Day Seven: A Message from the Editor
Day Seven: April 2, 2020
Global cases: 1,015,065; Deaths: 53,167
Egypt cases: 865; Deaths: 58
We’ve Passed A Million Global Cases
(Or … Looking at the Glass Half Full)
Salma Ahmed
Caravan Editor-in-Chief and Multimedia Journalism Graduating Senior
On Thursday, I got a text saying ‘Thank God for Corona?’
It was from a friend who reconnected with me because of quarantine. We haven’t talked to each other in months as we both got busy being 20-something-year-olds. Our recent reconnection had us seeing each other in a new light. Perhaps it is the boredom and perhaps it is genuine, I can officially say that being quarantined has given me something positive and something to look forward to when this whole thing is over.
Other than my newly discovered feelings for a certain someone, these past few weeks of staying at home had me getting more intimate with all my friends. It had me getting closer to a large number of them. For the first time ever, we were all literally in this together. We’re experiencing the same thing, the same emotions and the same frustrations.
It is also a testament that when lives are in the balance and we all face a true calamity, petty things such as squabbles or differences are tossed aside.
A lot of my interactions with them had me playing the role of the mother, which is very unlike me. “Take care,” “Is it necessary that you leave the house?” “Do you have gloves and a face mask?” are only a sample of the texts I have been sending.
My paranoia and the number of cases (a million!) reported by WHO have turned me into someone I don’t know. Long gone is the Salma stressing over work and her academic performance, I now have much more on my plate: worrying for my friends’ lives.
As a journalism student, editor-in-chief of The Caravan and a reporter for a well respected newspaper I have a duty to know the news as it happens. I couldn’t practice my favorite hobby of being immune to the news. With every increase in the number of cases I could feel my anxiety heightening. It is all too close to home, someone I know could fall a victim to this. And there’s the dark fear that all whom I know have already fallen victims to it indirectly and there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop it. Except huff and puff at those who refused to obey the rules and were still seen out and about. Those undermining the situation and continuing to carry on with socializing or living their lives as they once were have become the main reason of my anger.
I have never felt so helpless or small. All I am doing is sitting at home and even that I appear to be no good at; I find myself complaining the whole time.
I spent my first few days quarantined whining that this pandemic has ruined my future. I won’t get the graduation I have been dreaming off for so long and I won’t be able to apply for jobs to ensure I won’t face unemployment after my graduation.
But seeing so many people losing their jobs, not being able to provide for their families and losing loved ones to the pandemic had me reconsider everything.
It had me realize how privileged I am.
As I came to that conclusion all my days started merging into one. My sleep schedule was wrecked, I spent the majority of my time on Twitter and Youtube and I lost all interest in the material I was being taught.
I am privileged and I am acting like it. But having a roof over my head and my loved ones around me and safe does not stop me from seeing that this whole situation is taking a toll on my mental and physical health.
My apologies for this not being a much needed beacon of hope; perhaps my coming entry will be more cheerful.
For The Caravan’s previous diary entries in Arabic and English go to our COVID-19 Special Coverage page.
