While the community as a whole has been doing its part to physically distance during this time, for some people it could be a matter of life or death. For those with weakened or suppressed immune systems, it’s critically important that they remain clean and healthy.
Joanna Sallows is one such woman. She’s in her mid-thirties and for the most part lives a normal life, working a full-time job as a technical assistant for Manitoba Hydro.
She also lives with multiple sclerosis.
“My immune system is an overachiever, so to speak,” Sallows explains. “It’s fine. But then when it has to work, it goes into overdrive.”
MS is a complicated autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. Each person presents different symptoms at different stages of the disease.
“With MS you get a gamut of other issues,” she says. “With it comes depression, anxiety, loss of physical sensations, and migraines.”
Some days, taking a shower depletes all the strength she has for the day. As a result, Sallows lives with her mother, Val, and their dog Pica.
Since the news of the virus and social distancing first hit, life for this family has changed in profound ways. The human resources department at Manitoba Hydro requested that Sallows work from home to keep her safe. Initially this presented a challenge, as she didn’t have a laptop at home to work on. A week later, her workplace provided one. The problem was that Sallows had to go to Winnipeg to pick it up, potentially exposing herself to the virus.
“[The trip] was full-on rubber gloves, Lysol wipes, being conscious not to touch anything, and everybody kept their distance,” she says. “I got to park underground in the parkade and it was eerie with nobody there except for security.”
As far as everyday life, she has a heightened level of awareness these days. “I can’t go and quickly run to Bigway. With me, nothing is terribly quick, but now it’s a conscious effort to not touch anybody or go near people.”
When she isn’t working from home in her jammies, Sallows passes the time like the rest of us—watching TV, reading, surfing the internet, and doing puzzles. Her love of puzzles came from her grandmother, who got her interested in them when she was a child. It has stuck ever since. A 1,000-piece puzzle is currently strewn across their dining room table, begging to be worked on each time either she or her mother passes by.
A “Let’s Go Bombers” sign sits in the front window. As Blue Bombers season ticket holders, their thoughts turn to the uncertain future—and how long social distancing will last. The Canadian football season would normally start in June, but Sallows finds herself wondering what’s going to happen this year.
The other major change in their lives is that they aren’t able to visit family. Her sister, brother-in-law, and their children live in Steinbach. What was once a short drive is now a no-go zone.
“I would go to my sister’s house many times a week for random things,” Sallows says. “Now I can’t.”
She admits that this has been the worst part of social distancing for her. But what about the best part of it? That would be the community’s response so far.
“[I love] how people who aren’t battling any illness, who don’t have a suppressed immune system, are staying in their house,” she says. “When you technically don’t have to, but still do, I appreciate that.”