Comments by "Cinderball" (@cinderball1135) on "Coronavirus: The Politics of Pandemics" video.
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Scary as it might be, Coronavirus doesn't look like a civilisation-ender.
What it does do, I think, is highlight the challenges faced by a growing world population - especially as that population increasingly moves away from the countryside and into densely-packed cities. Our approaches to hygiene, travel and even holidaymaking are likely to change as a result of Covid-19. For one thing, I wonder if this might be the next nail in the coffin for the cruise-ship-holiday industry. These ships have never been a sustainable way to provide holidays, serving as nothing more than factories for pollution, and hothouses for the spread of disease.
I also speculate that our fashion may change quite drastically over the coming years. Masks will go from being a novelty, to being an unwelcome intrusion, to being a normal fact of life, again, especially in those densely-packed cities. Wearing gloves may once again become the norm, and shaking hands may become passé - even frowned upon! - a gesture to be reserved only for the most honoured and esteemed of business partners.
It also highlights the need for better public information services - where there are ads for fake products online, and scam treatments for the disease, there should be bulletins from credible public health authorities, advisories as to which areas we should avoid. There should be a campaign to raise public awareness of the need to protect the vulnerable and the elderly, by getting our vaccines (instead of freeloading off other people's herd immunity), and public health classes provided, as standard, in every school.
Finally, we need to start funding the NHS properly again - we cannot have A&E departments operating on emergency footing year-round. If the NHS can't stay open when we aren't facing the teeth of a pandemic, how do we expect it to cope when the sick and dying start flooding in?
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Yeah no. It may be satisfying to imagine retribution against inept politicians, closing the borders at this stage wouldn't have helped much.
Controlling the spread of a pandemic is about more than containing the virus - it's about containing the social damage inflicted by people going into panic, and markets collapsing. If we shut down all international travel and trade, yes, you probably could stop the spread of the virus - but you'd have a humanitarian crisis on your hands, as nations like ours (which import huge amounts of food) would abruptly face acute shortages.
Even if it were as simple as just closing the borders, how exactly would you "sue" politicians for that? Who would you sue, for starters? The Prime Minister? The Cabinet? The entire Parliament? And what would be your charge? Negligence? Do you think you could construct a compelling, bulletproof case for that? The burden of proof would be enormously high - and politicians have walked free from much greater, and much better-evidenced charges.
TL/DR: if you want real change, what we need is to elect better politicians - not empty slogans or empty threats.
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