Frontline workers during Covid
One year on, we are still reeling under the after-effects of the dreaded coronavirus. Now with the mutated version amongst us, much importance is again being placed on social distancing and staying safe.
Many have resorted to creative and inventive ways of WFH and mixed off-line online classes. classes. Let’s visit how some frontline Covid-heroes are pulling through.
Doctor Sweta’s Sharing
Dr. Sweta is a general practitioner at a private clinic in Hong Kong. She observed that there was an increase in patients with musculoskeletal issues due to WFH and people trying new forms of exercises while stuck at home. Also, there were more patients with mental health issues who were unable to cope with working from home or who were suffering from job loss. Dr. Sweta advises to strictly follow Covid precautions during these uncertain times, especially if you belong to the medical fraternity. As the mother of twin 6-year-olds, she also had other challenges to deal with and she values the family bonding time that the pandemic brought forth.
Chef Patrick’s Sharing
Chef Patrick Verhoeven opened his restaurant and grocery shop, Meat the Sea, at Centreplace in Hollywood Road in April 2019, just when Covid hit Hong Kong hard. With his team, he learned how to deal with any obstacle along the way and he and his team became stronger with a positive boost during these difficult times. One advice he would offer to other restaurant owners—Work hard and stay strong to your ideas. Only perseverance will win in the end.
Ewan the Foodpanda Guy’s Sharing
Ewan Windebank is a Foodpanda delivery worker who found that there was a rise in food orders in recent times due to ever-changing government regulations. However, their situation has also been quite volatile with restrictions and relaxations of government anti- epidemic measures. This results in food delivery workers having an unsteady income. Ewan points out that wearing a mask was perhaps the most difficult part of his job as a cyclist delivery worker because it was difficult to wear a mask while cycling when Covid restrictions were tightest.
Teachers Seth and Nicola’s Sharing
Seth and Nicola are two of the many educators in Hong Kong to adapted and embraced this new normal, unlearnt and relearnt teaching techniques that had stood by them, and reinvented themselves during this period. Seth, an English teacher at a local school, says that the most difficult part was ensuring that every student was appropriately challenged in his lessons. Seth coped with stress by hiking and chronicling them on his travel blog https://www.forsomethingmore.com. He found that there is an increased desire for face-to-face communication among teachers, colleagues and students and a big plus for him was having more family bonding time while WFH.
Source: www.august.com.au
Nicola, a local kindergarten teacher and a volunteer at LocalHood , found communicating with young children a challenge when both teachers and students are masked. She nevertheless tried to make this mask-wearing fun with superhero games! Nicola made sure to get vaccinated to protect herself and her young students and reminded her students to take Covid safety measures so that the school remained Covid-free.
From white collar to blue collar workers and owners, those with a responsible and resilient attitude during stressful Covid times will pull through and ultimately prevail. It’s thanks to people like the above interviewees who have helped the Hong Kong community maintain a normal life in uncertain times.
Stay Health, Stay Safe!!