Dealing With Coronavirus Anxiety After a Protest
I am finally allowing myself to feel anxiety instead of resisting it.
As a young, 23-year-old, athletic person with good health, I rarely get paranoid over my health.
However, the pandemic has certainly changed my perception of invulnerability. I have done a pretty good job limiting my contact with others and social distancing the past three months.
Recent events, however, have put social distancing at the back of my mind. I went to attend a protest in Northeast Baltimore against police brutality in the wake of the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, and in the first five minutes of joining the protest, I did try to keep my six-feet distance from people. One of the protest organizers shouted that everyone must wear a mask, and that assuaged some of my concerns.
However, in the overall emotion and energy of the protest, I didn’t social distance well. In fact, it was impossible. I probably bumped into at least 10 people and came within a one-foot distance of at least 50 people. Getting lost in the chants and the emotion of the protest, I didn’t even think about COVID after the first five minutes being there and just joined the chants and the energy in a densely-packed crowd.
