The UK is predicted to be around three weeks behind Italy in terms of severity, and only two weeks behind France – which is probably why the British government has only just announced that we should all be staying indoors.

Due to the fact that I have Crohn’s Disease, an autoimmune disease, I have had to self-isolate for the past four days as the Coronavirus has made its way to the county of Ceredigion. My immune system simply would not be able to fight against a virus like this taking root inside my body, so I have had to cut off pretty much all social interactions for now. Every single one of my social events for the next few months have been cancelled, so it’s a pretty weird time to be a third year university student. At this point, it’s unlikely we will be getting a graduation ceremony.

I am staying at my girlfriend’s house for the time being, as it is has a large sun window overlooking the ocean, less people coming in and out, and is fully stocked with all of my food. I will be laying low for the next few weeks, monitoring the situation across the country and trying to shield myself from the Coronavirus.

This self-isolation has meant that I have had a lot of time to really focus on things I’ve been putting off. I’m reading a bunch of travel books that I hadn’t found the time to read, writing articles for local magazines (since all of my NWR cultural correspondent duties have been cancelled for the meanwhile), cooking an unholy amount of pasta, watching Love is Blind (I’m disgusted, too) on Netflix, and trying to finalise publishing the first issue of a new local magazine. I’ve been doing yoga and painting-by-numbers, and spending time with the love of my life. At this point, there really is nothing left to do but breathe and stay calm.

Personally, I’m trying to focus on the positive news in the world – such as wildlife returning to cities that have been ruined by humans, little acts of kindness that people are doing for one another, and the fact that air pollution in China has dropped by 30%. The world seems to be healing, even if humans are not.

I had only decided to write this post about 40 minutes ago, as many of you were asking about how it was affecting myself and my country. There has only been a handful of cases in Wales at this moment, but that number is expected to grow for the next month or so. So far, there has only been one local fatality.

Ultimately, the answer to the earlier question is that travel bloggers are staying home with their families during the quarantine, eating food, watching movies, scribbling notes, listening and learning. I feel as though this is a truly strange time in history, and we should really be spending our time trying to do whatever good we can, in whichever ways we can.

I hope that you are all keeping safe, and are feeling well during this pandemic. I love you all endlessly.

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