A waiting game

I’m feeling stressed. As time goes by, it is compounding and not reducing. The anxiety of Covid is unrelenting and continues to mount.

Tokyo’s numbers are on the rise, yet again. The government declared the 4th state of emergency for the prefecture since the pandemic first gripped the area on Wednesday. With almost 900 new cases reported yesterday, I find myself retreating into my home once again.

I thought that I would relax a bit after receiving my vaccine voucher, which I did last week. But it has only drawn out the anxiety. After more than 3 hours of working both online and on the phone, my husband was able to secure an appointment for me to get my first jab on August 12 - a month an a half after receiving my voucher.

He’s tried so many different options, but the earliest he could get me in was at a immunization clinic. Most private doctor offices were either out of appointments or we had to already be a client. I’m so thankful for his efforts, as everything I received was in Japanese and I would have struggled to understand how to do it myself.

We heard on the news that no one can make an appointment after August 23, as they are running out of vaccines and have not been able to secure more. This leaves millions and millions of people out of luck across Japan, without any hope to grasp onto in the near future. This tidbit of information makes me want to scream!

While this weighs on many, the government is still planning to proceed with the Olympics. While I understand that a lot of time and money has gone into planning and building this event, I cannot understand how they are going to orchestrate the games without endangering people’s lives. It makes no sense to me. I only hope that my fears are unfounded and we don’t have the same ramifications as I’ve heard about in other countries.

I am so thankful, my husband’s company will have an immunization clinic for employees that allows him to get a vaccine a whole month earlier than me. Although it means he will have to ride the train and go into the office (for the first time since late February last year), we felt it was the best option.

Normally, when I am this stressed out, I curl up with a good book or relax with a funny movie. But it feels like I have exhausted those options over the past year and a half. I am maxed out of patience and need a different stress reliever.