Hello world. I've come to read your quarantine!

In gay culture, “reading” is the act of pointing out a flaw in someone else (usually publicly and in front of them) and exaggerating it.

I am Diego, I am a proud gay activist and, after almost 60 days of quarantine, to quote the famous Detox (not the diet but the drag queen) “I’ve HAD it, officially!”

Please, do not get me wrong. It is not that I am against all the effort the countries and their governments are doing to stop this pandemic. Neither that I am not willing to follow the necessary measures to prevent infection or trying to be in my home most of the time (though for my mental health I have been going for a run alone every other day).

It is the fact that the media and the people only seem to care about how many new cases are we having every day, how many have died, and what TikTok are we sharing today to laugh away the lockdown. We are turning frivolous counting people as numbers, simple IDs that are losing a battle against an invisible enemy (though not invincible), while we sit distracted in our phones.

I know these times are difficult. I am doing my best effort to keep my companies running, innovating in the different foundations I work for, and holding the salary of almost 30 people until we pass these times and adapt to the “new normal”. But, at the end of the day I am upset that some people give me the evil eye for going out for a walk, or a run, saying that I am being selfish. That I do not care.

And what I say to those people, is that being gay we have learnt to live with an invisible enemy since the 80’s. Every time we meet someone in a bar, or an app, the LGBTQ community faces the daunting truth that HIV is out there waiting to get any of us who dares to forget to use a condom.

For those who like to measure the COVID-19 in numbers, according to UNAIDS [1] 1.7 million people became newly infected with HIV and 770.000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses (end 2018). Since the start of that epidemic almost 75 million people have become infected with HIV, almost half are dead of the disease by now.

Someone said, “you can’t compare. That has a cure and is not that you can catch it anywhere”. My answer is simple…tell me how many people get free (or at least not expensive) access to the treatments for prevention (Like Truvada or “prep”) or post-exposure. Most governments do not care. And the same happens with other pandemics such as malnutrition, access to drinking water, dengue, cholera, corruption, and lack of sex education.

The focus on COVID will last for several more months, that’s for sure. But at the same time, this means that we are turning our heads away from other issues that still matter. So, forgive me for not watching every second of the news on this new prime time “Miss K-rona”, but I don’t want to lose my focus on my values and my own fights. I know, I am a Shaper, but sometimes we may be able to say “I’ve had it, officially”.

Note: This post was part of the project  "The Shape I'm in", from the Global Shapers Philadelphia Hub part of the World Economic Forum. Link: https://shapeiamin.netlify.app/post/hello-world-ive-come-to-read-your-quarantine-1-by-diego-tomasino/

[1] https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet