Ever since COVID-19 was declared as a pandemic and both the Union and State governments had implemented a series of measures, including a stringent lockdown, the lives of all, ranging from small businessmen to frontline workers and from health workers to corporate executives, have changed.
"Life has never been the same, since we started working during the pandemic. Before COVID-19, our life was hard but it was tension-free. With the arrival of coronavirus, it has become harder and stressful. We are leading a life full of uncertainties and are putting our family members at risk too. But now, after taking the vaccine, we have gained some confidence," says Ashalata, a staff nurse at a government hospital, which was identified as category-A COVID hospital.
Duty hours were not only longer and stressful, but the fear of getting infected was high among almost all health workers.
The district lost over 40 people from the health sector and hundreds were infected, including a few senior doctors, during the peak of the pandemic last year.
Extraordinary times
The same is the case with the police force. Over 500 policemen, both from the district and city police wings were infected and about 15 died.
"This had initially hit the morale of the force, but we were quick to recover. But it has changed our perception towards duty and life," says a senior police officer, who survived the infection.
It was an emergency-like situation and in the initial phase, especially during the lockdown period, it was extraordinary times that we had never faced in life, he remarks.
On the one side, we had to enforce the lockdown, strictly cordon off containment zones and on the other side shift the sick to hospitals and take care of migrants, he explains.
Most of the infected police officers had to report back to duty immediately after recovery and a few suffered a second infection.
The worst-hit
However, the worst-hit were daily wage workers, auto-rickshaw drivers and small businessmen.
Apart from health aspect, they were hit economically. "For almost three months, we were without any earnings and later also we had to struggle as people hesitated to board an auto," says Mallesh, an auto driver.
Daily wage workers had to suffer for over eight months as there was no construction activity. People even refused to admit housemaids.
"I work as a rod bender at construction sites and my wife takes up the maid job. I just started to get some work, but my wife is still to resume her work, as the gated-community is still to admit maids. And now with the second wave around, it seems it may take some more time," says Apparao.
