23rd March 2020. In my lifetime I had never witnessed a lockdown. Sure I do remember the panic SARS had created. I do remember how everybody was scared of anthrax. There was also an outbreak of swine flu. However none of these infections required a lockdown. This was the first time ever I was witnessing that the world had shut down because of the fear of a virus and the infection that the virus was causing.

Initially the lockdown was announced only for 15 days. The entire medical and paramedical community had questions: are 15 days sufficient? What is the next plan of action? Would the lockdown be extended after the end of 15 days? How do we fight this infection? Is there any way to prevent this infection? Along with these their were many questions for which the answers needed to be found. And of course that responsibility was on the shoulders of the paramedical and medical community.

Healthcare professionals like me had been going through the available medical journals to see if there is any evidence towards the cure or prevention of this infection. Unfortunately we could not find anything. The reason was simple. Though the presence of virus was known, it was not postulated that it would cause infection in human beings. There had been no evidence of contraction or transmission of this virus to human beings. The virus was only confined to the population of bats of certain species. There were multiple reasons to rule out the possibilities of contraction of the viral infection in human beings and hence there were no studies performed to find the cure or prevention of this infection in human beings.

Moving back to the lockdown. This was the time when it was legally not allowed to step outside to the public places. There were restrictions towards keeping the shops open. The stores that had been providing the daily essentials were allowed to stay open throughout the day. The pharmacies had been kept open throughout the day. There was a major problem with the availability of groceries. The stores had not been getting their supplies from other cities hence the stock that was available with them was limited.

Now the first lockdown was the time when I felt like I was completely helpless. In our stock we had the daily groceries such as rice, pulses, and lentils but we did not have vegetables or fruits. Vegetables and fruits could not be obtained from anywhere because the shops were not receiving their supplies. We did not have any packet food at my home and again the shops did not have the stock as well. There was a massive scarcity towards the fresh produce and I felt that my family was hit because of it. We were surviving on the limited grocery that we had at home. At that moment I felt like a rich person who was poor at the same time. I wouldn't say that we had been starving however we were keeping the grocery in check before consuming it. We had been saving the food for the uncertain future rather than consuming it at that moment.

I would say that it was definitely a tough time that I had seen. During that time I felt that I had money, I want to buy, but there is nothing to be bought.