It’s a different world out there.

How do I know?

• I didn’t feel comfortable having to remove my glove to enter my information on the touch screen at the drive-through bank machine. I’ve read there are lots of germs on those glass display monitors. Even touching the money made me feel uncomfortable. (Thankfully I have hand sanitizer in my car that I used before driving off.)
• Gas is 69.9 cents per litre in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
• I saw grown men walking around outside wearing medical masks.
• Portage Avenue traffic was so sparse, it felt like it was a very early Sunday morning, when in fact it was 10 am on a Thursday.
• My co-worker felt like she was doing something “bad” by handing me some office supplies through my car window. The office supplies included some disinfectant wipes that she didn’t feel were safe if she tried to send them via our interdepartmental mail system as they were coming from a different building in a different part of the city.
• I was happy to be driving in my car, feeling safe from the corona-virus. My car felt like a safety zone.
• I had to put a “6 Feet” “social distance line between me and my chair, so that my work space is safe.
• The elevator has a sign stating, “Maximum occupancy  3  persons.”

These are just some of the reasons why I know it’s a different world out there. I am different, too. I am much more aware of the invisible enemy out there. The one who has claimed many, many lives in a short few months.  The first death related to COVID-19 was in China on 11 Jan 2020. Just 2.5 months later and the whole world is at war with something we can’t see. No amount of arms will protect us now.

Please be safe out there, everyone. And thank the essential services workers, especially those hospital staff on the front lines.

Angela G. Gentile, MSW, RSW