June 14, 2021, Commentary from my favorite sofa

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June 14, 2021, Commentary from my favorite sofa: The lockdown has been extended. In a strange way though. If one tries to fully gather the details of the extension, there might be some moments of confusion. On the one hand some places are open. How do you control the occupancy level at Mani Square to 30%? Of what? What is the denominator? Is it the official number of people allowed there? There must be a finite number written down somewhere. So will it 30% of that number at any moment in time? Clock in and clock out, so at any time the percentage stays at 30. I wonder. How do 25% of office employees get to the office if public transportation is still locked down. Wil South City Mall be open for longer hours than the local mudir dokaan (grocery store). There must be good answers to these. I have tried to figure it out, but I am still a little confused. Private vehicles need an e-pass to drive around, then how will I get to the mall? Will there be an e-pass? The entire COVID-19 experience has been akin to building a plane while flying it. It has been trial and error at all levels. I am not convinced we still have good answers to vital questions. One mask, or double mask? 34 days between vaccine shots or can it be three months. Ivermectin or Hydroxychloroquine? Drink Lysol? Maybe? It has been like a collective call stating the infamous words from Apollo 13: “Houston we have a problem.” Except there is no Houston, there is no ground control. Looking at the current extension of the lockdown the best way to put it is what a bondhu told me: “feeling restless.” Indeed, we are all restless, the uncertainty of the past several months has worn us down. This extension adds to that anxiety. What is allowed, what is not allowed? Will there be punishments for doing what is not allowed? The motivating science and logic seem to have receded in the background and it has become a necessity to do what is expected. If others extend the time between vaccines, then it is OK to do so. If another city extended the lockdown then we must invent our own lockdown. Clutching at straws. Groping in the dark. But yet we have made strides, the numbers are currently falling, the positivity rate is dipping. This wave is over. Will we now make the same mistakes that we made earlier in the year and the mistakes I see displayed around me. July 4th. The end date. It seems that is the promised date and COVID-19 will be over. Everything will be normal. Perhaps all of that will be true and we will emerge from this fog of war and the doubts will be gone. But I remain worried, there are conversations about the “next” wave. Something worrisome. Will we again be left to fend for ourselves? This current extension of the lockdown is an indicator for me, and I am still not clear how public health concerns will be addressed by this. Perhaps we will constantly adjust to the way the wind blows as suggested by Clapton.

Comments

Polly Black said…
To continue the WWI analogy of previous posts, so must they have felt who waited in the trenches through an uneasy ceasefire. Restless. Preferring action, any action, to the tense waiting in dread of it starting up again. Not knowing what the rules were now. Would the ceasefire hold if a soldier showed himself above the ground? Were they free to move about? Who knew? Who dared? Tired of caring. Tired of coping. Tired of stepping in. Stepping up. Stepping over the dead. Weary of it all. Restless in their desire to move on and be done with it.

Is this a universal pattern that has repeated itself so often throughout history in war, in plague, in famine? Are we just on the next circle? Going round and round and round in the circle game? (Couldn’t resist that last reference! 😊)
June 14, 2021 at 8:03 PM
Ananda Mitra said…
Polly many thanks for insight. Indeed we are in uncertain time, the trouble is the false sense of security setting in. Hopefully it is not false.
June 15, 2021 at 7:46 AM
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