Wednesday. Things are getting gloomier on the news. Prince Charles got diagnosed with coronavirus. If the queen gets it and dies… Her death, regardless of a cause, would’ve been a national tragedy, but if the cause is the virus, all hell will break loose. Mexico’s president flashed some religious talismans when asked what precautions he’s taking. Texas and other states are suspending abortion rights, claiming it’s not medically necessary. Officially, the space in the clinics will go to those who need urgent medical help. Unofficially, this is a power grab, with no end date in sight. I suspect this may be just the beginning.

In order to apply for permanent residency in Canada, you need to get the education credential assessment. The University of Toronto has emailed me to say they’re shutting down their offices until further notice, and my application won’t get processed anytime soon. The timeline to become a real Canadian has grown even longer.

Spent most of the day at work (WFH, as always) doing cosmetic changes to an important Excel spreadsheet that goes out to our VIPs. That produced absolutely nothing of value and got me mildly annoyed, until I realized how good I have it. Folks are going broke, losing their jobs, getting sick, dying because they can’t even breathe on their own any longer – and my biggest concern, while I’m staying in a neat little college with my gf, is my work not being sufficiently fulfilling. When I looked at things this way, my so-called problems suddenly got a lot smaller by comparison.

The US death toll is now 1,045. It’ll get Italy-level bad quite soon… (Just 35 deaths in Canada, though.) Spain had 738 deaths in one day. The worst part is that some deaths might not get counted. We might never know the true numbers, much like we’ll never know about the true death toll of hurricane Katrina, or what went on in the abandoned city.

I remember going on a business trip to the US in mid-January. One of my Canadian coworkers was worried about the virus (the news from China had already made headlines), but no one else seemed to. In mid-February, people around me laughed when I suggested we take the virus seriously. By mid-March, folks started to make WFH arrangements when possible. What will the world look like in April? In mid-May? A year from now?