A letter from April 7th, 2020

Dear FutureMe, I took this from someone's Facebook. It is a crazy time we are living in. Please g-d by the time I read this again things will be different. I’m adding this to my status so every year it will pop up on my memories. This is so I will NEVER forget the way the world changed in 2020... Queen Elizabeth II 👑 addressed the nation at 8pm on Sunday 5th April. Shortly after this the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital himself with Covid-19. On Monday 6th April he was admitted to Intensive Care. The PM had previously implemented a lockdown across the country on the evening of Monday 23rd of March 2020 ⛔️. Excel in London is now known as the NHS Nightingale and will be a hospital for up to 4,000 patients, most of whom are on ventilators suffering from Coronavirus (Covid-19). Similar venues are being used in cities across the country. Opened by Prince Charles at 11am Friday 3rd April. Community support groups established, to support the vulnerable, elderly, immunocompromised and people in enforced isolation due to exposure, in their community 🧓🏻👴🏻 From Thursday 26th March at 8pm and every Thursday night thereafter, we all stood united on our doorsteps, balconies and open windows and applauded and cheered for all our amazingly brave NHS staff 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 who so courageously and selflessly battled on to try and save as many lives as possible ❤️ Petrol ⛽️ price close to home 🏡 was £1.03 per litre for unleaded. Schools closed on Friday 20 March, potentially for the remainder of the school year. 👨🏻‍💻 Parents were home schooling and teachers were doing remote learning using apps like Zoom for a virtual lesson. Social distancing measures required of a minimum of 2 meters ☹️ Tape on the floors at grocery stores 🏬 and others to help distance shoppers 🛒 from each other. Limited number of people were allowed inside stores, therefore, queuing outside the store doors, still 2 meters apart 🏬 Non-essential stores and businesses mandated to closed 🚫 People who can are instructed to work 👩🏻‍💻👨🏻‍💻 from home 🏡 The Government Paid 80% of wages to all employees across the country who were furloughed due to Covid-19. Every airline ✈️ grounded either all or at least 85% of its fleet. All crew were grounded and some used their skills to work for the NHS in Nightingale Hospital, the Ambulance Service, 111 telephone handlers or community support. Air pollution improved. Rivers cleaned up. City & traffic emissions reduced. ♻️ Parks 🏕 trails, entire cities 🏢 closed or restricted to locals who can get there by foot. Not permitted to drive anywhere to exercise. Entire sports ⚽️ 🏉 🎾 seasons cancelled. No Wimbledon, no end to the Premiership, no Boat Race, no London Marathon. A virtual Grand National was held on 4th April 2020. Olympics postponed to 2021. Concerts 🎫 tours 🚌 festivals 🤹🏻 entertainment events 🎭 all cancelled Weddings 👰🏼🤵🏻 family celebrations 🥳 holiday gatherings 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 even funerals ⚰️ cancelled 🚫 Families got creative and found entertaining ways of passing time by doing Tik Tok videos or going Live on Facebook. 🎥 Singers and bands played live sets on their driveways or on their balconies for all to hear 👂🏽 Households that can’t see their friends and loved ones come together across the country by using Zoom or Houseparty to play games or host pub quiz nights. No masses, churches ⛪️ are closed 🚫 No gatherings of 50 or more, then 20 or more, then 10 or more. Now, don’t socialise with anyone outside of your home ⚗️ Children's outdoor play parks are closed 🎡 We are to distance from each other. Shortage of masks 😷 gowns 🥼 gloves 🧤 for our front-line workers. Shortage of ventilators for the critically ill 🤒 in many parts of the world. Formula 1 racing teams and Virgin Galactic designed and produced ventilators in the space of a week. Refrigerated trucks for the dead outside hospitals in the USA 🇺🇸 Italy 🇮🇹 Spain 🇪🇸 China 🇨🇳 and more. Panic buying 🛒 sets in and we have limits on toilet paper 🧻 disinfecting supplies, paper towels, staple foods, hand sanitiser 🧴 Flour is hard to get because the packaging comes from China 🇨🇳 and borders are closed 🚧 Manufacturers, distilleries and other businesses 🏢 switch their lines to help make visors, masks 😷 hand sanitiser 🧴 and PPE 🧤 Fines are established for breaking lockdown rules 🤑 Stadiums 🏟 and recreation facilities overseas open up for the overflow of Covid-19 🦠 patients. Public Park 🏕 areas turned into caravan parks for stranded tourists to self isolate 🚐 Press conferences daily from the PM 👩🏻 and other government 🏛 officials. Daily updates on new cases, recoveries, and deaths ⚰️ Government incentives to stay home. Barely anyone on the roads 🛣 People wearing masks 😷 and gloves outside 🧤 Essential service workers are terrified to go to work 👮🏻 👩🏻‍⚕️ 👲🏻 that includes Registration Officers dealing with Death Registrations all day, every day over the telephone 😢 - all other Registrations - Weddings 👰🏽🤵🏼and Births👶🏼 on hold. Medical field workers are afraid to go home to their families 👨‍👧‍👦 64,727 deaths globally so far as at 4 April 2020. 4,313 in the UK. This is the Novel Coronavirus 🦠 (Covid-19) Pandemic, WHO declared March 11th, 2020. Why, you ask, do I write this status? One day it will show up in my memory 💭 feed, and it will be a yearly reminder that life is precious and not to take the things we dearly love for granted 💕 We have so much we need to appreciate that we take for granted. Be thankful. Be grateful 😌 Be kind to each other - love one another - support everyone 🥰 We are all one! Stay home, stay safe. ❤️