The Lockdown
The streets were bare, devoid of any trace of human life. It was like those country movies where you could hear the sound of the wind whistling and rattling the doors of each house. Our enemy was out there on the streets, waiting and lingering for just one host.
An enemy you see could be easily defeated, unlike the one you couldn’t see. We were like giants when it came to the enemy but its invisible nature made it a thorn in our flesh. Asides its eventual showoff, we knew nothing about it, no cure, no way out than to effect a lockdown.
Two months before this epidemic crept on the world, we went about our daily activities like every other day. I remember my routine jogging on the streets every morning. I saw parents driving their children to school, businessmen trying to beat the traffic and get to work on time. Every street, corners, alleys, suburbs were buzzing with human life. Oh! The smell of coffee from Mr. Jones’ coffee shop. I miss it. The weddings, parties, and celebrations which took place had no rival. But all came to a standstill when the enemy attacked. Zombies would have been better because we could see them and from the movies, I guess we could find a cure for it.
The day the apocalypse happened was just like any other day. We did what humans knew how to do best-live. The news headlines carried it. A virus had just hit China. We thought it was just another headline, you know, something they could contain, no one ever thought it could spread.
Of course, it did spread, like liquid taking the shape of a container. It was then the cases began. A test was either positive or negative, yet the positive results were alarming. One minute a person was alright the next two weeks they began to show symptoms. The cough, the sneezing, sore throat, and the irregular body temperature. The symptoms of the coronavirus were just like every other symptom someone gets from any other disease, how then could we tell the difference?
They gave it a name- Coronavirus. Then the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic and gave it another COVID-19. It was the first step in identifying the enemy. One case turned to two and two became a hundred as the numbers increased daily. No one was safe anymore and we had to take precautionary steps.
This was when the lockdown began. The virus spread like wildfire leaving its flames on every place it visited and dead bodies on its trail. Governments were not ready, health workers had to gear up, parents had to protect their kids and the economy had to suffer for this.
The government had to result in what they called social-distancing. The benefit of social distancing was that it helped contain the spread of the virus. They banned gatherings of more than fifty persons, some went as extreme as five. Everyone was to stay at home and off the streets. They wanted us to do what we were best at doing, UN-live. We were asked to wash our hands regularly with soap, make use of face masks if we were sick or around someone who was, make use of hand sanitizers, avoid crowds, avoid touching your face or eyes, cough into your elbows and so on. It was a global war.
One person with the virus could affect thousands. It was lurking outside our doors and we dare not step out. But there was another Virus-Hunger. If we couldn’t work, then we sure couldn’t eat. Some governments allowed her citizens to go out to get groceries and vital items but no one was to go to work, school, church or any other social function that required a large crowd.
Yet people still celebrated, they moved about in some areas and some were oblivious to this global threat. Some still attended parties, others had no water to wash their hands, what a dilemma the world was in.
A week to the first case, I had made a trip to Nigeria to visit a friend with the plans of returning to the U.S in a month’s time. With the lockdown, even flights were canceled, all businesses were closed. One would think that the world was ending, it was the first time it had experienced something like this.
Adunni was my best friend. We had met when we both were mastering in Linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of technology. When your best friend was getting married, you know who was up for the chief brides’ maid duty. We had been planning for it as soon as Mofe had proposed to her on new year’s eve.
For Dunni, I could give the world and that was why I left everything I was doing in the states to meet up with the wedding. Fortunately, it never held.
The day slated for Dunni’s wedding was the day the virus hit Nigeria. With the fear of everyone’s safety, we had to cancel all the wedding plans and postpone the celebration. I asked Dunni to get married simply in court or better still with a few people in attendance. But Dunni was always selfless, she claimed she would die of guilt if she were celebrating when the whole world was in crisis.
We thought only the health workers could help at such a time of which they did marvelous work. Yet, everyone had a role to play. The government had to make decisions, parents had to be cautious, businessmen had to stop all activities, Ngo’s and the WHO had to make donations and services and everyone had the responsibility to be cautious as not to be infected by it.
One morning, at breakfast, Dunni came up with an idea. She told me of how she had been thinking of how we could help out in the crisis as linguists. The truth is some African countries including Nigeria had a large number of uneducated citizens whose worldview will not enable them to understand the concept of the coronavirus or the extent to which it was hazardous to their health. Some rural areas or villages didn’t even have water to wash their hands, some didn’t even know what hand sanitizers were or how they were used. Dunni managed to talk me into helping out.
We started by making videos in different languages, explaining what the Covid-19 was, how it spreads and preventive measures. We had to gather data from native speakers of the different languages spoken in Nigeria and translate the information from English to the indigenous languages.
That was the first step. We began with home-made meals. We cooked and had them delivered to different homes. In order to make sure we had permission for the movement, we had to partner with the government and the WHO. With time the demand was not equal to the supply, so we had to recruit more hands. We went to the rural areas in Nigeria, did translation and interpretations of the information about the COVID-19.
The awareness program we began helped the government in containing the spread to a large extent. Sometimes when no one was looking I caught Dunni praying to God. She prayed not only for her loved ones or her country but for the world. I followed her example and said a prayer or two when I was alone. I was amazed, even as linguists we had found a way to help. Others took the lead; the media houses were always giving news about the situation around the coronavirus. The health workers were always on alert -God bless them. The celebrities took on to their social media, sharing videos of awareness. The pastors and the church spread the message of hope and faith. Food companies sent out free foods. Airlines helped in distributing materials in fighting the pandemic. T.V channels always gave the adverts on the coronavirus awareness after every program.
It was then we heard the first thread of good news. China had been able to contain the spread and everyone was learning from them. We lingered to the ray of hope no matter how small it was. New cases were still found in other countries daily.
Mofe was a health worker who had volunteered to work with the WHO. This meant that he was always on duty. He had been in Lagos since the virus got to Nigeria. He had always been cautious until he was infected, himself.
We were at Kaduna when Dunni got the call. She told me we had to be in Lagos immediately. We didn’t make it on time. Mofe had died thirty minutes before we arrived. Dunni cried. It was all she could do. I cried too. I didn’t know which was worse, the fact that she didn’t marry him and he died or that she could have married him and yet he would still die?
Dunni put on a happy face. She acted strong even when I knew she wasn’t and we still kept on helping out with the COVID-19 crisis. Sending relief materials, food supplies and most especially translating and interpreting information about the virus to the locals. Dunni believed that her grief was small compared to what the world faced.
In a blink of the eye, just as it came, the enemy was gone. We could not see it and just as it was invisible, it vanished into thin air. Activities were stopped, lives lost, calendars were obstructed, plans canceled, and the whole world on a lockdown.
It was time for humans to do what they know how to do best- LIVE. The coronavirus was strong but our unity and hope was stronger. The virus was determined to eliminate us but our will to survive was stronger.
I see now the world I knew from months ago. The routine of jogging on the streets every morning, parents driving their children to school, businessmen trying to beat the traffic and get to work on time. Every street, corners, alleys, suburbs buzzing with human life.
Disclaimer: Only the content about the COVID-19 is true, every other story about the characters is fictitious.
All images are sponsored by pixabay, free for commercial use and no attribution required
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