Our Failure to Comply with “Stay-at-Home” Nears a Year
By Aurelio Pedroso
HAVANA TIMES – It seems that COVID-19 is gaining momentum, and these past twelve months confirm this, and it won’t stop until the entire population gains immunity.
Figures are growing at an alarming rate. Dr. Francisco Duran, the national director of Epidemiology, continues to repeat, every day, just how complex it is to keep the situation under control. He notes how infectious the disease is, as well as warning us calmly that we can win this unusual battle if we all do our part.
Two factors are particularly important. First of all, staying at home, which is what people have done the least, with the exception of some of the elderly.
Many people are outside, and they aren’t exactly going for a walk, but standing in long and never-ending food lines. The relevant authorities haven’t found a satisfactory solution for that yet.
Number two, the announcement that was repeated to death in the beginning, which has been accepted by the population in a very irresponsible way: Learning to live with the virus. In other words, if my neighbor gets it, it has nothing to do with me.
There are quite a few factors that have contributed to this, in spite of experts and government efforts. Some heads have had to spin and be replaced in one center, institution, province or another.
When we see the unpleasant one-year statistics on March 11th, maybe we’ll understand that not everything we do has been OK. February has seen new records in deaths, number of cases and hospital admissions ever since those three Italians arrived in the colonial city Trinidad.
No matter how much or little we can do, it will be the vaccine in any four of its forms, that will impose the order we need to be able to work on the long road of setting things straight in this country.
The most promising vaccine, in stage 3 of clinical trials, is Soberana 02, with just over 40,000 volunteers. Others will have to wait a good while. As to our other problems, the answers won’t come out of our certified labs, but out of ministries such as Economy, Labor, Agriculture, Finances and Prices, to name a few.
It is quite evident all humans to some degree are the same. When it comes to “stay at home” orders as pronounced by public health authorities, in this case Canada, whether, provincial or federal, some people either do not want to listen or out rightly ignore the mandated decree altogether putting all of us in jeopardy.
As Aurelio states the world has had to endure this pestering pandemic for almost a year now and it seems worldwide we are no further ahead. In Canada, specifically the province of Ontario the provincial government decree – “stay at home” – instituted months ago has been lifted for the majority of the province except for Toronto, Peel and York where the virus is still very prevalent. The case count has decreased but not significantly.
Now, the world needs to deal with COVID – 19 variants coming from the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil as the initial virus mutates. Even though Canada now has four virus vaccine varieties: Pfizer, Moderna, Astrazenca – and soon Johnson and Johnson, the battle is still very ongoing.
In Cuba, “Many people are outside, and they aren’t exactly going for a walk, but standing in long and never-ending food lines.” That situation is very unfortunate and no fault of the residents, on one hand trying to obey public health authorities, yet on the other hand needing so desperately to feed their families. I
In Canada, many people are inside because of the cold Canadian winters. This is why the public health authorities have had to either close or severely limit capacity in all indoor activities whether they be restaurants, hockey arenas, schools, cinemas, and churches. As the weather improves, health authorities believe the number of COVID cases will fall as more people go outside and Canada being such a big, wide open space country, there will be fewer person to person contacts, therefore fewer transmissions.
Cuba’s tourism industry has been devastated as airports and passenger restrictions have all but eliminated any type of travel. Here, in Canada the federal government has sent a very clear message to restrict all international travel. Failure to comply with the restriction will cause those Canadians returning home via an international airport to quarantine for up to three days in a federally mandated hotel costing up to $2,000 per passenger.
Yet, some people ignore this harsh reality, continue to travel abroad, and when they return they feel the federal government is too draconian and that the public health protocol should not apply to them.
As Aurelio writes: “. . . the announcement that was repeated to death in the beginning, which has been accepted by the population in a very irresponsible way: Learning to live with the virus. In other words, if my neighbor gets it, it has nothing to do with me.”
Whether one lives in Cuba or Canada some residents feel the stringent health rules initiated by government to protect all citizens were meant for the other person, my neighbor, not me! As the saying goes, and as hard as one tries, one cannot legislate stupidity.