What
a year 2020 was. Whoops, sorry, a month. Which seemed so long that it really
did feel like a year. Let's recall: Iran and USA conflict (you've seen all the
WW3 jokes, haven't you?), Australia turned into a living hell (yes, I know the
fires started before 2020, but still), a tragedy of losing one of the best
sportsmen and then the modern plague. What a year indeed. All of this sounds
somewhat familiar, perhaps a little like the book of Revelation... You know,
the four lads on their colorful horses (war, plague, famine, death). Ummm so are we in the midst of the apocalypse? I don't know, you tell me. But I am not going to talk about the Biblical prophecies.
Let's
focus on one particular horseman, the one with the crown. The plague, the virus,
the potential pandemic (or the beer). And the disease recently christened as
COVID-19. Five letters, two numbers, a great deal of panic hiding behind it.
Individuals' posture in the face of danger (sounds a bit like Lithuanian exam
essay topic, doesn't it?) - what is it? How do we react to this? How should we
react?
I
can tell you what I have seen so far. No surgical masks in pharmacies in London and other cities – they were all sold out, even though technically they do not really protect
from the particles of viruses (only from the droplets of cough or sneeze). But
what they might protect is our state of mind. One puts on a mask like an
omnipotent shield and suddenly it all seems less dangerous. In fact, one
doesn't even need to wear one - the sheer knowledge that you possess a mask
creates the feeling of (probably very much false) security. And I guess us
humans need this security- it puts our minds at ease while also acting like a
band-aid. But at some point band-aids need to be ripped off. So, masks are sold
out, the pharmaceutical industry is booming, the media is exploiting this new field
of profit, yet the Chinese (or perhaps even global) economy is suffering, what
else?
We
also have panic. Panic is a dangerous phenomenon, you see - we do need a very
mild level of it, but the line between rationality and madness is very thin. Too
much panic and we have a huge issue with devastating effects on health,
economy, social relations. Too little panic and, well, we also have devastating
effects on health, economy and social relations. Panic leads to irrationality and suddenly
us, educated humans with high morals, turn into distrusting and less humane
creatures, desperately seeking safety. The current level of panic is simply insane. No, not even in the UK - in Lithuania, where merely one case of the coronavirus was detected. But this was enough for people to go crazy. With media stirring the existing level of chaos (because there is nothing more interesting to write about), packages of cereal, cans, surgical masks, hand sanitizer are being swept out of the supermarket shelves. I repeat myself - one detected case. It gets better though - one person even locked his wife in the bathroom suspecting her of having covid-19. Rational much, huh?And does this mass psychosis help? Well it does contribute to the profits of the supermarkets, you can't deny it. And then there are cases of distrust and
suspicion: some are avoiding any possible encounter with Chinese, and
if one Chinese-looking person coughs or sneezes people start to perceive
him/her as a threat to the society (and it doesn't matter that the so-called
Chinese is actually British and might have never been to China at all). So, we
end up with distrust, discrimination, anger and prejudices - as if we did not
have enough of these before.
This
panic inflicts fear: while some of the healthy ones are scared of human contact
(God forbid someone coughs near me!), those who are infected or more exposed to
the coronavirus might be scared to admit it because of the shame and fear they
might face. Saying you're from Wuhan or even mainland China is likely to lead
to suspicious glances and people keeping distance from you. But some are more
selfish than scared – trying to hide and temporarily reduce fever with medicine
while going through temperature check at the airports and contributing to the
spread of the virus. What one thinks about when he’s ill is probably not the
safety of others or stopping the spread of the virus through avoiding
traveling, human contact and isolating oneself. No, people think of the
discomfort, disruption of their plans and the danger they themselves are
facing.
Another
issue of the human beings is our short attention-span: the horsemen might still
be here, but we simply don't pay as much attention to it. We need some other
War in Donbass or Syria, other migrant crisis, other Siberia and Amazon fire,
other potential WW3, Australia's disaster and virus. The situation might
escalate further and get worse, but the initial shock effect is gone - at first
seeing the death rate is scary, it makes us nervous, engaged and intrigued.
After seeing the same numbers every day, people just stop paying attention.
Everything that becomes a norm, a routine, a repeated action, even the most
terrifying phenomena, does not surprise us and the media moves on to yet
another dramatic story.
So
how can this all be happening? How us, modern and progressive humans are
possibly facing a pandemic and a virus we know so little about? It is as
terrifying, weird and absurd as the situation in Camus’ novel (yes, I know the
Plague is a metaphor, but we can also interpret it literally, okay?? and this COVID-19 situation sort of makes us face the absurd). Wuhan
(sounds a bit like Oran, doesn’t it?) is still on lockdown and just like Tarrou (spoiler alert),
the doctor who tried to warn others about the dangers of the Coronavirus was tested
positive himself and died. The difference is that, at
this point, Covid-19, contrary to the plague, is not limited to one or even a
few cities. Moreover, the rate and means of transmission are far more dangerous
and rapid. China has some experience with coronaviruses – recall SARS outbreak
in 2002. However, the situation now is different: the virus we are facing is new and China has become one of the biggest economies in the world today,
responsible for a total of around 15% of
global GDP. We don’t yet know what impact this current outbreak will have
globally, but it will probably far greater than that of SARS.
And I am being a bit negative and cynical again, aren't I? I know we can't blame people. The authorities are (probably) doing the best they can and taking the necessary precautionary measures. But it's simply the nature of the virus that aggravates the issue - it's incredibly easily transmittable and incredibly difficult to track - especially in this age of globalization. Closing borders has not been effective - and is not feasible, considering the extent of globalization. I guess we just have to stop panicking (do I contradict myself?) and somehow deal with it. Wash your hands, people, you will be fine.
And I am being a bit negative and cynical again, aren't I? I know we can't blame people. The authorities are (probably) doing the best they can and taking the necessary precautionary measures. But it's simply the nature of the virus that aggravates the issue - it's incredibly easily transmittable and incredibly difficult to track - especially in this age of globalization. Closing borders has not been effective - and is not feasible, considering the extent of globalization. I guess we just have to stop panicking (do I contradict myself?) and somehow deal with it. Wash your hands, people, you will be fine.
Well that did not age well - 2021 me
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