Welp. A post I really dreaded and hoped I wouldn't have to write. Unfortunately The Czech Republic is not immune to COVID and it's made its way into my town and school :/
I think when I first got here, the world was in an "okay" spot with COVID. I say that very very lightly but vaccines were ramping up, and numbers weren't great but not the worst they've ever been. Truthfully I tried to distance myself from US news once I got here because it brings me so much stress and anxiety so I resort to the "ignorance is bliss" mindset which is horrible I know. I get little doses every once in a while of the important stuff, but kept (and still keep) a healthy distance. So I knew that numbers were unfortunately rising but tried not to pay tooooo much attention. The Czech Republic is a much smaller country, so a lot less cases comparatively, and when I first arrived it was something like 50 cases a day. In the entire country. So things were looking good, masks regulations were letting up, and hospitals weren't overwhelmed. Working at a nursing school I tend to trust those around me since they're in and out of hospitals everyday. Vaccination rates here are about 50%, so don't get me started on that, but my school full of nurses is maybe 90% vaccinated I'd estimate. Since a lot of them work at hospitals I think they are required to be vaccinated, but anyways they have an educated perspective on the situation since they were literally the ones in the hospital during the worst of it all. I'll talk to some students, anywhere from 14-19 years old, who were on the frontlines here in the hospitals. They're pretty incredible people to be so young and quite literally saving lives. When I ask more questions about their experience some of them just say, "Well yeah, that's our job. This is what we study to do". Their dedication to nursing at this age is really admirable and something I'm still kind of in awe of - speaking as someone who still has no idea what they want to do with their life.
So anyways. The COVID mentality in the entire country is a bit complex but my school is what I chose to focus on the most. Masks are always worn in the hallways but not in the classrooms and I personally chose to wear a mask in public spaces like grocery stores/restaurants/etc. I wasn't feeling too anxious about the situation until this past week when numbers really jumped up in my region, and in my school. The first couple of students tested positive and their grade was quarantined - meaning if you weren't vaccinated you had to stay home for 10 days. That made some of my classes 5 students, but it was just one grade and seemed to be pretty contained. The next week, another grade quarantined. Then the first teacher tested positive, and a second - one I had been with the previous weekend. I kept up my healthy practices like masking almost everywhere, washing hands, all that. Then just a couple days ago another ETA I'd been with days before tested positive, and now my English teacher is positive who I sit next to everyday, teach class with, eat lunch with, all that. Most of the cases are in the unvaccinated, but these two happen to be vaccinated, which is unfortunate but we know is entirely possible.
Luckily I'm feeling good and currently pumping my body full of fluids and juices to protect myself at all costs. I literally went to the grocery store right after school and bought ginger, apples, zinc, anything I could find out of pure fear haha. This picture is conveniently what's laying out on my counter as we speak haha. But the anxiety is settling back in and reminds me of the height of COVID earlier this year which was quite literally the hardest couple of months of my life. It wasn't just the actual 10 days of suffering from COVID that was really horrible and scary, but the months surrounding it where I feared all of my own actions, the actions of those around me, everything. It was the largest mental crisis I've ever faced and honestly still working through parts of it. It brought out the worst in a lot of people, including myself, so there's still a lot to unpack there haha.
This time is a little different I think just because I know I'm vaccinated, I've had COVID before, and currently scheduled for my 3rd dose here (go CR for opening it up to 18+ so fast!). But that doesn't mean I still don't get anxious because it's a fear for other people too, not just myself. Despite how I feel, COVID can still be spread to those who can't survive which freaks me out. So the stress and anxiety is creeping back in but I'm trying not to let it consume me again. I was supposed to do some activities with my colleagues this Thursday and Friday but stepped out of them just out of precaution, more so because I was around positive cases and I could potentially carry it. And not all of them are vaccinated so it's a risk for them.
We have fall break next Wed-Fri, and my region of the Czech Republic was "strongly encouraged" to give everyone off Monday and Tuesday so we could have a 9-day break and hopefully stop some of the transmission. So now a long break that tempts me to travel since I'm feeling good but then scares me because well COVID so UGH. This is hard.
It's amazing how different this experience is for people, especially here in the Czech Republic. No one really seems that concerned haha. I won't get into it too much because it really just upsets me, but at the end of the day COVID is still really dangerous for some people and you never know who is more vulnerable, who has underlying conditions, who this could really affect. So I think we all have a responsibility to protect each other. I know this is exhausting and it's been far too long living in this pandemic mindset but it doesn't mean we can just decide when to stop caring. This pandemic was quite literally my worst fear coming true being an actual hypochondriac myself and realizing I experience a lot of health-related anxiety. So to see people not care about how this affects other people really hurts me. During the height of COVID at college I was surrounded by people with a ton of different perspectives on the situation, but the hard thing with this is that you can't really "agree to disagree" because your actions affect everyone whether you want them to or not. So anyways, the root of this for me is just common decency and unfortunately the pandemic exposes people who lack that. It's basic human kindness and respect for eachother to sacrifice some of your comfort for the literal lives of other people.
ANYWAYS. Now I'm just ranting. Back to the current situation in Czech - It'll be really interesting to see how this plays out but cancelling school for 2 days scares me that it might happen again...or for longer. And if the schools go online indefinitely Fulbright sends us all home SOOO let's not let that happen okay!! I know I'm doing the best I can and I hope the people around me, and back home in the U.S. can say the same.
Hoping I don't have to write another update with worse news, but this is real life :/ Fingers crossed!!