It has been an unusual Spring Break for me and my family. We finished school on Friday with a faculty meeting to update everyone in case Covid-19 cases were confirmed in Tashkent. On Sunday, March 15 the first case was confirmed, a woman arriving from Paris. Since then, it has been many crisis management team meetings and communication. Expatriates have to make the difficult decision to stay or leave. There is so much uncertainty to what is the best course of action and it has been stressful for everyone. I am trying my best as the director of the school to help all employees, students and parents. Time has slowed way down, and that Sunday feels like a month ago.
Part of the uneasiness is the fast nature of the pandemic. When we were making travel plans during the winter to visit Japan, we never thought that spring break would be filled with contingency plans and preparing for an extended social distancing anti-viral campaign. Everyone has been sorting through different emotions and with the huge amount of information we now receive via the internet, it is overwhelming. The Uzbek government, like many around the world has stopped outgoing and incoming flights.
Another source of uneasiness is how long this pandemic will last. In looking at the early hot spots of China, South Korea, Italy and Japan, it could take a while, even until this summer. I also do not know how the virus will spread here in Uzbekistan. There are limited testing kits and medical facilities will not be able to handle a large number of patients. It is a young population here, but there is also a lot of poverty and I worry about the disadvantaged population here, the poor and elderly. I hope our school and my family can help.
I now want to prepare for the worst and make sure that our family is ready to the challenge ahead. We will stock our pantry with non-perishable food to carry us over in case we are homebound.
One thing I am doing to relax is to cycle and on my rides I take some pictures of Tashkent.
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