The COVID-19 pandemic has swiftly introduced changes in lifestyles and culture across the globe. Within months of the novel coronavirus outbreak, elbow bumps and foot taps have replaced handshakes and hugs; homes now double as schools and offices; outdoors, social distancing and face masks signpost a new reality. Habits are changing willingly or grudgingly to curtail the spread of the deadly disease.
Stuck indoors with nowhere to go over the course of the pandemic, Nigerians are searching on Google “how face masks are worn properly”. It is almost a norm that face masks are worn below the chin – some worn to avoid harassment by police officials, while some because of difficulty in breathing. Also, to avoid cabin fever – the restlessness experienced when a person, is stuck at an isolated location for an extended period of time – Nigerians have searched the internet for “things to do at home”. Netflix also gained traction as movie lovers, and generally bored Nigerians, turned to the platform to cope with the lockdown.
There is also a realisation that we can do more of our work remotely hence a shift in office culture. Companies have leveraged technology to stay connected with clients in new and creative ways, which may likely continue even after things go back to the way they were. Remote work has shown us more than ever how interconnected work and home life are.
Enabling a greater portion of the workforce to work remotely will not only aid social distancing efforts it will also promote greater flexibility for employees who, for a multitude of life circumstances, can’t always be in the office from 9am to 5pm.
Also, while the coronavirus pandemic continued to rage on, an invisible fight emerged for many at home, triggered by the anxiety, joblessness, death, isolation and uncertainty that accompany the virus.
For example, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, nearly half the people in the US say the coronavirus pandemic is adversely affecting their mental health. The tracking poll, which surveyed 1,226 Americans from March 25 to 30 and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points, indicates 45 percent of adults say the crisis has had a negative impact on their mental health, and 19 percent say it has had a “major impact”.
However, beyond these disruptions, we have seen innovative efforts from fashion designers, making stylish masks from local fabrics styles to match outfits giving customers that dashing outlook to “rock” while still staying protected.
As the fear this unknown virus initially generates reduces people wonder “what next?” No one knows when things will get back to normal – or the new or next normal will look like or shape of changes to come. According to Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa, “COVID-19 could become a fixture in our lives for the next several years”. As churches and mosques prepare to reopen and restrictions on public social gatherings ease, these preventive cultures must be maintained.
As people who are hard-wired to find silver linings in every situation, no matter how dire, we implore Nigerians to accept that even in these unsettling times there are lessons to be learned and some aspects of this new normal that we should embrace.
The government, at all levels, and organisations should encourage citizens and workers respectively to imbibe new cultures such as feet tap, elbow bump, waving, Namaste while greeting other fellows in place of hugging, kissing, shaking hands and other forms of greetings which involves physical contacts, at least for now!
We believe these are necessary complementary efforts to social distancing in the fight against COVID-19 and must be encouraged and obligatory across all spheres of life.
To this end, we encourage Nigerians to recognise that the whole world is sharing this experience right now. Our only choice is to cope as best we can, forgive ourselves for having bad days, and remind ourselves it will not be like this forever.
