How To Change Your Schedule When The Lockdown Is Coming To An End

The novel coronavirus is wreaking havoc at full throttle almost everywhere on the face of this planet. The first wave of COVID-19 has resulted in an economic recession far worse than the one we had in 2007. The unemployment rate is skyrocketing, and 2020 still has a few more months to go. To be fairly blunt, when this pandemic is something of a rue in the past, most of us will have to start over. Normalcy will be redefined, and timetables will be reorganized.  So, how to change your schedule when the lockdown is coming to an end?

Related: When Will Coronavirus End In Pakistan?

COVID-19 Strategic ‘Exit’ | WHO | How To Change Your Schedule When The Lockdown Is Coming To An End

One of the main things we’ve learned in the past months about COVID-19 is that the faster all cases are found, tested, isolated & cared for, the harder we make it for the virus to spread. This principle will save lives & mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic.

 

The coronavirus has killed tens of thousands of people. It has also reshaped society and disrupted daily life for people around the world – including 1.4 billion children whose educations are now derailed by shutdowns, WHO says.

How Is It looking For The Industry? | A Global Perspective

The pandemic has triggered massive losses for big companies and small businesses, and forced millions of people out of work. While full national lockdowns remain uncommon, at least 82 countries have some form of lockdown in place, according to UNICEF.

The global economy is now predicted to shrink by 3% this year, the International Monetary Fund says in its most recent analysis. That includes a contraction of nearly 6% for the U.S. economy. We mention the US with regards to the impact this will have on the dollar.

With the recession now adjusting towards its peak, the US economy will take the biggest hit – the dollar would possibly collapse and ultimately attack the global petroleum trade. Where would we go then?

Gold, China, and – if possible – make billions by making the first universal COVID vaccine. It’s up to you; at this point, being speculative won’t hurt as much as denial would!

 

Morphing Into A New Routine | How To Change Your Schedule When The Lockdown Is Coming To An End

It has been really strange getting used to the “new normal” of staying inside, working from home, home schooling, even going to the shops has changed! Whilst we had some very specific rules to follow things are now going to feel different. We will have a new set of rules to follow and things are changing again.

Humans are creatures of habit and when our habits are disturbed it can create anxiety and stress. Having a good routine can help you feel grounded, comforted and secure when things in the world are feeling a little unsure. Once you have a routine it will get easier every day to stick to your new plan. It might feel difficult getting started with a new routine, or back into your old routine but here are some top tips that might help.

• Planning

When you are struggling with your routines for the day it can help to create a plan. Using an activity template, a diary, calendar or this template here. List the things that are important to you and what you need to get done for that day. Using this schedule include

• Work | College | University Work
• House work | Chores
• Food shopping
• Meal times
• Phone/video calls with friends and family
• Exercise
• Selfcare/relaxation or anxiety strategies
• Graded Exposure

This is when you try out anxious situations a little bit at a time, in a planned and repeated way. You start with something that causes the least amount of worry. This gives you the chance to confront your anxieties about the task, your coping skills and for you to feel start to feel in control of your anxiety.

This will boost your confidence and help you build up to more challenging things. Take it small steps at a time:

• Plan your first time going out – start with something small and manageable like walking around the block
• Expect to get a bit anxious
• Remember your coping strategies
• Stay in this situation until anxiety passes
• Repeat when comfortable

• Sleep Cycle

It will be likely you may find that your sleeping pattern will change when we start to change our lives. Doing more exercise, commuting, socialising and general day to day activities will have a bigger impact on our energy levels than we might think so might we might feel more tired than before.

Sunlight also plays a big part in our sleep cycles. Our internal “body clock” reacts to natural light and helps to keep it in balance. Getting out more and having more sunshine might change our sleep cycles. If you are struggling with sleep try regular exercise, avoid caffeine before bed and have a look at the resources at the end of this sheet about getting a good night’s sleep.

Make-Shifting With The Workforce | How To Change Your Schedule When The Lockdown Is Coming To An End

It is important that employers begin to plan how to manage the return to the workplace when the Government starts to ease the lockdown. The guiding principle will be to safeguard the health and safety of your workforce and customers/clients.

No easing of restrictions should take place until adequate measures are in place to protect the working class. We already have the first European case on this with a French court’s ruling that an employer failed to recognise its obligations regarding the health and safety of its workers, in respect of physical distancing, hygiene and cleaning of its warehouses. We can expect to see similar challenges in Pakistan, both on an individual and collective basis, to precipitate attempts by employers to achieve workplace “normality”.

This is likely to be accompanied with significant adverse reputational consequences.

Health & Safety | Where Do We Go From Here?

Despite returning to work, the risk of infection and resurgence of Covid-19 remains. Employers are under an obligation to ensure they take reasonable steps to provide employees with a safe place of work.

This will mean undertaking appropriate risk assessments and implementing controls to mitigate identified risks. While there’s some guidance from the Government, this will not remove the obligation on employers to consider their specific circumstances.

Skipping Ahead | Dealing With Employees Suffering With COVID-19 After Return

This is likely to continue to be an issue for workplace planning until we have a vaccine. An employee who is unable to attend work due to illness will be entitled to sick leave and pay.

Employees with Covid-19 symptoms will need to stay at home but a number of additional complex issues may arise. For example:

• What if they need to self-isolate because a member of their household has symptoms or is shielding – what implications will this have for pay?
• What if an employee has symptoms whilst in the workplace?

In addition to deep cleaning of the premises, contact tracing and potentially asking close colleagues to not come into the work place won’t hurt. You should have a clear policy on dealing with such situations, rather than leaving it to the discretion of individual managers which might result in inconsistent practice and expose staff to avoidable risk.

 

A pivotal aspect of the post-pandemic era would be testing, tracking, and tracing of future COVID-19 people. Well of course this is important until after we get a vaccine. We potentially intend to seek and destroy the virus so that our lives could go back to normal.

This was all about how to change your schedule when the lockdown is coming to an end. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment in the section provided below. We’ll keep you posted!

Watch this space for future updates and good luck!