Louise O'Neill: 'I was curious this week about when I had first heard the word coronavirus'

When the initial lockdown was announced, I felt calm at first.

I was curious this week about when I had first heard the word coronavirus. I searched for it in my Whatsapp chats and I found this exchange between me and a friend. “Sporadically reading about the coronavirus too,” she wrote. “Which is nuts.” I replied, “What’s this virus? Or do I want to know…” I checked the date on the texts. It was the 23rd of January. (Yes, I know I was late to the party. My friend thought the same, texting back, “HOW have you missed this plague epidemic? It’s like something out of a dystopian movie.”)

Three months later, ‘this virus’ is all we can think or talk about. Wondering how long a vaccine will take, wondering when this will be over and our lives can return to normal, whatever that looks like. My days veer from the monotonous to the overwhelming, sometimes in a matter of minutes.