The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus
pandemic, is an ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19), caused
by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2). It was
declared as a pandemic by WHO on 11th March 2020 just a few months
after the first case was reported on 31st December 2019 in Wuhan
city of China. Nepal went into countrywide lockdown on Chaitra 11 with only 2
cases detected. Now we are into the third month of this lockdown with over 6000
cases detected and 15 people dead with the end seemingly out of sight. So, as of
now, thinking about life after pandemic seems more like a wistful foray into
the imagination. But as it was once said by Albert Einstein– ‘Your imagination
is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.’ And certainly, there’s
no harm in a little bit indulging and thinking about life after pandemic with
the current situation being as it is.
There can be several facets
while describing life after the pandemic. Life, in general, is a complex
interaction between aspects such as political, economic, personal, emotional,
economic, social, academic, physical and many more. This unprecedented pandemic
has wreaked havoc in many of the aspects of life. Politically we can expect a
paradigm shift in priorities of our government by investing in public
healthcare and scientific studies. As history suggests the Spanish Flu of the 1920s
had spurred the research and investment into health and medicine, paving the
way for many great scientific discoveries. Economically, on a government and
individual level, we will have to face a severe global economic recession as
various studies have predicted. But, as the lockdown eases and business
resumes, we can hope that collective efforts are made to uplift the economy, especially
the severely affected low wage workers. Emotionally, many have suffered, sadly
some even had to resort to suicide. Will the situation change after pandemic?
We can hope so. All those who have spent the pandemic in lockdown, away from
family, away from home, away from their country will be looking forward to the
joyous union.
On the social aspect, we have been forced to follow a
precautionary measure termed as social distancing. This norm may continue even
if the lockdown enforced by government opens up as people are still wary of catching
an infection. Our ways of living will be certainly affected. One day, on my
social media, I read a line that left me wondering. “What if this is the new
normal?’ And what if it is? What if the life we used to live before, all those
gatherings, those sports events, those carefree social touches were a phase in
history? An age to read fondly remember? What if we are stumbling upon a new
way of living? What if there is no life after pandemic because the pandemic is
never gone? Will we have to adjust with the virus itself? Will we defeat it
like we did Smallpox or Polio? Or will we have to live with it as we did with
AIDS? Will sports be the same without
the cacophony of fans screaming their lungs out? Will public transportation be the
same? Will our festivals be the same? Will schools and colleges forever be
replaced by online classes? Will we remember to hug? Will handshake be a thing
of past? Will we long for human touch or will we fear them? Alas, we have only
questions now but even Dr. Anthony Fauci, member of the White House Coronavirus
Taskforce and one of the most known faces of the US response to the pandemic
has no answer to offer. He has reportedly told in many interviews that nobody
knows when this pandemic is over. And the answers lie safely tucked away in future.
We can only watch as reality slowly unfolds.
I know I have stressed the half-empty side of the
proverbial glass. But still, many top researchers all over the world have concluded
that the pandemic is here to stay for a while. It will take at least a year for
any effective drug or vaccine to be used for public use. So, the situation
might not be entirely implausible. So, we all must ensure we enter into life
after pandemic with a calculated optimism and precautions. We will have to live as we did never before,
a radical change. But what we humans have in abundance is adaptability. So,
there’s no doubt that we will thrive in this new way of living. And who knows, once this is all over, it will
just be a dark spot in our memory. And we will forget this pandemic like the
world forgot about far deadlier 1957 Asian Flu and 1968 Hongkong flu. This is food
for thought.
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