Twenty-one days.
That’s what we faced when, at midnight on March 26 last year, we went into Level Five lockdown. It feels like a century has passed.
Those first 21 days were weird.
We knew little about this minuscule virus that had stopped the world.
We did know we needed homes packed with toilet paper.
We found out, for those fortunate enough, how to work from home. We Zoomed.
An eerie silence descended around our homes.
We suddenly had to figure out how to help people who could not work to keep food in their tummies.
Find shelter for the homeless.
Try to help hard-hit animal welfare groups.
Learn to live with our families 24 hours a day and without “external” family and our friends.
We learned a new Covid vocabulary.
Scientists became rock stars, with much of the world – unless you were among a few million Americans who believed the orange one – hanging on their every word.
We masked up and stood in long lines to get into supermarkets, whose staff had become the front line.
But it was OK: it was only for 21 days.
Until it wasn’t.
The virus’s onslaught has been profound.
Our health workers became our most vital citizens. It’s still difficult to comprehend how extensively their lives changed in a year.
Income was lost or slashed. Financial institutions stepped in to stave off a mass loss of homes and debt.
As time passed, and lockdown levels were adjusted to try to save livelihoods, death came calling.
Not only those lost to Covid, but others too.
The pain of loss was exacerbated by the inability to meet that most basic human need – to comfort each other.
As the extent of the calamity became more evident, so too did the emotional impact: disturbed or disrupted sleep, fear, loneliness, depression, anxiety and isolation.
Young people really felt it. It’s the youth’s “job” to be with their friends, who at certain ages become even more important than family.
The absence of interaction, in or outside of education systems, could have a long-lasting effect but only really be understood as the impacts manifest through their lives.
Smokers and drinkers became criminals overnight.
People who previously would not even park illegally found a friendly smuggler, who made a black market killing.
Baking soared, gardens bloomed and hobbies became an income.
We slopped around, barefoot and in jarmies, and bonded even more closely with our pets.
Introverts were ecstatic, while extroverts flailed at the walls.
As my good friend Gavin said: “I've discovered my Inner Hermit.
“And we get on really well.”
Now, a year later and still masked, washing hands and trying to keep people at a distance, we have a vaccine.
But the virus has also learned to live in lockdown, with variants causing concern around the world and scientists tweaking vaccines.
And a possible third wave.
As we mark the anniversary next Saturday, we need to understand it’s possible the 21 days could grow into 21 years or more, and we may need booster vaccinations to keep mutations at bay.
We have learnt much this year, and every new skill can help us navigate our way through this long journey.
Do it for you, those you love, and for ubuntu.
- Lindsay Slogrove is the news editor
The Independent on Saturday