Time to knuckle down and toughen up
EVERYTHING from bats to extraterrestrials have been blamed for the Covid-19 pandemic. Theorists abound with theories. Doomsayers again speak of “the end” that has been coming for a thousand years. Of course, this is hardly a pestilence of biblical proportions.
Hunger and the common flu are, as most health experts will tell you, considerably deadlier than this new virus that has caught our attention and stoked fears over the past few weeks.
Throughout our history, we have seen many diseases come in like a breeze, gain strength and sweep across large communities, and leave a trail of death and destruction, before dissipating into a whimper.
The Spanish flu of 1918 to 1920 infected more than 500 million people, mostly across Europe, and left as many as 50 million dead.
Centuries earlier – from 1347 to 1351 to be exact – up to 200 million people in Eurasia and much of Europe fell to the Great Plague.
It was so deadly that it earned itself a string of monikers that speak volumes about its notoriety – it has been called the Pestilence, the Plague, Black Plague, Great Plague, Great Bubonic Plague, the Great Mortality and most notably the Black Death.
We probably have not seen the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic yet. On the other hand, it has changed us and our lifestyle completely in a matter of weeks.
We have been forced to keep our distance from others, which can’t be good for human relationships.
We are confined to our homes and while that can be stressful, it also gives us time to reflect on our lives and our actions.
On the bright side, Mother Nature has reclaimed part of her space.
There is no way we can tell when the Covid-19 virus will finally make its exit. China, the country worst hit by the pandemic, managed to turn the tide in a matter of weeks.
But the second and third waves are only beginning in other parts of the world.
China took some tough measures. Perhaps we should do that too.