Chronicles of COVID-19

Title

Susan, Cork City

Contributor

Susan

Subject

COVID-19 (Disease)

Coverage

Ireland; Cork; 2020s:

Date

25 April 2020

Language

English

Creator

Cork Folklore Project

Rights

Cork Folklore Project

Description

GENERAL PHYSICAL LOCATION RIGHT NOW

Shandon

USUAL LOCATION

Same

Q. 1 STAGES

It was a surreal feeling, like the world suddenly came to a floating halt. I saw friends happy for the break, some having a hard time coping at home with children.

Q. 2 EVERYDAY ROUTINE

I've stayed very active. I've made two quilts and finished numerous projects. My husband has been doing crash courses and learned to cook and bake bread. My daughter had to finish college on line and figured out how to watch the same movie in line with friends

Q. 3 GROUPS

No Response.

Q. 4 WAYS WE TALK

I see lots of people, from a distance, wearing my mask. I live on a well foot trod street. I made an online craft tutorial for the lantern. No mention of the virus in the tutorial. All positive. I have decorated both my street facing windows with big suggestions of joy (big hand crafted flower project.)

Q. 5 COMMUNITY RESPONSE

I started by making face masks for everybody who wanted them. I also filled requests of any craft supply I had to those without. (Contactless drop into car window and a wave.) I was contacted to sew PPE gowns for CUH. For the past week I sew up to 50 gowns a day night. My daughter sews the ties, I put them together, and my husband folds then neatly. A man comes and drops off boxes of cut out blanks and picks up clean bin liners full of finished ones each day. I hear the fabric arrives in Dublin from China and gets a Garda escort to Cork.

Q. 6 THOUGHTS AND PREOCCUPATIONS

Getting an allotment in Blarney and growing a garden this summer.

Q. 7 SIMILARITY TO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE

No Response.

Q. 8 CHALLENGES AND COPING

I'm doing OK

Q. 9 THE FUTURE

I see a bright future for us. I think people are realizing how much time they wasted doing things that were not really important.

Q. 10 IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE THAT SPRINGS TO MIND?

Volunteerism! People who are making it work! I belong to a few groups that are doing things and see so many more. Mask making Kids yoga All sorts of zoom meetings On line tutorials Free patterns When the chips are down who rises? When things get bad, whose character shines through?

Q. 11 IN A NUTSHELL

Well I've started my own campaign to push back on any conspiracy theories that I hear or see. I swear if hear one more time that 5 G causes Corona virus... Don't just look for the helpers or a hand out, be a helper. A person's wealth is not determined by what they have, but what they can give.

age

51-69

gender

Female