Lessons from the pandemic
THE EDITOR, Madam: THOUGH THE COVID-19 pandemic has become the great divider – of friends, relatives and strangers – from physical, geographic and social standpoints, it also has proved to be a great unifier, because there is significantly more online communication taking place, at present, between friends, neighbours, and loved ones, than perhaps at any time in the 21st century.
Tragically, from a casualties standpoint -– in Asia, North America, South America, Europe, Australia, Africa and the Caribbean – COVID-19 makes the Columbine High mass shooting, Hurricane Katrina, the 9/11 World Trade Center terrorist attacks, the Afghanistan War, the Iraq War, and the Pulse Nightclub (in Florida), Stoneman Douglas High School, Las Vegas and El Paso mass shootings, all combined, look tame by comparison.
WE MUST UNITE
To date, COVID-19 has taken more than 170,300 lives globally, and has changed the world in numerous and dramatic ways since its emergence. However, during this challenging time of great crisis, great anxiety and great danger, we must unify, as a nation, to fight against this deadly but by no means insurmountable virus.
Lastly, I would like to commend the supermarkets in Kingston that have taken effective and proactive steps to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, namely, spraying alcohol-based sanitisers on the hands of patrons as they enter the store, taking the temperature of each and every patron at the supermarket entrance, and frequently wiping down, with cleaning agents, supermarket shelves and the counters at the checkout stands. One supermarket, in particular, stands out to me, in those regards, as well as ensuring that all their employees wear masks. That supermarket is Hi-Lo at the Manor Park Plaza.
When COVID-19 runs its course and a vaccine and/or a cure for it is finally created, as a nation, we should strive to continue the unity, cleanliness, self-control and discipline that have emerged as a result of the contagious, community-impacting and corrosive coronavirus. PATRICK GALLIMORE pagalley@protonmail.com