Category: Editorial

Editorial: Welcome to the New Normal

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

I don’t know about you, but things have been happening so fast that it’s making my head spin.

Today, both the provinces of Alberta and Quebec announced the essential shut down of all their post-secondary educational institutions, with a wholesale move away from in-person classes and exams to online equivalents. Originally, my employer, the University of Manitoba, was going to try and keep classrooms open to students, but late this afternoon the university president sent out an email:

Yesterday I communicated our commitment to taking measures to protect the health and safety of our campuses and our wider community. Our top priority is doing our part to help contain the transmission of COVID-19.

In that same spirit, today I am announcing that there will be no classes on Monday, March 16 and Tuesday, March 17. The University campuses will remain open on those days, but there will no classes.

This two-day pause allows the University to prepare to move classes to alternative modes of instruction.

To be clear, as of Wednesday, March 18 there will NO IN-PERSON CLASSES, with rare exceptions that will be communicated directly to those affected. All in-person undergraduate and research-stream Master’s and Doctoral instruction will end March 13. Instruction will be provided by other means that may include existing online platforms. This will continue through the end of the term on April 7.

…

Our staff are working hard to keep as much of the University operational as possible. The University remains open and we are continuing to provide students with as many essential services as possible under the circumstances. Please keep referring to umanitoba.ca for information and updates.

Among those essential services are the university libraries, which will try to remain in operation as long as possible.

Effective Monday, March 16th, I (along with other Libraries staff who are at a higher risk of having a severe case of COVID-19 if they become infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus) will be working from home.

I am so truly grateful that my employer has given me the option to stay home. My stress levels have just been going through the roof, and this week I was rapidly heading off into loose-cannon territory, with both my anxiety and depression spiraling out of control. I was on the verge of getting a sick note from my psychiatrist, and taking sick time.

Hopefully, now that I know I can essentially barricade myself in my apartment, surrounded with all my pandemic preps, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief, and try to relax and heal a bit.

My heart goes out to all my coworkers whom I am leaving behind, who are going to try and cover as best they can, and keep the libraries open for as long as they can. Today we were all busy shutting down every second workstation and study carrel in our libraries, putting up signs and removing chairs in order to enforce social distancing. (No sitting next to each other anymore!) We’ve also shut down several “high-touch” automated services, such as our 24/7 reserve kiosks and our iPad-based self-checkout terminals. We’re going back to the old ways of doing things!

In addition, the province of Manitoba has now followed Ontario and many other jurisdictions in announcing that, effective Monday March 23rd, all K-12 schools in Manitoba will be closed for 3 weeks as a proactive measure. This will obviously pull even more University of Manitoba Libraries workers away from their jobs as they are forced to stay home and care for their children.

We are in unprecedented times, and venturing into uncharted territory. Like I said, everything is happening so fast that it makes me dizzy. I’m sure most of you are feeling the same way.

SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Update, March 11th, 2020: Finally, WHO Declares a Pandemic (And Why I Will Be Taking a Break from Blogging About the Coronavirus)

Both of the statistical dashboards I have relied on in the past (here and here) now only give Canadian map breakdowns of coronavirus cases by province instead of by city. So today, the best visualization of the cases that are closest to me in Winnipeg is via The New York Times (original article, archived copy), where you can see me slightly above the North Dakota-Minnesota border, the Red River:

In Canada, the closest cases to me are in Edmonton and Calgary in Alberta (about 750 miles west of me) and Ottawa, Toronto, and Hamilton in Ontario (about 1,000 miles east of me) and one case in Sudbury, Ontario, a man who recently attended a mining conference in Toronto with 25,000 attendees (780 miles away).

So the closest cases are still 4 in Minnesota, plus 5 new cases in South Dakota. It would appear that, still, I am living in a little island of safety on the frozen Canadian prairies. Of course, it is only a matter of time until Winnipeg reports its first case of COVID-19; I am operating under no illusions that we will remain immune to the coronavirus!

Schools and universities around the world are shutting down in-person classes and and asking students to move out of their on-campus residences, but so far, my employer is still happily up and running. (There’s absolutely zero reason to implement any measures until there are actual cases here.)

However, today has still been a very stressful day for me. The biggest news today is that the United Nation’s World Health Organization (WHO) has finally officially declared a pandemic.

The image that accompanied the tweet sent out by WHO today.

But, of course, there have been any number of news stories about the coronavirus pandemic today, from all around the world, and I will not attempt to summarize them. Somebody else’s job. (As I have said before, Get down off the cross, honey, people need the wood!)

It has been a surreal experience to see something that you originally prepared for 15 years ago (during the H5N1 bird flu crisis of 2005), and which hit your radar on January 25th, explode into the situation that we see today. I have had trouble processing all my emotions as a result.

In the back of my mind, over the past fifteen years, I have been dreading this eventuality. And now that it is here, I discover that you can make the most elaborate, detailed physical and logistical preparations in the world, but if you don’t handle the emotional and mental toll that an ongoing global public health emergency can have on you, you’re still screwed.

And, at the moment, I feel a bit like a marathoner who has stumbled across the finish line, only to collapse in a puddle of sweat. My anxiety is through the roof. I have been on a near-constant state of high alert now for six and a half weeks, and frankly, I am starting to wear out.

I am trying to take good care of myself, but as part of that, I am going to have to take a break now from blogging about the coronavirus pandemic. I have done my little bit to alert people (including my long-suffering family, friends, and coworkers), and warn them to prepare via this blog, which I essentially hijacked from its original purpose. It’s time to return to my usual coverage of social VR, virtual worlds, and the metaverse for a while.

I do know many of you have personally reached out to thank me over the past few weeks for compiling and sharing the pandemic preparation information that I have published here. I deeply appreciate each and every message. I hope that I helped prod some people to get ready. (I have also learned that there is just no convincing some people. Again, I simply say to myself: Get down off the cross, honey, people need the wood! What other people do at this point is not really my problem or concern. Not my circus, not my monkeys, as the Polish proverb says.)

But after this, I will be taking a break from pandemic blogging, for the sake of my own mental health. I might also be taking some longer daily breaks from obsessively following the various news feeds, and let the news come to me more naturally instead. (At this point, it certainly will. It will be wall-to-wall, 24/7/365 coverage, impossible to ignore, even if I wanted to.)

Stay healthy! Expect more blogposts on social VR, virtual worlds, and the metaverse shortly!

P.S. On January 24th, when there were only about 1,000 cases in mainland China, I made a $50 bet with my best friend that we would have a pandemic. I’m sorry to say that I won that bet today.

P.P.S. My order of 99% isopropyl alcohol arrived from Amazon, and was waiting for me when I got home from work today (thank God there are no porch pirates in my neighbourhood!). So I can make some more hand sanitizer (recipe here).

P.P.P.S. I’m just gonna leave this one here…a Sansar friend shared it with me (source):

Not my circus, not my monkeys…

UPDATE 11:01 p.m: North Dakota has now reported its first case of COVID-19, in Minot. At 283 miles or 455 kilometers from Winnipeg by road, this is now officially the closest outbreak to where I am. My little island of safety is getting smaller by the day!

UPDATED! Clip and Save: Mental Health Resources During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Stressed out? Anxious? Depressed? You’re not alone…
Photo by Fernando @dearferdo on Unsplash

I know that I am not alone in struggling with anxiety and depression during the recent deluge of bad news relating to the coronavirus pandemic (see here and here for a couple of recent blogposts I have written). As a librarian, I wanted to share with you some information resources that you might also find helpful as you try to cope with this unprecedented public health crisis as it unfolds.

Today’s episode of Live Today from the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva featured a detailed question and answer session with mental health expert Dr. Aiysha Malik. I very strongly recommend you watch the entire video, even if you are not depressed or anxious; Aiysha is a very knowledgeable and calming speaker on the topic, and answers many mental-health-related questions submitted by viewers, some of which you may also have.

Other useful information resources I have found are:

UPDATE March 15th, 2020: Another potentially useful document is from the World Health Organization, titled Mental Health and Psychosocial Considerations During COVID-19 Outbreak, which has 31 recommendations, broken down by category:

  • General population
  • Healthcare workers
  • Healthcare team leaders and managers
  • Care providers for children
  • Older adults, care providers and people with underlying health conditions
  • People in isolation

UPDATE March 22nd, 2020: Librarianship.ca (a news website for librarians) has compiled an outstanding list of Canadian resources: COVID-19: Mental Health Resources, including a breakdown of local resources by province and territory.

UPDATE April 7th, 2020: Here’s a very good three-minute YouTube video by
Inspired Living Medical, that covers seven tips for effective mental health self-care during the coronavirus pandemic:

I will continue to add new resources to this list as I encounter them—and trust me, I am quite regularly scouring the coronavirus news feeds these days!

I leave you with an updated, more general list of mental health resources I had compiled back in 2018 when I had written an editorial about BetterHelp.com:

If you are currently experiencing a mental health or addictions related crisis:

If you are not in crisis, but still need help, here are some other good places to get started:

When you absolutely need someone to talk to online, one of the best places to try is The KindVoice subReddit and Discord channel, both of which are staffed by volunteers:

“Sometimes we need to hear a human voice on the other end of the line telling us that everything’s going to be ok. This subreddit is for people that aren’t in a suicidal crisis, but feel depressed, alone, or want someone to talk to.”

A similar service is called The Haven, another Discord channel for people who need someone to talk to. Both Kind Voice and The Haven are free, volunteer-run services.

SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Update, March 10th, 2020: A Little Winnipeg Humour

Well, pandemic panic shopping has hit Winnipeg…here is a picture of the toilet paper aisle at a local Costco:

However, Winnipeggers are not without their signature sense of humour (we need it because of our long, cold winters). One Salisbury House restaurant in Winnipeg (a popular local chain well known for its “Nips” hamburgers and its claw machine games filled with stuffed animals) has set up the following claw machine:

So, if we do go into lockdown, at least I will be in good company! Winnipeg is well versed in dealing with emergencies such as blizzards; we will cope and we will adapt!

The following animated GIF is available here via Wikimedia (Creative Commons license CC-BY-SA), so please be sure to share it widely! It explains WHY we need to use social distancing, self-isolation, proper hand hygiene, and other tactics to “flatten the curve” of the coronavirus pandemic, in order to avoid overwhelming our healthcare system with a surge of COVID-19 patients who require hospitalization.

Once again, I am going to repeat the following information in an effort to reach as many people as I can who have not yet prepared for a pandemic:

How to Prepare for a Potential Pandemic

Here, once again, is an updated reminder of what you should be doing to prepare: mentally, emotionally, and physically/logistically.

You will probably need to prepare to stay isolated in your homes for a period of several weeks, avoiding contact with as many other people as possible, as a wave of illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus sweeps through your community, forcing schools, businesses, and public transportation and public gathering places like movie theatres and shopping malls to close (as we already seen in Wuhan and many other cities in China, as well as places such as South Korea, Iran, and Italy). The elderly (those over 60) and those with hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease (e.g. asthma), cancer, and those who have compromised immune systems (e.g. HIV+) are particularly at risk of a severe reaction to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

The time to prepare for the imposition of quarantines and social distancing policies by local governments is NOW.

If you need lists of how to prepare and what to buy in order to get your household ready for a potential pandemic, here are seven suggestions to help you get started:

You will need to have on hand:

  • AT LEAST two weeks of non-perishable food and other supplies (toilet paper, first aid supplies, soap and hand sanitizer, garbage bags, etc.). There are already reports of panic buying in many places around the world, including North America. You do not want to leave it to the last minute! If you cannot find any hand sanitizer, you can make your own (see the recipe below).
  • Refills of all your presecription medications, plus a stock of over-the-counter medicines (talk to your doctor and pharmacist about creating an emergency supply of your prescription medication).
  • Power sources (flashlights, extra batteries, car chargers and adapters for your mobile devices, etc.). The power probably won’t go out, but it’s better to be prepared than sorry. Water, power, and sewer services are unlikely to go out, but the internet may go down from time to time due to so many more people working from home.

Other things that you should do:

  • Please consider making a donation to your local food bank: the people who will be hardest hit by a coronavirus pandemic are the most vulnerable in our society: the poor, the homeless, people with addictions, women escaping abusive relationships, etc. These people don’t have the luxury of buying two weeks of food as you do, and by donating to food banks, you help support them as well.
  • Sign up for any local alerts from your city, state/province, or federal government (or know where to find the information on the Internet). Find out what plans your employer is making (and if they’re not making them now, they should be).
  • If you haven’t yet, get your seasonal flu shot. It can’t hurt, and it will help to figure out whether or not you do have SARS-CoV-2 if/when you do become sick. Many areas now give out the flu shot for free.
  • Train yourself NOT to touch your eyes, nose, and mouth! The SARS-CoV-2 virus can remain viable on hard surfaces anywhere from 2 hours to 9 days (scientific journal article source), and you can transfer the virus from your infected hands to your mouth, nose, and eyes by touching or rubbing them.
  • Watch the following videos from the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control on how wash your hands properly! Yes, I know I have posted these videos numerous times before. You may think you already know how to wash your hands properly, but you still might learn something you didn’t know before. Proper hand hygiene will also help you avoid catching regular seasonal colds and influenza, so there’s a net benefit to society.

How to Make Your Own Hand Sanitizer

There have been reports of panic shopping in various countries around the world, including in North America. In particular, hand sanitizer is in short supply, with many stores being sold out of stock. Fortunately, if you cannot find sanitizer to buy, you can make your own. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:
2/3-cup rubbing alcohol (99% isopropyl alcohol, not 70%)
1/3-cup aloe vera gel (GEL, not liquid)

Directions: Add the alcohol to the aloe vera gel and stir. Using a funnel, pour the mixture into a pump bottle; you can use cleaned soap bottles for instance, or you can find inexpensive pump bottles at dollar stores. If you have empty store-bought hand sanitizer bottles, you can use those.

If you wish, you can add 8-10 drops of essential oils. Lemongrass, eucalyptus, peppermint and orange oils, which have been shown to have some antibacterial properties (source), would be a good choice.

Good Sources of Information on SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19

Here is my updated list of good, credible, authoritative resources to learn more about the Wuhan coronoavirus (formerly called 2019-nCoV and now officially called SARS-CoV-2; the disease the virus causes is now called COVID-19):

If you want a quick, up-to-date overview of the current situation, here are some good places to check:

Stay informed, get prepared, and stay healthy!