It's an email I never expected to be writing.
“Unfortunately, we are entering an unprecedented time, in which the COVID-19 virus has changed the way we all go about our daily lives.
Due to the financial strain of losing part-time work and our parents experiencing a drop in income, my brother and I have been forced to evaluate the next steps forward.
We wanted to give you the opportunity to consider a possibility of temporarily reducing the weekly rent for a month or two, or until Australia begins to successfully counter the coronavirus and its hit to the economy. Even if we move home if there is a complete shutdown, a reduced rent would allow us to continue with the lease during this period.”
I hit ‘send’ and hope with all my might that the landlord will be lenient. The coronavirus, with the short space of a few weeks, has turned my whole life upside-down.
Truly, my life feels like some strange alternate reality at the moment.
I spend $6.99 on a 50 mL bottle of hand sanitiser. I wear a mask on the bus and have become notably dexterous with my elbows. I sign up for a Disney+ subscription and call my grandparents to guide them through connecting over Skype.
My uncle, a general practitioner, advises us over the family group chat to drink tonic water. Apparently, it contains quinine, which can help prevent COVID-19 infection. Unfortunately, nothing can prevent tonic water from tasting like shit. I try to Uber-Eats some ice-cream, but my favourite store has shut down for the next fortnight, so I just resort to drinking more tonic water (yuck).
My contract work with the university is terminated due to the virus. I come home from my remaining job with a resounding headache after spending every half hour wiping down the counters with alcohol wipes and spraying disinfectant everywhere. Ironically, scrubbing myself with soap in the shower is the only way to remove the stench of cleaning products from my hair and skin.
When we go grocery shopping, my boyfriend offers to shield me as I struggle to steer the trolley through throngs of people, all crowded around the shelves like they hold the vaccine for coronavirus itself.
My extended family keep in touch via the group chat. We coordinate grocery-purchasing for my grandparents, post selfies wearing masks and share news articles and statistics. My aunty, a Brisbane cardiologist, says she may be moved to triage in the fever clinics as the patient population increases. The youngest in our family stay at home, learning from PDF resources sent by my cousin’s fiancée, a primary school teacher.
I remember wishing a few weeks ago for some space to breathe amidst my busy life. Now, I have too much time on my hands to reflect on how life has changed in the time of the coronavirus.
It’s tough, no doubt. We’re losing money and might have to move out if we can’t afford rent. It takes strong resolve to keep yourself indoors for most hours of the day.
Yet there’s good in the bad, as the world begins to grapple with the consequences of COVID-19.
My friends and I have started a nightly routine of logging on to web-based boardgame sites like Uno and Pictionary, using the platform known as Discord to talk while we play together. It’s weird but also comforting to hear the voices of friends.
My brother slipped a note into the post-box of our elderly neighbours’ home to offer assistance and our phone numbers in case they needed it, and we found a grateful reply taped to our door today.
We are all checking in with friends, old and new. We are telling our neighbours to knock on our doors if they need help and giving a sincere ‘thanks’ to the check-out chick at Coles. People are learning to be grateful and not take things for granted, as holidays, sports games, stocked pantries and wild Friday nights out on the town are removed from the picture.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has called on us to become “our best selves and our most responsible selves" in the wake of the coronavirus. So that’s what we must all strive to do – take care of each other and do what is hard, not easy.
It may take some time before we get back on our feet, but we will get through these dark times in the end.