I read about this COVID 19, corona few weeks ago in whatsapp and news papers. Also saw the videos on isolation of families / citizens in China. I thought it strange and got a doubt about similar action in my place.
Then came the announcement from our state Chief Minister on 21.03.2020 in his televised address about Janata Curfew for 24 hr starting from 22.03.2020, 0600 hr. Chief Minister explained about possible repercussions from the pandemic conditions and requested the public to observe isolation in the houses during this period, not to come on roads, maintaining hygiene, etc
Soon, it was followed with Prime Minister's appeal to the nation for 14 hr lock down from 22.03.2020, 0600 hr. PM requested all citizens to observe this and encourage health care workers by clapping / whistling from their houses at 1700 hr on 22.03.2020.
Essential services like shops for groceries, milk products, medical, media, etc per exempted.
This day was special for our family for a personal reasons. My wife invited few friends and relatives about a week before for a gathering. Upon learning lock down, she requested them not to come to our house. We brought some cake after the announcement and had midnight celebration arranged by our children.
So far so good. As per TV visuals, here and there, some persons were found on the roads and caught by police, giving advise. At about 1650 hr, I heard start of clapping, whistles, beating the metal plates, etc. Our floor families also came out and joined in this standing at their respective main doors.
Later, however, we saw in TV visuals, crowding of persons on the roads for clapping. Some followed social distancing during clapping. The whole purpose of maintaining social distancing was defeated in this act. These persons did not follow PM's advice of clapping from houses and instead came out.
I went to work site on the following day. Then came the announcement of lock down for 21 days in continuation of this 14 hr / 24 hr period. I came back to house in the afternoon after we were advised to work from home and to maintain only skeletal staff for essential works.
3-4 days before, my younger son was given his computer to work from home by his company and I thought it is a different experience. Now, I too joined this. Whereas my son's work is in IT, mine is in industrial safety. But, we picked up to manage. As per advice to maintain bare minimum staff, only 1-2 persons were put in roster for duties for monitoring in field and rest to interact with these 2 persons.
In industrial establishments, as per history, a plant shutdown does not mean it is safe. One should be more vigilant to ensure safety of pressure systems like gas cylinders, storage bullets, piping, and chemical storages; observation of safety rules by persons when nobody is watching them, so on. It should be like factory still operating with a reduced manpower instead of full scale. Shutdown does not mean relaxation of safety rules / practices. It is also known that many accidents happened during startup and we should resume operations not based on what we thought it was, but only after thorough checking of all systems in the field.
Generally, I purchase provisions for a month in the first week of the month. After this 21 days lock down announcement, we checked stocks and replenished some items like cereals, cooking oil, detergents, and most importantly medicines as I got hypo hypothyroidism and severe joint pains, for a month.
A week went by and the situation in the factory was well managed by all departments. Work from home led to more working hours i.e. instead of 8 hr, we were in touch from morning to midnight. Generally, my mobile use is very less in normal conditions. It is only an instrument at home for some emergency. I used to charge this phone once in 2-3 days. But, now, because of usage, I am charging sometimes, once twice a day.
Search for news on this virus has increased a lot. I am following covid19india.org and worldometer sites to understand the severity of the issue.
Now, lock down is extended for another 3 weeks and hope everything will be alright.
Our state government even imposed curfew during 1900-0600 hr as some persons are not heeding to the appeal of not coming out unless it is essential. Police check posts were put on the roads, patrolling is increased, and humanitarian help to those needy also is being done by these personnel as seen in social media.
