COVID-19: ‘A close up to my family during quarantine’
In the chaos and desperation in the second most infected country of Latin America in Ecuador, every day the COVID-19 outbreak increases exponentially. In the last few weeks, there has been a total of 7000 cases and its raising.
The government established curfews and to prevent people from entering the country, they closed the borders. The government wants to prevent mass gatherings of people, but this is made difficult because the informal economy and supplying open markets are essential to economic activity and feeding the population.
Only one member of each family can leave their homes, depending on the plate of their car they are allowed only a few days of the week to go outside due to the restriction applied to vehicular transportation.
To get food or medicine the use of a proper mask and protective gloves are obligatory as well as staying 6 feet apart from anyone in the street and avoid any contact while out. After getting supplies the member of the family must follow a series of steps to avoid the contamination of their home; this includes changing clothes, shoes, disinfect every product, and sometimes even taking a shower.
In this crisis, my middle-class family in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, found a way to perfectly balance spending time together, fulfilling their duties and making the lockdown more bearable and productive. The Calvachi family has five members: My parents Edison and Veronica, my little sister Alejandra, 10, the family dog Milko and me, Ariana, 20.
I study abroad in Canada at St. Thomas University and had to come home on an emergency flight back to Ecuador before they closed the borders. Fortunately, I was able to reunite with my family, without catching the virus by traveling back home.
“Not many international students had the same opportunity; some got stuck in other countries. We are just glad she’s safe and sound in her home,” said my dad
Our family has been staying in their home for 20 days since lockdown started on March 17. For us, it is important to keep our daily routines since we can’t leave the house. We split our time between working, cooking, cleaning, exercising and having family moments together like movie nights, board games or playing virtual games.
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“It’s all about helping each other out, sometimes I’ll be writing e-mails and my wife will be in a work conference, so my older daughter will take care of the younger one,” said my dad
We all wake up at 7:30 am from Mondays to Fridays to start the day off with a good breakfast. We all help to set the table. For us is important to share the first moment of the day together; after that, everyone gets ready to work. We select different workspaces to be able to be productive. Usually from 9-12:30 my parents have conferences, meetings, and other work. Alejandra connects via Facetime with her friends to work on the assignments given by the teacher and I write assignments and study for my online University quizzes. After this, we all take a break to cook something and get some energy.
“I’m concerned about this crisis, but I’m really thankful to be trapped at home because now I have more time to be with my family, especially my younger daughter who always wants to play but usually after getting back from a long day of work I’m just too exhausted,” said my mom
On weekdays we focus more on work and quality time, but during the weekends we all set specific chores to clean up the house, do laundry and bathe the dog.
Unfortunately, even though most families try to stay afloat they are still struggling to get supplies since there is no income.
For workers that have their little business, everything is going downhill. Big corporations find themselves between a dilemma; firing all they’re employees or forcing them to take days off. It’s all a vicious cycle in which people can’t pay their debts to big corporations because they barely have money for essentials, big corporations can’t pay their employees because they don’t sell anything.
“Ecuador’s economy is on the line, in the verge of collapsing if this keeps going at this rate, even the dollarization is in danger; no exportations equals no money, no growth, no movement,” said my dad
Even in this time of a pandemic, a global crisis that’s been affecting most of the world’s population, my family, the Calvachis pray every day, not only for the health of their loves ones but also for the sake of their country; as a family, they have decided to hold on to hope by keeping their home filled with love and positivity.