Probably Nothing

Just a short update tonight as I’m exhausted. We had three more cases this week that fit the profile, and on paper, they are completely unrelated. We’re talking different age groups, different backgrounds, and they were picked up in entirely different parts of town—one from near the bus station and two from residential streets. Yet, the presentation is identical: that same vacant focus, the delayed physical reactions, and a strange, heavy gait. Management’s official line is that this is ‘post-pandemic behavioural fallout.’ They reckon people are just reaching a breaking point and the stress is manifesting in these strange, dissociative episodes. Which, to be fair, makes a certain kind of sense. Everything has been strange and brittle since the lockdowns, and maybe we’re just seeing the long-term psychological bill coming due. But ‘stress’ doesn’t usually make someone’s motor skills lag like a bad internet connection. I’m filing this one under ‘probably nothing’ for my own sanity. I’m finished with my shift, the sun is actually out for once, and I am going to spend some time outside where people are moving at a normal speed. If I stay in this ward any longer, I’ll start looking for symptoms in the mirror.