Covid-19 | Life in Lockdown – Canada

When it became clear that most of the world would be in some sort of lockdown because of the rampant spread of the Coronavirus, Covid-19, I reached out to friends around the globe and asked them to send me a short piece on what life is like for them right now.

Third in this mini-series of posts is Mary-Lou of Patio Postcards blog. Mary-Lou lives in Ontario, Canada and she’s offering a different perspective on living with the spectre of Covid-19.

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Living during this world wide pandemic has presented a number of challenges for all us.  I must admit that the biggest challenge for me hasn’t been the self isolation, the endless weeks of being home, of not seeing friends & family face to face or even the long line ups for grocery shopping, every 3 weeks.  No, for me the biggest challenge has been the one that could prevent me for getting the Coronavirus – not touching my face.  Not touching your face is #3 on the “What You Can Do To Stop The Spread of Coronavirus-COVID-19” fact sheet.

We have been warned that touching our face is one way of how the Coronavirus, which loves the moist mucus membranes of our eyes, nose & mouth, gets into our body.  The health experts tell us that everyone sub-consciously touches their face at least 100-200 times a day. 

In an effort to break myself of that habit or at least to think about it, I have put sticky notes about the house, “don’t touch your face”.  But it has not been enough; I was still finding my hands all over my face throughout the day.  The face touching was innocent enough; maybe it was to tame an errand strand of hair, to push my glasses back up on my nose or to ease that twitch in my eye.  As soon as you think about, there’s an annoying itch generating.

What to do, what to do, I needed to strengthen my no touching habit at home so when I went out into the infectious world, I would already be in a no face touching habit.

Then a solution came to my attention when a friend sent me a photo of her newborn son.  He was wearing little cotton mittens so he wouldn’t scratch his face.  What a brilliant idea.  So I’ve taken to wearing mittens, indoors, most of the time.  Big woolly mittens that would really draw my attention to my face touching & remind me to keep my hands in my lap when not using.   I do believe a new habit is forming or at the very least an old one reducing. 

Who knew that a staple in the Canadian winter wardrobe would be a weapon in the fight against COVID-19.

Stay Home, Wash Your Hands, Don’t Touch Your Face, Remember Physical Distancing … and for Canadians – Keep At Least One Hockey Stick Apart.

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Thanks so much, Mary-Lou!