ESCAPING DEATH OF PANDEMIC

Everyone will die. Some will die sooner than others

Death is a scary concept for the human race from the beginning, but the
notion of maneuvering life to evade death in a global pandemic is
extremely terrifying. A pandemic alters the principle of death from a natural
phenomenon to a commodity, that depends on healthcare structure,
national economy, government policies and awareness of the general
public, to the least. But it gets worse when one resides in a country where
all these factors add up to failures even in normalcy. As a last resort, one
starts to hope for a sensible preemptive response from the leadership,
clergy and her fellow-beings. But the world seems to end for her when they
don’t bother to pay any heed either, about passing through the worst
pandemic of the human civilization. All that remains then is hope, a wish to
survive.

The world is witnessing an epidemic in the 21 st century exactly a hundred

years apart from the outbreak of an influenza virus known as the Spanish
Flu, which killed millions of people and profoundly impacted this earth. It
emerged at the very end of the World War-I. Soldiers returning home from
war helped spread the virus around the world. We end up seeing a global
event unfolded every rapidly, even at a time when population movements
were a fraction of what they are today. Far more people died in the 18-
months period of that flu than died in all of World War-I and World War-II,
somewhere in an order of 50 to 100 million deaths. In 1918, there were 1.8
billion people on the planet Earth. Today there are 7.8 billion people, an
outbreak of epidemic in this modern era of connectivity means the result
would not be 50 to 100, but hundreds of millions of people would likely die.

The COVID-19 contagion outbreak has reached Pakistan after killing

thousands of people and causing havoc around the globe. It has brought
the world to a standstill-people forced to stay indoors, international
economy on the verge of collapse, industry closed, places of worships
abandoned and children out of school. This Virus is believed to be 10 times
more lethal than the flu. But it has no legs or wings. It can neither walk nor
fly. It can’t reach us until we bring it into our homes. We are its legs and
wings.

In Pakistan, with every passing day, the number of cases contracting the
virus is increasing exponentially. Our Leadership-both political and clergy-
don't seem to be doing very well, and our healthcare system already
choked beyond capacity. This is when the peak of the pandemic hasn’t hit
us yet. It is apparent that enforcing an immediate lockdown is the only real
way to start controlling this situation. The economic impacts of complete
lockdown are undeniable. However, not taking that decision or delaying it is
also a serious health risk especially for the poor, what happens when the
virus enters the slums of the urban areas? What happens to livelihoods
when breadwinners fall ill or die?

What’s essential for the government is that we start the conversation of

more social welfare programs. Expand BISP-increase their payments and
introduce other social protection instruments under Ehsaas umbrella,
provide fiscal relaxations to help small businesses and get private sector
and NGOs involved in protecting the most vulnerable, while ensuring
essential supply chains must keep flowing - food, medicine, logistics, etc
and use the military in helping out civil administration to fast track the
relief. This should be a national call. Take the first steps, the public help will
follow.

Now we have breathing space of a few days. Build testing and relevant
health care capacity on a war footing - train health workers for contact-
tracing, re-purpose buildings of field hospitals, etc. The aggressive testing
and contact-tracing will tell us when and where we can start easing up to
bring the nation towards normalcy.

This is a national emergency and we must listen to authorities. They may

not be perfect, and we may have harsh opinions about them. But remaining
disciplined, being patient and staying organized is critical. Help the
authorities and work with them like our own. This act will provide us a
window to build critical capacities and plan ahead.

We are fighting with an unseen enemy; it is equally important to defend

our post while attacking the enemy. While we guard our post by staying
indoors to flatten the curve of the spread of the virus, we must
acknowledge our heroes on the frontline attacking it. To our medical
staffers: we are grateful for your service and sorry for our collective inaction.
To law enforcement and civil administrative officers: thank you! If there ever
was a time to prove your mettle, it is now. To those who have contracted
the virus: we are praying for you. To those in isolation and quarantine, we
understand your mayhem. To the urban poor: we stand with you.

To the elite and the privileged who are only thinking of their own interests:
the party's over. Go home. Stay there. It is time for a lockdown.

To the common man unaware of the nitty-gritty, it is a test of will and

competence. Thousands, perhaps millions, of lives depend on individual
action.

To the human race in an existential crisis, everyone has to die. Some will die
sooner than others. But we will defeat our common enemy. We shall rise.
There is always a light at the end of the tunnel.