life goes on (nearly) as normal

I was just re-reading my last post, and reflecting that little has changed here.  We now have fifteen times the number of cases we had when I posted that in March, but still, less than 2,000 cases in a country of 17 million people is not too bad.  & recovery rates so far are high, and also quite fast, with the controversial hydroxychloroquine being the treatment used here (and I think in much of francophone Africa), in part probably because the French doctor who produced the study has strong links with Senegal having grown up here.

The mood of the population has certainly changed though.  On the few occasions when I go outside, I do not wear a mask until I arrive at a place where it is compulsory (to enter the supermarket, for example).  There seems no point to me in getting hot and uncomfortable behind a mask when I am simply walking along the street minding my own business, not touching anything or interacting with anyone.  But I am just about the only person left, at least in my part of town, who does not wear one in the street, and the silent peer pressure is starting to get to me!

I have not heard of any recent protests over the semi-lockdown we have, with everyone in the country seemingly on board with it.  The government has taken steps to support those in need, with food parcels delivered in the poorer parts of the city, and a month's free electricity to those using below a defined limit (I think this is meant to target the poor, but as a keen environmentalist who therefore tries to minimise her use of fossil fuels I also qualified!).  So it was quite surprising, and disappointing to many people, that the president just announced yesterday some loosening of the restrictions we have, in particular allowing churches and mosques to re-open.  One can only assume that he has bowed to pressure from the religious leaders (particularly as we are in the month of Ramadan when Muslims try particularly hard to be good), but it certainly will mean more contact between people, even if they enforce a one metre distance between attendees as I understand he is asking for.

I hope that having done well so far, the bulk of the Senegalese people will not change their behaviour as a result of this change, but my local colleague shared with me today that his countryfolk "lack discipline", so we shall see.

As for me, whilst sad about missing out on planned work trips and holidays, and worried about the prognosis for travel over the next few years (more restricted, more expensive...), I have coped fine with the situation.  You would think that working from home and mostly interacting only with the staff in the supermarket and the guard on my building's front door (apart from a few phone calls with my parents), I would be feeling lonely - starved of human contact! - but that hasn't been the case.  If anything, I feel better than I normally do in that respect, which I can only assume is because I know that during this period I am not missing out on a social scene since no-one else is going out either!

I've been for a few walks around locally, and on Saturday walked rather further in my totally incorrect assumption that we were shortly to face a tighter lockdown.  I ended up at Ouakam beach - a small beach used by fishermen to store their boats and land their catches - where I'd never been before.  I watched a couple of boats come ashore, landing their catches which included an octopus and two guitar rays.  As you might expect there were cats around the place, and being Senegal there were also sheep (they are everywhere), and one lone pelican who apparently has based himself there as he has some injury that prevents him from living a more normal pelican life.  In fact in most respects it was a regular Senegalese fishing village - except for the masks.