Quarantine Diary 7– Learning to love quarantine

Today is Day 9 of my home incarceration, officially known as quarantine, which must last ten days. Since this quarantine started on my arrival on May 20, I have viewed it through a negative mindset, seeing it darkly and feeling it as an ordeal. I have used the word incarceration above and compared it to “house arrest” and “prison” elsewhere. It just occurred to me this morning that this is a wring attitude. This quarantine is for my own good, and more importantly, for the good of society.

If I am honest, I would accept that it is more the iron discipline of the state of the UK that is upsetting - for doing what every state should do. A state must protect its people and must do so by ensuring that its laws are obeyed by everybody at all times. That means that those who must supervise the implementation of these laws must do so without compromise.

This is what the NHS Test and Trace Team people are doing with zeal and vim, which is upsetting because it would be different in my country. They have called every single day to ask questions and ensure that I am observing the quarantine at the address I provided. They know that I know that they have a police detachment making random checks and that I face a hefty fine if I were to violate the terms of the quarantine. Whether I like it or not, the quarantine is being enforced across the country. This is how the MODERN state must operate.

It pains me to say that if this was Ghana, most people in this situation would be able to get out through “connections”, bribery or some kind of chicanery of the “do you know who I am” variety. I doubt that the law would even be applied in the first place. I never tire of pointing out the fact we are unable to make motorcycle riders wear crash helmets – in their own interest. In all manner of ways, in Ghana, laws are more honoured in the breach than in the observance, which is why we have annual floods, insanitary neighbourhoods, rivers turned to mud and worse. If we want to be a modern democratic society, we have to start by enforcing relevant and just laws equitably and in the public interest.

So, two more days to go, I am learning to love the quarantine not because it is any less brutal; I still find the idea of being cooped within four walls a bit tough, but it is for a good cause. That is a comforting thought from the perspective of the new positive mindset. The reason for the negative attitude towards rules and regulations is because they are not implemented or unfairly implemented. Once people realise that rules are made for our collective safety and progress and are implemented without discrimination, a new mentality will develop.

Anyway, the new positive outlook makes it a lit bit easier to count the hours. I am still waiting for my 8th day test result. I need a negative outcome from yesterday’s test to release myself after tomorrow. Yes, the release comes the day after the 10th day.

We shall overcome