COVID19: The world was not prepared for a pandemic

The world was not prepared for a pandemic. Countries were not equipped with enough resources to identify the risk, deal with it and minimise the damage. They were busy pouring funds in everything but not in something which could combat this unforeseeable pandemic. No one could imagine the economic implications the pandemic could cause, trillions of dollars washed off the market. Coronavirus hit the world in January 2020 and in three months the world has crumbled down and there is no clear escape. It showed the world how unprepared it was. The wealthiest and the most equipped countries could not do much but to face the wrath of this deadly virus. The economy is tumbling down at an unexpected rate. Too much efforts have been put in by the governments across the world. Too much resources have been deployed, a lot of money has been sanctioned for the fight against the virus but no one seems to be a clear winner. Everyone is just thinking to minimise the damage and no one seems prepared for the future.

Coronavirus is more than a pandemic. This situation is no less than a war. It has left us with very few choices. We are already witnessing a lot of changes. Social distancing is the new way of living. Countries have sealed their borders. The airlines sector has gone for a toss and tourism completely slaughtered. The world around us is completely shut at least for some good 3-4 months. No hangouts, no parties, no strolling down the streets, no gathering, no movies, no shopping – everything that we were used to of doing is not normal any more. Lock yourselves down is what the situation demands. If you are a little casual about the virus situation that’s an alarm right there. You have to be very very careful of what you do, where you go, whom you meet. There are just too many restrictions this pandemic has put on us. The virus can even hit us harder if we are not much careful about it.

The aftereffects this virus is going to have on the whole world is unimaginable. There is a big uncertainty that is ahead of us. We are living in a world of uncertainty and there is much more to come. The world around is on a long pause and a resume seems very far fetched. We cannot expect the virus to just vanish some day and our lives become easy. It would take a lot of time and effort to find a vaccine that works and beyond that making it available to the whole world would be some task. No one is sure how long this pandemic will keep disrupting the normal life around the world. The economic disaster which the pandemic has already propelled will make many lives very miserable. We are riding a wave of uncertainty with almost no hope of the wave hitting the shore any time soon and even if hits the shore, who knows about the damage already done.

COVID19: The air is too fresh to breathe. We need smaller lockdowns regularly.

After the first few days of 21 days lockdown in India, the air started to get better. With almost the entire population locked in their houses, no vehicles to move on the roads, major industries closed down – there was a major change in the pollution level in the country. I am living in Gurgaon, one of the most polluted cities in the country (Delhi is even worse). During Diwali (Nov. 2019) the air was quite dangerous to breathe. I remember I started using air-purifier and even bought a lot of flower pots for the indoor air to be clean. It was not much of a relief. The air outdoors was filled with smoke and dirt. The air around was hazy and there was a low visibility than usual, seemed like it were cloudy outside for many days. I had developed a severe allergy because of the bad quality of air. Here is a brief of the Diwali 2019 situation.

Now, the most surprising part was people not realising it. The government did its job by asking people to use less vehicle and more of public transport but that did not help much. People would still use their private vehicles, the industries would still run and it took nearly a month or so for the air to be become breathable – which was still in a bad category on AQI index. The problem is no one cares much about the air they breathe. They do not even think it is affecting their lives. I mean, they will complain now and then but no one does his/her bit. I am even careless many a times. I do not shut down my car’s engine on the red light very often. Caring the environment is not in our character. We are knowingly/unknowingly destroying it minute by minute and we do not even think about it.

Come to think of the current situation. We are under lockdown and it just took 4 days for the AQI index of Gurgaon to drop to as low as 25, which I do not think is ever possible in normal scenario given our attitudes. My question is – should not we try for it? Even if we keep it under 100 on a regular basis, imagine the impact it is going to have. Imagine the younger generation breathing a fresher air and growing healthier. Have we ever thought about it? Now that the governments across the world have taken drastic measures to fight Coronavirus situation, we should and we must try some extreme measures for keeping the environment clean. Why not regular lockdowns, something like every fortnight. After all it is for everyone’s benefit. The main question is – do we really care?

The lockdown started on 25th March. Here are couple of screenshots showing the pollution level in city on 27th March and 29th March.