Excellent article. Admirable conclusions. Roland. Toronto.
> On May 28, 2020, at 10:53 AM, V M <[email protected]> wrote: > > https://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/op-ed/2020/05/28/learning-from-lockdown > > We now know Covid-19 simultaneously attacks all vulnerabilities in its > victims. Any one of them can prove lethal: lungs, heart, kidneys, > liver, brain, nervous system. > > In uncannily similar ways, the global coronavirus emergency has become > an extraordinarily probing stress test for governance. We have learned > that no one can be defended in isolation. Nothing can be tackled > piecemeal. Either the entire body politic survives, or everything > falls apart. > > Here, the example of the United States is especially salutary, as its > coronavirus death toll spiked above 100,000 cases this week (over > three times higher than the UK, the second-worst affected country in > terms of cumulative fatalities.) > > We all know the richest nation in the world has nonetheless developed > immense structural problems, which have only grown worse in recent > decades: inequality, racism, dangerously runaway militarism, an > astonishingly broken health care system, and the steady ascent of > proto-fascist extremism exemplified by president Donald Trump. When > Covid-19 struck, these potent ingredients swirled together to > constitute a perfect storm. > > With numbers soaring each passing week, an estimated 25% of Americans > are now unemployed, with the impact burgeoning down the income ladder. > At least 30% of them have lost their job-based health insurance even > as the pandemic rages, while an unconscionable number of states > (cheered on by the President) are attempting to force unwilling > workers to “re-open the economy” by risking their lives. > > This is the only country in the world where the elementary act of > wearing a mask has become politicized to the point of sheer lunacy > (again spurred by Trump’s ox-like obduracy). The great country music > singer Johnny Cash’s daughter Rosanne tweeted that her own daughter > was abused for wearing one to buy groceries in Nashville, explaining > “she nearly died of H1N1. She was in the ICU for a week, on a > ventilator for 3 days. She CANNOT get covid. The ignorance & hatred is > so painful. She’s trying to survive.” > > One of the most astonishing lessons of the coronavirus emergency is > that many leaders and many countries maintain an insurmountable mental > block about learning from other societies they consider inferior. This > is the only explanation for why the mass of western Europe, for > example, ignored and then strenuously resisted readily apparent > solutions from Asian countries about how to cope with Covid-19. > > In this regard, it’s astonishing to note the nine worst affected > countries, as ranked by deaths proportionate to population, are all > European (the USA is number 10). Contrast to, say, Vietnam, which > shares extensive borders with China and has the comparatively huge > population of nearly 100 million, yet has kept cases down to roughly > 300, with exactly zero fatalities. > > The main difference is unquestionably simple humility, combined with > collective will. Vietnam shut schools in January (they re-opened this > month), quarantined and tested every single person who entered the > country (at government cost), and everyone started wearing masks and > social distancing from the moment the first cases were recorded. > > But look at Spain, at half the population size, yet deaths already > past 27,000. Even as infections mounted in Italy, the head of national > emergencies in Madrid claimed his country would somehow “only have a > handful of cases.” No masks, no stockpiling PPE, no strictures on > gatherings, they went stubbornly ahead with soccer matches, political > party conferences, and massive public demonstrations right into March. > Only then, abrupt lockdown. > > If denial has proven almost unimaginably costly in the West, the flip > side is that heedless panic has wrought an epochal catastrophe in > India. On March 24, when there were just 564 cases (and 10 fatalities) > the prime minister imposed the most draconian lockdown in the world > with precisely four hours warning. > > International and state borders were closed, all public transportation > ceased, and every conceivable supply line was severed overnight. > > Chaos ensued, and continues to overwhelm the country. The gargantuan > “functioning anarchy” (as described by 1960s US diplomat, John Kenneth > Galbraith) has utterly flunked the Covid-19 stress test. There is no > good news. There is no light at the end of the tunnel. What comes next > is likely to be unspeakably worse. > > It doesn’t have to be that way for other countries in the region. The > significant advantage of crafting and implementing policy in May is > being able to draw wisdom from the experience of other countries > across the previous months. > > The entire world now knows in painful detail exactly what works, and > what has failed. > > Lockdown works very well, but only if and when every constituent is > made to feel adequately secure. If any one section of the populace is > left at risk, it compromises the safety of all others. > > Each step of the way ahead demands meticulous preparation, scrupulous > implementation, and the co-operation of every member of society. > Absent any of these factors, and the health crisis can very quickly > morph into an uncontrollable humanitarian disaster.
