Day 66: Don’t Even Think of Leaving the House Now

Day 66: May 31, 2020
Global Cases: 6,259,250; Deaths: 373,697
Egypt Cases: 24,985 Deaths: 959

Aya Aboshady
Multimedia Graduating Senior

“Don’t even think of leaving the house until this is over.” My dad said for what feels like the millionth time since the coronavirus cases hit the one thousand cases mark in Egypt.

Actually, he’s been repeating more or less the same words over and over for so long now, like any reasonable Egyptian parent. And every day, he’s getting more and more terrified for our lives. Mainly, for my brother’s life, to be completely honest.

News has been circulating left and right since all of this began, warning those who already suffer from chronic illnesses and are immunocompromised because they’re basically the weakest Covid-19 target.

And unfortunately, my 21-year-old baby brother – yes, he’s 21 but to me, still a baby – is one of those weak targets. Therefore, while being careful and staying isolated during these times should be a given, for my family and I, it could actually lead to a possible disaster if we didn’t take all precautionary measures. We sure try to stay positive through it all, but anxiety kind of runs in the family.

For The Caravan‘s previous diary entries in Arabic and English go to our COVID-19 Special Coverage page.

It’s 8:07pm, nearing my bedtime. It’s been a while since I finally decided to join the early-risers cult, for a change, especially since May was a rollercoaster of emotions and literal sleepless nights for me. During finals week, going to bed at 12:00 in the afternoon was my new norm. After then, it felt like my body was screaming at me to revert back to a normal human being’s sleeping schedule, so I did just that thinking it’ll make me feel better.

You know, quarantine isn’t always about face masks and Netflix, I so wish it were. Most of the time, it’s about pacing back and forth, hoping for all of it to be over in a blink of an eye.