It is now abundantly clear that focusing all effort on defeating Covid-19 is foolhardy. Latest predictions now assume circa 2024 before we witness significant demise of this virus and its variants. So, it is time for thinkers out there to begin popping out suggestions around how society can coexist with this and future pandemics, without the mass-cowering (lockdowns) that have been the only recourse to date, with very patchy success in reducing the spread and certainly not had much of an impact on the tragic death toll!
After 9+ months of “working from home” in 2020, many closed that year feeling hopeful and thinking 2021 will open a new chapter, but by mid January, despondency has set in. Unlikely we will have some semblance of normalcy till summer
So, is it not time for governments to deploy measures that will focus on accommodating this virus, with clever changes to how we live, instead of the current ‘all or nothing’ approach?
Permanent spacing (drastic reduction of number of allowable passengers) on mass transit (planes, trains, buses etc.), indefinite continuation of social distancing, mandatory use of masks etc., effective testing and ‘track & trace’, quarantine of international travellers (except for those with confirmed negative tests ahead of each flight) and other measures so we can get back out there and end this unsustainable cowering! We cannot keep locking down society as there is as yet no definitive date for this virus to disappear
Knowledge can improve the world we live in 