GETTING OUT OF 2ND LOCKDOWN

 

The 2^nd country-wide full lockdown here in England is soon going to end. From of March some restrictions will disappear. Then gradually more easing will followin phases . Is life going back to normal, as we were before? No one thinks it will, certainly not in the next few years.

 Just look at what happened when last total lockdown was lifted. Only after a few days immediately after the lockdown ended the euphoria disappeared. Mask, social distancing, cleaning of hands all continued and constantly reminded of a terrible   enemy lurking just around the corner as one ventured out. The sense of freedom was very short-lived.

Many rebelliously flouted the restrictions. This cohort was not homogenous. Apart from young, insane and habitually irresponsible people it also consisted of some who as a principle, objected to any compromise of basic human rights. Most deplorable were from a particularly opportunistic group of political and business leaders who vehemently opposed it for utterly selfish gains.

Witnessing them just multiplied the sense of impending danger. And soon the case numbers started increasing and hospitals started filling up. Government ministers had to chew their hats and started again imposing increasing degrees of restrictions, finally culminating into another total lockdown.

So far 2.7 million people have died worldwide, 126,000 in UK alone. Many more survived but still suffering from serious long term ill effects.  The whole world economy still in free fall.   

This lockdown is about to finish here but will the same cycle of lockdown- liberty- lockdown repeat again?

Well, this time, we got two powerful allies to help us, the vaccines against this virus (SARS-CoV-2) and our much-enhanced knowledge about and the disease Covid-19.

Both of these powerful tools have only been possible because many countries shared information and resources, closely cooperated and invested heavily in scientific research.

One can easily see if mutual trust and cooperation had started at the very beginning of this crisis in Wuhan the world would not have suffered this much.

All of us live in a single precarious air bubble, the atmosphere
surrounding a single round rock, floating in a hostile infinite space, there is no place for petty nationalism and regional protectionist rackets. The earlier we learn this, better prepared we will be for further global existential onslaughts.