© Getty Images / Furkan Abdula / Anadolu Agency
The question as to what our future will look like post-Covid is becoming a frightful thing to contemplate. And this goes beyond health fears. Will humanity emerge from the current emergency with its honorable customs intact?
Dr David Nabarro, a professor at Imperial College London and special envoy to the World Health Organization (WHO), has made a startling
announcement: There is no guarantee that a vaccine against the coronavirus will "appear at all," he said, and even if it does, it may not pass all the "tests of efficacy and safety." That comment should give us more than just pause; it should give us outright alarm.
Currently, there are highly influential individuals, not least of all Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who argue that we'll only get back to some semblance of normalcy when everyone has had their vaccine shot. Gates - who is heavily invested in pharmaceutical companies - went so far as to say that "mass gatherings," which could mean anything from a funeral to a football match, may not return "at all" without a universal vaccine. Now we're being duly informed that such a day may never arrive.
Before we convert our homes into bunkers and our communities into no-go zones, we desperately need a Plan B.
There is no way we can continue proclaiming, at least with a straight face, that we're members of a healthy and robust society if, at the same time, we're forced to endure endless lockdowns and quarantines behind surgical masks. Although some short-term social distancing may be a reasonable method of defeating Covid-19, such a strategy cannot last forever.
In defense of custom and common sense
In mankind's past battles against a long line of enemies, an unspoken rule took precedence, which is that people continued with their regular customs and traditions for as long as humanly possible.
To halt the normal flow of life when confronted by an adversary was considered an admission of defeat. In our present fight against an invisible virus, however, the old rules of engagement have been rewritten. Unity and solidarity are no longer looked upon as invaluable assets; in fact, they've become potentially deadly liabilities. We would be foolish to think this attitude, borne out of understandable fear, will not have long-term repercussions.
Comment: The stated goal of the various guidelines for social distancing, masks, and so forth were to 'flatten the curve' and stop the hospital system from being overwhelmed. However, we know the virus
isn't as deadly as was originally thought and that
hospitals aren't being overwhelmed, so why are government officials and various talking heads continuing to insist that we keep these guidelines that
don't work, have
negative unintended consequences, and aren't necessary?
Could it be that those at the top want to keep people in a perpetual state of fear so they can continue to strip away people's rights and freedoms little by little until they control every aspect of people's lives? Was this never really about 'flattening the curve' and really about 'flattening the people'?
Comment: The stated goal of the various guidelines for social distancing, masks, and so forth were to 'flatten the curve' and stop the hospital system from being overwhelmed. However, we know the virus isn't as deadly as was originally thought and that hospitals aren't being overwhelmed, so why are government officials and various talking heads continuing to insist that we keep these guidelines that don't work, have negative unintended consequences, and aren't necessary?
Could it be that those at the top want to keep people in a perpetual state of fear so they can continue to strip away people's rights and freedoms little by little until they control every aspect of people's lives? Was this never really about 'flattening the curve' and really about 'flattening the people'?