How well are you handling the COVID-19 pandemic? Take this handy quiz and find out!
1) You’re driving behind a vehicle that has an out-of-province licence plate. What do you do? a) Think “I don’t know everyone’s story,” refuse to judge, and continue on your way. b) Think “I wonder if their trip here is really necessary.” c) Tailgate, honking your horn, until you can pass them, flipping them the bird and yelling “Go home!” as you do so. d) Don’t notice their licence plate, as you’re too busy trying to pick your cellphone up off the floor.
2) The kids are now entering month five of no school. You’re a) Drawing up weekly lesson plans, supervising schoolwork, and making sure they complete at least one project a week. b) Enrolling them in the library’s summer reading club and getting them a pool pass. c) Sending your MLA, school district superintendent, and the Minister of Education lengthy daily emails about why schools need to fully reopen in September. d) Telling yourself that every day without a trip to the emergency department is a good day.
3) You have yet another Zoom meeting coming up. You a) Make sure your hair and clothing are immaculate, adjust the lighting, and sit in front of a carefully curated backdrop. b) Contemplate doing it in the bathroom, as it’s the only room in the house with a lock and you don’t want the kids bursting in like they did last time. c) Call in using audio only so no one will see that you haven’t dusted in three months and are wearing pyjamas. d) Forget there was a meeting, but figure you can catch up when the minutes are sent out.
4) When it comes to face masks, you a) Have several handmade cloth ones in a variety of colours and designs, which you keep at home, in your vehicle, and at the office. b) Think you have a pack of those paper ones they sell at the drugstore. c) Refuse to wear a mask because you saw a post on Facebook from someone who says they cause cancer, deplete your oxygen supply, and create too much carbon monoxide. d) Pull your shirt up over your mouth and nose and hope for the best.
5) You’re out shopping and see someone who isn’t in your bubble but who you want to catch up with. You a) Resist the urge to hug them, and stand two metres apart. b) Give them a hug without thinking, apologize, then stand about two metres apart, because you were never that good at judging distance. c) Give them a hug, don’t apologize, then stand close enough to count their nose hairs. d) Stand two metres apart and chat, but spend the entire conversation trying to remember their partner’s name.
6) At the store, you see that there’s only one of something you need left on the shelf, and someone else is reaching for it. You a) Do a quick mental check and realize you really don’t need it that badly; it can wait until next time. b) Engage in a slightly tense conversation about who needs it most. c) Dart to the shelf and grab it. Survival of the fittest, after all. d) Couldn’t read your partner’s handwriting, so didn’t realize it was on the list.
7) A friend is having a get-together at their house. You a) Regretfully decline; there’ll be other chances to see them. b) Attend, but stay outside in the yard. c) Attend, and stay inside the house with everyone else, because it’s hot outside and thank goodness for air conditioning. d) Want to attend, but get the dates mixed up and realize it was last weekend, not this weekend.
If you got mostly “a”, congratulations; you’re getting through this like a champ. If you got mostly “b”, well done; you’re surviving. If you got mostly “c”, watch out; you probably need to take some deep breaths, back away from social media, and go for a long walk. If you got mostly “d”, good job; few people are managing to live their lives as normally as you are.
Barbara Roden is editor for the Ashcroft Cache Creek Journal.
