Nothing Has Changed

I haven't been counting the days-mostly because it doesn't matter, but it's been roughly a month. When I first got home, things were relatively normal. I went to a few of my favorite restaurants and caught up on some appointments. People had started to drawback, but society was still moving. Now shopping centers and restaurants are abandoned, and I haven't seen anyone other than my family.

America has surpassed every country in the world for most cases of the virus. My state, Georgia, has been hit significantly hard so far. There still is barely any testing going on, and all hospitals are overwhelmed and underprepared. My governor waited till about a week into the crisis before he did anything about it, so now we are at a stay at home order.

The order isn't enforced well. I can still drive around and go to the grocery store for my family without any questioning. It all seems pointless to me. People will do what they want to cope with the virus, and the government isn't stopping anyone.

That's why, since the day I have gotten home, nothing has changed since. Nothing has gotten better globally or nationally. People are still going out and seeing people. I can still eat food from my favorite restaurants, and I online shipped anyways. Leadership certainly hasn't changed. Every night's press briefing still has the same incompetent president and his dopey staff spread even more misinformation, and downplay the severity of the situation. The worst thing is I don't think anyone is going to start listening to government orders, and I don't see our nation's leaders being smart all of a sudden.

I have yet to hear back from my supervisor in the EP. I assume he is either out of the office and not using that email. Or he is so overwhelmed with the drastic changes made to the parliament that he doesn't have time to respond. I still check the parliament's schedule daily to see what is going on. The once busy weeks now have about three meetings a day, and the most important work has moved to teleconferences.

I was a little irritated at first that I haven't heard back from my supervisor since getting home. At first, when I announced that it would be going home, they were insistent that I continue working from home as I offered. Almost all of the work I did at the parliament could be done over the computer so it wouldn't be that big of a switch.

Now I realize it probably doesn't even make sense for me to keep working at this point. There is no telling what is going to happen in the next few months. Most of the work of the parliament has been canceled or postponed. The world is so consumed by this virus that a little intern like me isn't close to being a priority. Just like a lot of things, communication isn't going to be normal for a while. I am sure when this is all over, they will reach out to me again.

Kendall Gilcrease