Aaargh...this is doing my head in!

A week and a half into lockdown and my head feels like it is going to explode! I asked Adam to pose for me so I could capture how I feel, I am worrying about the Coronavirus situation and when and how this will all end. I must have attempted this dispersion technique about ten times on an image, it takes quite some time and after each attempt I was not pleased with the results and I would have to start all over again. It needs more work but here is my result from today.

Adam heard today from his Head of Laboratory at university that he is frantically collecting data for a grant application to fund research on Covid-19. Funding bodies do not award funds to any scientist regardless of his/her reputation without performing preliminary experiments that show promising results. So when the media reports that scientist are working on the Coronavirus, it is actually quite difficult to be allowed to do so and they still have to go through a lengthy application. Adam is hoping to work in that lab in the autumn.

I am not sure what the situation is with face masks. The UK, US and Australia are some of the few countries where wearing them is not recommended, whereas in many Asian countries it is frowned upon if you do not wear them. The WHO recommends that only two groups of people should wear N95 face masks. These are people who are sick and showing symptoms, and people caring for those with coronavirus. Surgical masks are not recommended for the general public because they can become contaminated by other people's coughs and sneezes or when putting them on and removing them. In the UK they are essentially unavailable, and those that are available should be reserved for medical staff, so when I see people walking around with a mask on, who clearly cannot be ill with the virus, are they being selfish? On the school Facebook page they wrote that the school nurse had donated her supply of masks and gloves to the local hospital, which I think was the right thing to do.

Meriel's grandmother went to hospital yesterday as someone in her care home has Covid-19 and she has a high temperature. Today Meriel and her family received confirmation that she also has it which is so worrying for them.