ABOUT

I took this selfie on February 5, 2020 at Heathrow T5, while in transit between the Middle-East and Los Angeles. Having read a couple of days prior a New York Times article about the pandemic, I was quite concerned to see that in one the biggest travel hubs in the world, practically nobody was wearing a mask. After landing in LA a few hours later, I became increasingly uneasy in the immigration hall, because US and foreign nationals were commingled, regardless of where they came from; the only relative separation seemed to be for passengers coming from China.

 

I remained quite nervous for the next two weeks thinking that there was a good chance that I had been in contact with COVID-19. I prayed that the foresight of my wife who sent me the New York Times article which prompted me to immediately buy an N95 mask, would have saved me....

 

As it turned-out, it appears that the virus came to the US mostly from Europe, and we witnessed a tragedy in New York and in the UK on account of an enormous lack of intelligence in regards to the assessment of the risk associated to this pandemic.

 

Several weeks later, I was lucky to have dodged the infection, and my family seemed safe by the time my children's school closed on March 11. Again, I took measure of the extent of the problem, and waited uneasily for the first two weeks in quarantine to elapse, knowing that I had shaken an extra (sweaty) hand, and spoken to somebody from a bit too close...

 

Our complete 'sheltering-in' lasted from March 11 until May 30, when on account of a fracture of my arm I had to be rushed to the emergency room. During that time though, the authorities in California very effectively succeeded in 'flattening the curve.' I was therefore appalled to see, through articles posted on social media, that people were flaunting government orders. My outrage was such that I coined the term #lafarandoledestrousducul in response to the criminals who claims that implementing measures of protection during the Covid-19 pandemic infringes on our civil liberties.

 

Akim Monet

Los Angeles, June 2020