The return of anxiety

I read in l’Acadie Nouvelle on October 13 that alcohol consumption rose sharply during the pandemic, in particular because of anxiety. Some even started drinking again “after years of abstinence,” the newspaper said.

I wouldn’t be surprised to hear doctors say that the demand for painkillers or other drugs that can reduce stress or anxiety has increased dramatically since the coronavirus returned to our regions.

At the start of the pandemic, last March, it was the fear of the unknown that inhabited us. We didn’t know what the coronavirus was. Right now, it’s the fear of the known that worries us.

I believed this summer that COVID-19 had disappeared from our circles, since the outbreak in March. In fact, I was deluding myself or “deluding myself” as Senator Pascal Poirier, this great Acadian, native of Shediac, said.

Every evening while listening to the news bulletin, we were given the number of cases in other provinces and even in other countries. New Brunswick was often among the last provinces in terms of number of cases.

My anxiety was diminishing. I told myself that there was little chance that COVID-19 would return to our small province with all the measures put in place by the government, health professionals and even ordinary people.

Right now, we are experiencing another wave of coronavirus in the Restigouche and Greater Moncton areas. The number of cases is still limited, but it is no fun for those affected or their families, and the worst part is that we do not know the duration or the extent of this wave.

Marcel Arseneau
Moncton