On the running show of what being healthy in 2020 means, meet the daily healthy stickers!
My apartment building security protocol got updated to the latest version. You can now get one of these stickers at your first temperature check of the day. The sticker labels each individual and inform other security checks and residents that I had my temperature checked, and all is “ok” for today. With a sticker, I can skip the following checkpoint tests during the same day.
I smiled through the face mask as I crossed others. On my way back to my apartment, I see this heading towards the reports back from my China-based friends on their lockdown communities protocols with entrance ledgers, resident patrols and community issued health certificates.
It is a strange new reality.
As Jakarta opens up, its inevitable to not realise our common spaces have evolved. Our shared spaces and interactions are now guided, choreographed, and even monitored and analysed. This is no joke.
There are now new actors, roles, new routines and protocols with new physical apparatus, devices and props that seemed to be part of this new reality and to which we have quickly adapted and incorporated in our behaviour and interactions.
I can easily deal with the marks, the face protectors, the sanitiser, the barriers and the spaced queues. But I also really miss hugs, handshakes and kisses and travel.