Lessons On Coronavirus Lockdowns

It seems the medical field has spooked the governments all over the world to take drastic action over the killer corona virus. Due to bureaucratic thinking, the world leaders had no choice but to go into lock down and show the world that they were equally concerned and not backward in protecting human lives.

It did not matter if these steps made millions of people jobless, businesses go broke, airline companies collapse, cruise operators and tourism shut up shop. It did not matter what happened to the economy and what happens to people's lives as a consequence. The main aim was to save human beings at any cost. How can anyone criticize or argue against such a noble cause?

But how can this horrendous cost be justified when the result at the end isn't clear at all? It isn't going to seem to be a rational decision for me. Should the steps taken stopped or eradicated the disease or killed the virus, one could understand the lock down. But it only slows down the spread of the virus. Once the lock down is lifted, like any viral illness, the infection must eventually spread through society, killing many individuals the way Influenza virus did until individuals developed immunity against it. Unfortunately, those among us with a weak immune system would undoubtedly be the hardest hit.

In my mind, it really is the bureaucratic believing that has created this problem for us. So what is bureaucratic thinking? It's simplistic thinking employed by governments, businesses, institutions and professionals all around the world, where one goes by only the letter of the law, not the spirit of the law. In it, there is no usage of ethics, morals or common sense. One is not allowed to think for oneself. All you will need to do is follow the preset rules. It is designed to absolve the person of the complicated thinking or feeling of guilt because if you followed the letter of the law, your actions will almost always be considered correct. No-one could blame you if anything went wrong. It induces bullying and authoritative type of behavior in certain individuals.

So when the doctors first confronted the corona virus infection, their immediate response was to isolate people affected by the virus. The medical advice to the government would be to take urgent action. They warned them that should they did not take immediate action, there could be a huge number of people dead and also the medical facilities will not be able to cope. Please remember the health sector doesn't care about what happens to the economy or what happens to people's lives when you have a lock down. Their only concern is to save human lives.

Now the federal government is placed in a situation where they are damned should they listened to this advice or damned whenever they did not. To ignore this advice would be political suicide. They had to show the world that they were more concerned with saving human lives than protecting the economy. They had no choice.

Thus we have been now under lock-down with more bureaucratic restrictions and control everywhere. Politicians are justifying their actions by bragging about flattening the curve of the spread of the virus. You don't have to be a prophet to predict this because we have all stopped socializing. They're, simply, ignoring the rising curve of massive unemployment and economic lockdown disaster. It is time they started looking at the economy and what is happening to individuals around them. The lock down can't go on forever. One has to expect the curve to increase once the lock down is lifted. Are we going to go into lock down each time a whole new virus attacks society this way? Should we not prepare ourselves with more field hospitals, quarantine camps etc. in the future or perhaps now?

The federal government is continuously listening to the advice from medical experts that can only think in one of the ways, and that is the bureaucratic way. They cannot think in any other way. These doctors are just concerned with saving lives at any cost. They don't care about the economy or what happens to the individuals who lose their jobs. If governments keep listening to these experts, how can we possibly arrive at a sensible approach to managing this problem? Why can not we isolate folks that are susceptible and infectious, and allow the rest of the community live their normal life? At some time, the government must decide and bite the bullet.