Coronavirus: why we must all keep calm and carry on – Jayne Dowle

Ask my children. When other mothers would keep their offspring away from school for a sniffle, my two have been frog-marched to the gate with pockets stuffed with tissues and contraband throat lozenges secreted in their backpacks.

Beyond that, I’m not much use with practical medical advice. In fact, I’m on a par with the Prime Minister who had nothing to offer except “wash your hands whilst singing Happy Birthday, twice”.

Self-employed and often with sole charge of two children, my hardline attitude was as much economic necessity as anything else. Anyone who tells you they can work effectively at home with a couple of under-12s squabbling over the television remote is not doing their job properly.

I’ve watched with interest as the Government’s draconian plans for containing coronavirus have been announced. Normal life could be curtailed for up to three months and people instructed to practice ‘social distancing’ to avoid commutes and long office days.

Those edicts to shut schools and send workers home to carry out their duties, whilst ducking flying TV remotes, just sound like one long nightmarish six-week summer holiday to me.

To be honest, I applaud Boris Johnson’s 28-page document which puts the Government on a war footing. It’s about time he showed some leadership. However, as millions of pregnant women – and he lives with one – would tell him, life must continue.

And as coronavirus begins to make its presence felt across the UK, keep calm and carry on should be our measure.

Yes, I know we’ve heard it all before from another Prime Minister. However, there’s a difference between wearing the words on a T-shirt and following them through day after day.

As it stands, the mortality rate from coronavirus is relatively low and the majority of those who contract it are expected to suffer and then recover unless they are over 80 or suffer from ill-health.

I remember an outbreak of serious influenza in the late 1990s. Death came close; my friend’s mother was found dead at home alone after neighbours raised the alarm, the friendly car-park attendant I spoke to every morning was there one day, gone the next. Then there was swine flu in 2009; my mother caught it but didn’t tell us as we were on holiday and she didn’t want to cause panic.

However, attitudes have changed. Covid-19, as we should properly call this particular strain of coronavirus, is an unknown. No-one can say for sure how it spreads and how the trajectory will continue.

There’s the global factor; we’re travelling more, acting as mobile transmitters. And there is also our millennial attitude of me-first self-preservation against the backdrop of a world which seems increasingly beyond our control. We’re not in the best of mental health to face any kind of global threat, pandemic or otherwise.

I said I didn’t have much in the way of practical advice, but there is one more thing. If you’re jittery, don’t watch doomsday movies. These are fiction. Hollywood, mostly. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but Brad Pitt is not gearing up to fly across seven continents to find an antidote – that’s from the 2013 zombie flick World War Z by the way.

The reality of dealing with Covid-19 will be much more mundane. It will most likely involve privations and will probably mean that more major sporting and entertainment events are postponed, perhaps even the Tokyo Olympics. It may see people having to cancel holidays and, yes, making plans – where possible – to work from home.

If it really does take hold, some of us may lose people dear to us, and that will be a hard blow to take. I am already worrying about my elderly parents, in-laws and close family members; one is undergoing chemotherapy, another has rheumatoid arthritis, so their immune systems are already compromised.

However, this danger may also cause us to reconsider our priorities and stop taking everything for granted; this does include medical supplies, toilet rolls and civil society. We may be prevailed upon to rely upon our neighbours, and expect them to rely on us.

We should remember to be kind to others. Above all, take heart. As Jack Kerouac, no stranger to dark foreboding himself, almost once said: “Perhaps something good will come of all things yet.”