Humankind falls short in ad-hoc virus strategies
AJapanese spacecraft at the weekend sent a capsule spinning to Earth, delivering samples from a distant asteroid to Woomera, Australia.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency project aims to provide clues to the origin of the solar system and life on our planet. The ambitious, precisely controlled operation followed other recent sparkling space achievements.
A Nasa craft grabbed surface samples from a different asteroid. And a Chinese lunar lander collected underground samples.
The galaxy-sized gap between the high-tech achievements and organisation humankind is capable of, and the simple things many officials and citizens struggle with, has been one of the unfortunate themes of this year.
For every celebrated achievement — such as a Covid-19 vaccine being approved in less than a year — there have been botched and self-destructive responses to the pandemic. Too many in countries with high rates of infection have taken risks or had a dismissive or fatalistic attitude, even with vaccines in sight. A week ago, millions of Americans refused to stay home at Thanksgiving.
The United States gained its latest five million coronavirus cases in just under seven weeks.
Its first five million took nearly seven months. There has never been a US national plan.
When Europe’s cases surged in October, some governments reimposed restrictions which appear to be working.
The vaccines loom as a parachute to bring the pandemic to a soft landing. But will the next period of distribution and the use of vaccinated status in daily life highlight nations’ competent sides or their muddled ones?
There are still many unknowns about the vaccinations, and policy makers are sorting it out on the run. Will an official notification be issued when people are vaccinated and will people need to carry it for travel?
Will having proof of vaccination mean shortened isolation requirements for travel or — with negative tests — different levels of travel rules? Could possible airline requirements to be vaccinated in order to fly spread to people not being able to attend places and special public events without it?
Britain’s vaccine minister, Nadhim Zahawi, suggested hospitality businesses would want to know if a customer had been vaccinated.
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said that there were no plans for an “immunity passport”, but businesses had the capacity to decide who they admitted.
It’s likely Kiwis travelling overseas once vaccinations are widespread will face fresh rules. The pandemic response has been a platter of competing interests, differing rules, messaging, restrictions and attitudes. That is likely to continue.
Don’t expect space-like precision, planning and seamlessness.