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• 2020-09-14

  The days that turned into weeks that turned into months that felt like years

  The news broke out of a deadly virus in Wuhan, but it felt isolated—almost as if it would not spread outside of a certain radius. However, as the early days of 2020 continued, that hope became less and less a reality for the epidemic, which was transforming into a pandemic, COVID-19. The impending fear of the virus circulated throughout the 24-hour news cycle and into the homes of many Americans, even the living room of my own shared apartment. Although, I did not feel the closeness of fear or unpredictability until mid-March. Being a senior in college, I had applied to graduate programs, of which I was scheduled to fly and do a university tour March 12-15. Come to find out later, the university was shutting down mid-semester and upon my visit, the virus was the talk of students, faculty, and staff. I remember walking and in and through Ronald Reagan International Airport (DCA) and not bumping into strangers going to their flights, having to wait in TSA for no more than 20 minutes, or worrying about if my flight was going to be obscenely overcrowded. You will note this is quite rare at DCA and illustrates the abnormality of the social situation of the airport due to the pandemic. More simply, people were staying home, shut up in their houses and apartments for the suspicion of who did or did not have the virus in a global city (Washington, D.C.) caused widespread panic. This is not the first time the world has erupted into a panic or shut themselves into the “safety” of their homes. A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe recounts the plague as it decimated London and the surrounding towns. He describes the plague as a great fire, one that, “if a few houses only are contiguous where it happens, can only burn a few houses; or if it begins in a single, or, as we call, a lone house, can only burn the lone house where it begins. But if it begins in a close-built town or city and gets a head, there its fury increases: it rages over the whole place, and consumes all it can reach” (150). Here we may understand, or at least in the context of my understanding and experience with COVID-19, that the virus would take root where it could consume, namely in large cities like New York City (where there was comparably a mass exodus and high rates of infection) and D.C (increases in COVID-19 cases daily). However, the 2020 pandemic reflects more than a mechanical, comparative read of Defoe’s Journal of social, scientific situations. It is a lens that begins to deconstruct how our current contexts affect the reading of the Journal—a flash of reality if you will. Who would have thought that a text published hundreds of years ago had a mirroring affect? Now that the global community is months into the pandemic, the U.S. being at around 7, I cannot help but think that the Journal is even more relatable. Defoe claims that, “The Justices of Peace for Middlesex, by direction of the Secretary of State, had begun to shut up houses…and it was with good success; for in several streets where the plague broke out, upon strict guarding the houses that were infected, and taking care to bury those that died immediately after they were known to be dead, the plague ceased in those streets” (Defoe 28). As I initially read this sentence, I was troubled by the intensity of shutting people up by force. Earlier in 2020, many people in the U.S., if not all, had experienced some form of mandate restricting their movements in public spaces. Although there was talk of Marshall Law, which may be like what Defoe describes here, people (generally) at first were willing to comply. After some time in homely isolation, some felt the need to loosen their habits of isolation. What complicates the reading for me because of my current context, is the discussion surrounding those who are symptomatic or asymptomatic of which Defoe claims that, “namely, that it was not the sick people only from whom the plague was immediately received by others that were sound, but the well” (144). I guess, now in 2020, we still do not have much of a solidified idea of how the virus is spread, reports varied and swayed between direct contact, airborne, or bodily fluids like through a sneeze or cough. Although, with viral and antibody testing, there is a clearer idea of who may have had or has the virus which is unlike that of Defoe’s context. Modern medicine has enabled researchers, physicians, nurses and doctors, janitorial staffs, and more to navigate the infectious field better. This in particular affected my reading because the general “we” understand more effectively the dangers, precautionary steps, and conditions around viruses. During the plague years that Defoe details, there was no scientific guidance, except for the religious guidance of God. The Journal at numerous points suggests that people after some time began to accept willing their fates of eminent death because of their lack of options. I would like to hope, that in 2020 this depressing fate mentality is not reflected as openly, although I cannot be sure. Rather than suggest that the Journal puts into perspective COVID-19, I would argue that COVID-19 puts into perspective the Journal; readers like myself can imagine how instances set forth in 2020 resonate in the Journal. I have not seen the physical effects of the virus on people like medical staff do, but I have witnessed the widespread fear and uncertainty surrounding: how can I keep myself/family safe, how will I begin to pay bills without a job, can I budget enough for food this month? I myself being laid off from my job while on my graduate school visit (and at the quick emergence of the virus on the East coast) yet struggling to find answers to these questions (thankfully I had help). I must say, the days felt long, the weeks felt longer, the months felt longest giving the impression we had been tackling the virus for years. Who knows, maybe the global community and within a U.S. context will continue to see spikes of COVID-19 for years to come. Like the unknowing in the Journal, we all just do not know. Work Cited: Defoe, Daniel. A Journal of the Plague Year. Dover Publications, INC, 2001.