29th DAY OF MY SOCIAL
ISOLATION
7997 POSITIVE, 249 DEAD (3.11%),
774 RECOVERED (9.68%)
I didn’t write yesterday because
I was too occupied (and then eventually tired of) with reading. I spent about 8
hours binge-reading and therefore it was a near perfect day. Naturally, I’ve
been reading about COVID, my recent obsession. I read some pretty fantastic
stuff. Links to some curated articles are at the end of this post. Please do
read to burst some myths and know some history. It’s damn interesting.
(Cool new term to know: ‘Crimson Contagion’ – It’s a 2019
simulation of US’s Dept. of Health & Human services that imagines a flu
Pandemic starting in China & spreading around the world. The simulation
predicted about 0.6 million people would die in US alone. )
Anyway for today, let me begin
with acknowledging, that the covid situation is here to stay. Accept it or
ignore it. Either ways it’s going to happen. The world neither has enough
infrastructure nor medical staff to keep on fighting it without a proven
medication or a vaccine.
The news of 91 new cases in South
Korea all among the ‘recovered’ patients signals to a pandemic which is here to
stay much much longer than we’d like. However it’s not something the world hadn’t
predicted earlier.
The research groups,
epidemiologists, virologists, doctors and medical experts have repeatedly
warned of an imminent pandemic and the fact that we’re not equipped to deal
with it. And one can sense the truth in it by acknowledging just one fact.
The 1918 Spanish Flu killed more
people (50 Million – 100 Million estimated figures) than World War I. It was a
world-wide pandemic that affected people of all age groups, race, and
countries and yet, we haven’t studied about it in our history books.
(Read this for more details & facts: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200325-covid-19-the-history-of-pandemics)
We’ve been so confident of modern
medicine that we’ve side stepped all potential risks in the pursuit of economic
power and bio-nuclear-tech supremacy. Regardless of repeated warnings about the
abuse and over-use of antibiotics, we continue to buy them without
prescriptions, pop them without doctor’s advice and modulate the dosage as per
our feelings. The fall-out of the same is antibiotic resistance and development
of super bugs who will mutate to be resistant to any known antibiotic to
humans. This could lead to even common and otherwise, insignificant infections
becoming fatal.
‘Delhi Super Bug’ is our version of one such multi-drug resistant strain of bacteria. Thousands of people across the world are already dying of this resistance.
‘Delhi Super Bug’ is our version of one such multi-drug resistant strain of bacteria. Thousands of people across the world are already dying of this resistance.
Basically, today it’s a virus. In
2021, it could be a bacteria. Who knows? Climate Change, emerging
bio-technology that can be disastrous to humanity, nuclear wars, loss of
bio-diversity are all causal agents of a potential catastrophe that could wipe out our generation for certain and potentially our species, as we know it today.
We could first begin with
accepting a fact, that we’re facing a magnanimous problem which has absolutely
no short term solutions. It’s only a long tedious process of locking down and
letting go of capitalist ambitions that could buy us time to find vaccines and
medicines. Until then, we’re to stay back in our homes, as isolated as we can
be. The 'isolation solution' is a medieval one. It worked then and it’s the only
thing we know, will work now.
Unfortunately our global assembly
lines are not built to support such unforeseen lockdown situations. We’re bound
to run out of basic raw material to build essentials. And food. And medicines.
The economically weak strata of the society is already facing crazy summer
heat. We too will, eventually. Perhaps, the PM can consider providing a base
income to the unemployed and daily wage earners to support them in such times.
(It’s been done across many countries: - US, Italy, Spain and even UAE has
opened an option for Filipinos there to apply for crisis cash aid.)
I want to remind people, that
these are the kind of emergencies, you saved up all your money for. So spend on
keeping yourselves and others safe. And spend on helping anyone you can.
Offsetting expenditure for anything that can put you at risk is damn stupid.
And if you’re protecting yourself, please remember, you’re protecting about 3
more people. Which is the objective, this month, next month, this year.
Early warning is that the world isn’t going back to how we knew it, at
least until the end of this year. So brace yourselves and prep up for it.
We can do so by keeping calm,
cutting slack, displaying patience and letting go. Whether we live with our
partners or families or flat mates or just by ourselves. We got to keep it
steady and chill. That’s probably the best way of living this through.
There is no reason for this picture to be here. I clicked it two days back during the full moon night. I found it soothing so decided to put it up since the context is so stay cool & calm, just like the moon.
Before I conclude, special
mention for a friend Kriti Rawal and her sister, Shruti Rawal. Shruti’s EWOKE
studio is trying to make hemp masks (hemp is better than cotton as it is naturally resistant to bacteria, can be re-used, is ecofriendly and pretty sturdy)
given the situation. They are located in Hyderabad and have been struggling to
find the raw materials to give this initiative a go. (https://instagram.com/ewoke.studio/ )
If anyone knows elastic, fabric suppliers who are still holding some stocks, please do get in touch. Also, thumbs up for these guys who’re actually trying to do something useful. Proud of you both.
They've made a batch and distributed it to the police personnel working hard to ensure we all remain safe! See pics below:-
If anyone knows elastic, fabric suppliers who are still holding some stocks, please do get in touch. Also, thumbs up for these guys who’re actually trying to do something useful. Proud of you both.
Until tomorrow, much love.
PS: Celebrities who live in the same house and still do excessive PDA
on Instagram are really annoying. Please stop being so silly.
Also today’s recommended reading list:-
1. Covid-19:
The history of pandemics
2. Why
catastrophes can change the course of humanity
3. Blaming
China for coronavirus isn’t just dangerous. It missed the point
