Tits, magpies and peanut butter: Exodus in times of coronavirus
May 27, 2020It’s a happy scene outside my father’s nursing home window. Birds fly by and sing their songs. Yesterday, 19 March, the Dutch government decided that residents of nursing homes were no longer allowed to receive visitors due to coronavirus. Following that, my mother decided to install a birdhouse outside the window. The peanut butter she stuffed it with is very appealing to tits and magpies. The birds are taking on some of our duties, now that we can’t visit him.
The situation continues for a few weeks. My father’s condition has worsened, regardless of coronavirus. The first tests have also been administered in the care home. As a family, we therefore decided to take our husband and father home with us. We do not want to risk him being in isolation during the final phase of his life. While I’m writing this, I realise that we are lucky to be in a position to have this option. My thoughts go out to those who live in care institutions and those who have a child, partner, parent, or friend in that situation. Despite the enormous efforts by the staff, the pain is overwhelming.
Here, at home, I see how meaning and perspective are being created in a situation that could have been very different. With the support of home care and our general practitioner, we’re able to take proper care of Dad at home. He isn’t isolated in the living room, as might have been the case in the nursing home. Instead, he’s surrounded by love and attention. Every now and then, children and grandchildren peek around the corner, do puzzles in the other room, play football outside, and eat dinner with him near his bed. My father usually eats bits of herring, a slice of bread made soft in the microwave, and occasionally he surprises us by taking a bite of sauerkraut or asking for chips. What could have been a terrible time is now filled with beautiful and precious moments.
On the news I see how the world outside is fairing. Everyday there are reports from the Dutch ‘frontlines’, and the government regularly holds press conferences. In its bi-annual prognosis, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shows how badly the Eurozone economy will likely suffer under coronavirus. Germany’s economy is expected to shrink by 7%, France’s by 7.2% and The Netherlands’ by 7.5%. At a 9.1% decline, Italy is hardest hit. These abstract numbers represent businesses, shops, bars, and restaurants that have had to shut down in villages and cities, people who are losing their livelihoods. Some predict that the financial crisis of 2007-2008 will pale in comparison with what the world economy is going through now. After the Great Depression of the 1930s, there is now talk of the Great Lockdown of 2020. Time will tell.
The coronavirus crisis once again makes us realise that society, the economy, and the future are not feasible and predictable, but rather are vulnerable and radically uncertain. Economists point out the radical or fundamental uncertainty regarding prognoses. There’s uncertainty about how the pandemic will progress, but also about the effectiveness of the policies to deal with the consequences. There are a number of other variables as well. From behavioural changes in people and the disruption of international production chains of businesses, to the situation on the financial markets. Robert Shiller, winner of the Nobel Prize in economic sciences in 2013, add that there are not one, but two pandemics. The first pandemic is that of COVID-19. The second pandemic is the fear of what COVID-19 will bring. The two pandemics are not simultaneous, but they are related. The fear of the virus can fan the flames of the fear for economic and social losses. Experts are working hard on a vaccine for the first virus, but a vaccine for the second virus is an entirely different matter.