LIFE LOCKED DOWN
A
WORDS BY ALANA HUEHN
s I write this, I’m currently sitting in my fourth lockdown since the pandemic began. Another lengthy lockdown that doesn’t look like it’s going to end soon. It’s 2021 and Covid-19 has changed the world in very different ways for many different people. Every single one of us has our own story of how we’re surviving the pandemic and if you really think about it, surviving is something over 5 million people globally so far haven’t been able to do. The number of lives lost is immense and going up every day. The lucky ones of us who have stayed Covid free or have recovered may be privileged with each breath we take and smile we can muster, but that doesn’t make our stories any less relevant, heart breaking or just damn hard. When Covid first went global, I was a foreigner living in Israel with my fiancé and had just received my partner visa. Those early days of the first lockdown, we’d say to each other on our daily walks, “imagine the day, when we tell our grandchildren of the time when everyone was walking around in face masks”. Hopeful that it would end and life would return to normal soonish, we rode the wave together. Now that initial wave feels like we boarded the ship in The Perfect Storm, except George Clooney isn’t there and thankfully neither is Nespresso. Fortunately, Israel was the fastest country in the world to roll out Covid vaccines to its population, so when our time came up to get it, having the jab was the obvious right choice. Of course, there were uncertainties upon Covid uncertainties, but our decision to get the vaccine came down to educating ourselves on the scientific evidence. Sure, mRNA technology may be all shiny and new, but the result is that it gave our bodies a guidebook on how to combat Covid, to prevent us from getting really sick, being hospitalised or worse. Moreover, I feel that it would be irresponsible for me to not do what is in my power to do, to protect those around me from getting Covid. As children, most people were vaccinated so we didn’t get illnesses that generations before us became sick and died from. Now, this is our time to step up to the plate. It’s a necessary step forward for the world at this cur72 M. CITIZEN MAGAZINE | ISSUE 05
