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Vaccine promises hope for 2021
For the majority of people, 2020 taught lessons on how to survive amid tough economic hardship, as COVID-19 restrictions led to mass lay-offs and fewer job opportunities, leading to a more competitive labor market at the time when jobs are needed to ride out the pandemic storm.
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A gravedigger prepares a new grave at a cemetery complex provided by the government for coronavirus disease victims in Jakarta on April 22. (REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan )
W
ith the death toll from COVID-19 in Indonesia reaching 21,000 since the country reported its first cases in March and the economy continuing to linger in the doldrums, Indonesians waving goodbye to 2020 have little reason for high hopes in 2021, but the promise of mass vaccination has somehow aroused optimism.
For many watching the news on television or scrolling through social media feeds, the death toll from COVID-19 appears merely as charts and numbers, but for those who have lost their loved ones to the coronavirus in 2020, the experience has been traumatic and the pain has been all too real.
For Anya, not her real name, the coronavirus struck so quickly that she did not have time to say goodbye to her mother. In April, she had to fly back to Jakarta in a rush from Europe, only to attend her mother's funeral at a distance.
"It's indescribable how isolating it is, grieving during COVID-19," Anya said, adding that during her two-week stay in Jakarta, she had to self-isolate from her family members.
With many parts of society still underestimating the threat of COVID-19, Anya feels such people should know better that the disease can affect their loved ones.
"It's not about you, this [COVID-19] can affect people in high-risk groups," said Anya. "How can you be so selfish, so uncaring that you could cost other people their lives? That you can kill other people through mere ignorance."
Read also: Yearender 2020: What went wrong with Indonesia’s virus response?
