Opinion | The coronavirus pandemic ends the illusion of every man for himself
- The global pandemic shows us the interconnected reality of our existence, where problems easily cross borders and morph
- The virus cannot be contained through force alone, but depends on us working together to respond and adapt to changing conditions
Now that most of us have been under lockdown for more than a month, how have we coped emotionally, economically, socially and politically?
For almost everyone, we have been stressed out of our minds. It is difficult to think rationally or objectively when we confront our own mortality. But tough choices have to made in the months ahead as we contemplate our post-lockdown future. Online learning platform Course Hero’s vice-president, Tomas Pueyo, proposes the option of “the hammer and the dance”.
The mitigation option – to let the infection run its course while trying to moderate its peak – is too slow, threatening to overwhelm our hospital facilities.
We need a hammer to contain the spread quickly and aggressively. After we have “hammered” the virus (suppressed the spread), then comes the dance. The tough part is how to manage this dance until we find a vaccine.
The reproduction number of a virus indicates how contagious it is. If we keep the number to less than one, meaning each infection causes less than one new infection, the epidemic will die down. To do so means wearing masks, keeping social distance, and living and working very differently. With such restrictions comes massive economic costs.