Priorities have changed so quickly in just a few days.
Housing? Not important.
Getting mental health support? Not important.
Attending hospital appointments? Not important.
All that matters is staying healthy and not contracting the virus raging around the globe at the moment. I’ve not had a flu or other major virus since being diagnosed with heart failure in 2018 and I don’t want to put it to the test with something so catastrophic to people with existing heart or lung conditions.

I don’t know when normal life will resume. It’s hard to get my head around the scale of this. It’s unprecedented in my lifetime, my parents’ lifetimes, my grandmother’s lifetime. Friends are losing jobs, businesses will shut down due to lack of customers. People I know are going to die. Everyone will lose loved ones. It still doesn’t feel real.

We’re considering decamping to my grandmother’s for the next whenever because there’s so much more space than in this flat, and if my dad gets ill then my gran can still be looked after without risking bringing in outside help. I’m waiting to hear back from my dad, but my cousin has offered to drive us up to so we don’t have to use public transport. We need to find out whether I can get my prescriptions sent up there or if I’ll have to change GP surgery for the time being first though. No point quarantining to stay healthy if I get ill from not having my meds. I feel so privileged that my partner has offered to stay with me throughout this, even though he could go back to his flat or his family home. It’s a huge sacrifice for him, if he stayed alone he would have far more freedom.

Please stay safe out there (or in there!). Practice social distancing, and good hand hygiene. If you or someone you live with has existing health problems, stay in if possible and limit physical contact with each other if you have had contact with others outside. Keep an eye out for your elderly and vulnerable neighbours. This pandemic has already brought out the worst in people, grabbing supplies from each other and hoarding essentials when some have none – now it needs to bring out the best in us.