Coronavirus Affect

A weird feeling showed up unexpectedly recently. There’s such a strong sense of surrealism about the pandemic that I’m starting to question reality.

What if everything outside my home is going on as normal, and it’s only me that’s imagining the pandemic? Maybe all my coworkers are wondering why I’m telecommuting and not coming in to work.

I’ve experienced this sense of unreality before. I would be attending a church service and singing a hymn. Then I’d get a glimpse of “true reality” where I’m being observed in a psychiatric ward. I imagine the clinicians saying to one another, “It’s almost as if he thinks he’s at a church service.” “Yes, he stands up, he sits, he recites parts of a prayer service, and now he’s signing a hymn.” “Oh look, now he appears to be putting money in a basket.”

And then a different sense of unreality surfaces. It stems from the lack of thorough news coverage, such as video of actual sick people and over-filled hospitals. Sure, people are citing statistics. We hear CDC recommendations. There are appeals for medical supplies and equipment. But it all seems like a fictional drama, or perhaps the fabrication of an oligarchy. Even people wearing masks in public and the bare shelves that once bore textiles could have come about from simple media hype.

How is coronavirus affecting you?