COVID-19 and the air surrounding it

[Asolsutsesvyl]

Here's a more sociopolitical and EU-centered perspective.

So far, what's happened is that countries have chosen very different approaches initially, and then most of them clamp down and shut things down more and more over time and disturb the general functioning of society. The closing of borders between countries adds to this. The result is a short-term deep economic crisis, bankruptcies and the threat of bankruptcy for many smaller businesses, and an all-around lack of level-headedness. All of it basically the result of doing something in order to do something, in part unwisely, in part perhaps wisely in terms of trying to avoid having the population go really bonkers in response to a "lack of leadership". The hysteria and calls for "strong leadership" have made some draw parallels to the 1930s, in terms of a pictured worst case outcome of the great hysteria.

Even if things return to basically how they were following the wasting of a great amount of resources, the hysteria surrounding the coronavirus will likely do many times more harm than the virus.

A good intention for humanity during the current "crisis" may perhaps be to borrow from Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "DON'T PANIC!", in whatever way may correspond to big, friendly, comforting letters.


Here in Sweden, it's also interesting to note how, over the past years, politicians have been underfunding the healthcare system, its workers suffering great stress and overwork. Now, all those prior savings and down-sizings done despite waves of protest by those who work in healthcare suddenly give way to huge spendings, both locally and country-wide, in efforts to reverse the under-sizing of general healthcare preparedness as quickly as possible. The vigorously debated savings of so and so many millions in past years now all seem rather petty, in view of the large spending suddenly done.

This could also turn out bad timing for Britain. The post-Brexit time window for new trade- and finance-related agreements with the EU has been noted to be too short for truly good results. Now, in practice, it seems to end up even shorter, given what time will now probably be spent on. But it is possible that the EU and Britain will agree to change the time window in view of the situation.