Pandemic!

What a difference a week makes and what a week it has been. The spread of Coronavirus has officially been declared a pandemic and Governments all over the World are scrambling to bring this virus under control. As a layman looking in at this crisis I am lost for words at the scale of this disaster. My pension pot, share portfolio and other financial products have all but collapsed, and I am firmly in a state of limbo, unable to plan for the future or even look a day ahead, let alone a few months down the line when I am due to go on holiday.

Today I had an appointment at my GP surgery, where I was able to talk about my Coronavirus concerns. After explaining I was due to travel to Japan in May, my Doctor advised caution and not to make a firm decision about travelling at this time. My biggest anxiety is the underlying health conditions that I suffer with. As someone who has high blood pressure, I am aware that I am at a higher risk of complications, should I contract COVID-19.

As usual, I have done as much research as I can about how I may be affected, should I get Coronavirus and the information can be quite alarming, especially for an anxious person like me; I am doing my best to step back a bit and try to think a little more positive. My GP was able to reassure me somewhat and explained that this infection was still pretty rare and hoped it wouldn't engulf eighty percent of the population that some experts are predicting. Of course, I am not taking any chances and was able to get extra supplies of medication, should medical supplies be disrupted over the next few weeks, and he was able to reassure me that the surgery will remain open no matter how bad things may get.

I have also been in close contact with Darrell over the last few days, as the situation in Australia also becomes critical. Darrell remains concerned about the implications for his Mother and also travel plans we have made to Asia in May. I have been doing what I can from my end, to try to rearrange plans we have made but it is proving difficult to get clarity on various aspects of the holiday. Presently we are due to fly to Thailand from Japan via Hong Kong and have been informed the Thai authorities will quarantine us for fourteen days on arrival, because we transited through HK. This means we will not be able to take this flight. The flight itself is scheduled to go and the airline Cathay Pacific have no plans to change their itinerary. Clearly none of us want to fly to Thailand only to be interred at the end of our journey, but trying to change this is proving a difficult task.

Speaking to my insurance company earlier, I was told I was no longer covered for anything to do with COVID-19. The underwriters  have inserted a clause that doesn't cover me for the Coronavirus and I find myself with a policy that is totally useless. After spending two hours on the phone I am beginning to get more answers and hopefully will be able to either change or cancel this part of my trip in the future. Nothing seems certain at the moment and information is changing all the time, almost hour by hour and it is likely I will be trying to sort out my travel plans to Asia, up until the day I am due to depart. This is just a headache however and other people are suffering much more during this crisis.

I have never known anything like this, I feel like I am living in a dystopian nightmare. People panic buying every day staples, shops packed to the rafters, before they are told to self isolate and quarantine, as well as sensationalist headlines, which seem to signal a change in all our lives. I suppose I am scared deep down, not for me, although my underlying medical conditions are cause for concern, but for the way all our lives are going to change over the next few months. We are being warned, day after day, that life is going to be hard and expect a rough ride, this is the scariest part of this situation, fear of the unknown. We are being reminded, this is going to be a very difficult time for all of us, but how bad, nobody knows. This is a time for everyone to pull together and despite our personal difficulties with regard to this virus, life will carry on very much in the same way it has before; the World isn't going to end tomorrow!

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