Letter from Pakistan

By: Fauzia Khan, Mountaineer News Contributor

Posted: April 21, 2020 | 01:40AM EST

Lahore, Pakistan - My school is closed and we are isolated in our homes. I worry about my children. My son is in Australia and my daughter is in Islamabad, Pakistan. I have three grandkids and I have not seen them for more then a month. This social isolation is very stressful.

In Pakistan we visit friends and family regularly, go out to eat a lot and , well my teaching job keeps me busy. We have had outbreaks like this before but never anything like this. Testing abilities are limited and the actual number of cases appear low. I worry about poor people who have no social welfare net to help. If they don’t work, they starve and if they do, they have a high risk of getting infected. People are coming to hospitals and are dying. We do not know if they died of corona or something else. I guess if you don’t check it, you don’t have it.

The government decided to help by giving some money to people. People showed in droves to get the money. There was a stampede and people got injured and some died. I’m sure with the lack of social distancing, more people will get the disease.

Some people are ignoring the quarantine. It’s economic and some ignorance. Government is not helping much. The Prime Minister has been useless. I guess Americans know how that feels.

We are hoping that eventually god will look kindly on us and get rid of this virus.

I worry about people here and in America. I worry about humanity. We all should be kind to each other and hope for the best.

Fauzia with her grandkids.