Commentary by Swallow Xu*
While we lament the losses of lives and suffering in all its aspects, let’s poke some fun at the COVID-19 outbreak.
1. We get used to wearing a facemask, just as beauty-conscious ladies must put on their lipstick before stepping out of the house.
2. We no longer think it’s weird being surrounded by other humans and even canines wearing facemasks, and FMs have gradually become part of our (street, social and work) life.
3. We stay at home much much more and longer than before the novel coronavirus reared its ugly head, realising that we don’t really have to hang around with friends during a long coffee or meal for meaningless chitchatting or gossiping (“baat gwaa” in Cantonese), or to socialise with strangers armed with a cocktail for idle talk such as ‘tonight’s event ho ho ho…’
4. Therefore, we may be lamenting how much precious time we’ve squandered, especially if we are already in our forties.
5. Children, teachers and parents, particularly those in mainland China, have turned every home into a de-facto school via a smart phone and/or TV, with everything: daily classrooms for different subjects, sports sessions, Q&As, homework submissions and evaluations. Aha, and lots of insane, cross-disciplinary mum-turned-teachers.
6. But they are not sure if they love it, or not, just that the days go by and by, schools vanish behind the horizon.
7. It’s now more than normal for people, from toddlers to the elderly, to keep themselves shut at home, for days or months, peacefully, without crying or grudging, for they know by instinct, the virus is out there.
8. Wow, many gifted chefs and bakers have been “born” in private homes during this outbreak, to an extent that I heard bosses of bakeries/eateries complain about their declining incomes, not to mention angry bosses of big restaurants which stockpiled food for the peak Chinese New Year season.
9. When we had too many tourists blocking passageways we frowned, but now as we can’t spot any we start to miss them, and also the noises made by shops touting them.
10. Many WeChat groups of SMEs and freelancers were created overnight in Macau’s free digital air, each with hundreds of members: several virtual leaders are active and eloquently sharing current government policies and legislators’ messages, a few grumbling about all the difficulties caused by the virus, most of them “lurking” (“qianshui” in Putonghua internet slang, meaning ‘keeping silent and only observing in a chat group’), but certainly one thing pulls them together: wanting support, support, support from the government. The city has been shaken up by this week’s announcement by the government of new anti-virus support measures worth 10 billion patacas, which are to be spent in a harmonious way regardless of their effect. Yet, after cash coming out of the Treasury and going into people’s pockets, what are our short-, mid- and long term goals?
11. Looking near and far, locked up in a tiny place, postponing the “schedule” for the novel coronavirus to disappear from April to June and very probably even beyond, we are perplexed but all the while maintain a positive stance. Aha.
12. In this crisis, local banks appear to be very proactive by offering low interest loans (backed by government support) to SMEs and the self-employed. A bull trap that invites us to live on loans until it all goes bust?
I’m sure the list can go on and on. Can you continue?
*The author is a Macau-based travel writer, translator and commentator
