Abalinx 19 March 2020 Peter Adamis
Just because China sneezed metaphorically speaking, why has the world gone into a downward spiral? It is not the end of the world. Why have we allowed ourselves to panic and act in an anti social manner? Why have we allowed a herd mentality to confuse our logic and commonsense?
Why have we allowed fear to become the motivator when we are faced with a predator we cannot see, hear. Mankind has faced such challenges in the past and the Corona virus is just another germ that we can add to the family of alien parasites that decide to join the human race. Therefore why not call a spade a spade and call the Corona virus for what it is. A copy of the article may be downloaded by clicking on: CHINA SNEEZES AND THE WORLD PANICS
The virus is another germ that mankind has inherited. Keep in mind that there are four major types of germs in existence and they are classified as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa. They can invade mankind, animals, plants and they will often make humans ill. Bacteria are tiny, one-celled creatures that get nutrients from their environments in order to live. Therefore if a germ suddenly appears that is alien to our environment we react accordingly until such time as the body absorbs or lives with it in harmony. Mind you mankind will take whatever measures necessary to sae guard its interests and this is where vaccines come into play.
Until the germ (virus) is understood and a vaccine is produced, mankind lives in ignorance which leads to fear, panic sets in and the worst case scenario is a conflict amongst mankind for access to resources medical support, food and other essential required to live. It is this lack of knowledge that has driven fear and panic to become embedded into our psyche. It takes strong leadership, courage and resilience to stop fear and panic in its tracks. The news media have much to offer and yet for reasons unknown have fuelled the situation with sensational news based on information and knowledge that has not been confirmed in a logical and scientific manner.
The Corona virus rapid spread of infection can be attributed to modern transportation, ability to move from one part of the world quickly, daily news media reports, government press releases, poor hygiene, lack of reliable knowledge are but some of the factors that in my opinion are the drivers of fear and panic. We need to stop and take stock of our situation and put matters into context. The world has 7.8 Billion people with effect March 2020 and expands and declines accordingly. It is true that poor health, poverty, hunger, famine and lack of access to clean water and environment are the cause of many deaths, but mankind is striving to overcome such shortcomings.
At the present moment, according to World Health organisation statistics, there have been a total of 7807 deaths attributed to the Corona Virus out of a population of 7.8 billion. Think about for a moment, more people die of influenza, car accidents, cancer, heart attacks, unlawful killings, wars, famine, hunger and a host of other of mankind’s maladies. This is an important fact and yet mankind is reacting as if the world is on fire. Airlines are reducing their flights, borders are closed. State of emergency being declared, panic buying, hoarding, new legislation being introduced to control society, profiteering, conflict, hospitals overwhelmed and businesses going into self immolation. Not a good start at all.
In Victoria for example, we have panic buying on an unprecedented level not seen since the rationing of World War 2. Buses have been hired to go into the country towns and buy up all toiletries, medicine, foodstuffs and other household items, leaving the country town’s supermarkets and pharmacies bare and nothing for the locals. It has been reported that buses have been seen as far as Ararat in Victoria. Chinese expats and students using WeChat the Chinese version of Face book knew of the virus epidemic sometime late November and early December and took precautions. This information is based on anecdotal evidence. Students returning from China used loop holes provided by Australian educational institutions to bypass Australian the quarantine practices by paying students to go to other non affected Asian nations for two weeks before entering Australia.
In other cases, hospitals are shutting down their operations on operations, surgeries, and other life saving practices. Doctors are advising their patients that they cannot have access to life saving drugs such as those on cancer treatment. In one case one chap was advised last Friday by a well known cancer hospital that his stem cell treatment will go ahead in early April. He then gets called in on the following Tuesday and advised that the stem cell treatment is not going ahead because they fear that the corona virus will kill him. Mind you, the patient is not on a private health and it would appear that because he is on the public health system, the decision to cease stem cell treatment was a factor using the Corona virus as the fear.
Large organisations and institutions are failing to act responsibly by implementing duty of care procedures and looking after their employees. This is a clear sign of shallow and poor leadership on those responsible for employees under their leadership. Meetings are being cancelled, large family events being close to safe guard those with poor immune systems, Sporting events postponed or cancelled, Australians quarantined, Australians advised to return to Australia, major events under the microscope, educational institutions sending their employers to work from home, some schools being shut are just the tip of the iceberg. My questions are whether we have reacted appropriately to the crisis.
I must say that it is my opinion and mine only that the Australian government acted swiftly based on the knowledge, experiences and information it was able to glean and gather from other countries who had implemented quarantine measures and in some cases lockdown procedures such as confining people to the homes and locking down the borders. I find it interesting that Tasmania is in lockdown, Scott Morrison advising against panic buying, Peter Dutton advising that action will be taken against hoarders, Police presence at supermarkets, changes in people’s behaviour, some Universities changing their procedures for students and staff to work on online from home, small business falling apart ANZAC Day events being cancelled, but schools are encouraged to remain open.
Overseas, we have Turkey for example, diverting attention from its domestic problems and its failed intrusion into Syria by taking advantage of the corona virus crisis and opening its borders to refugees and allowing them to try and enter Europe illegally. Their attempts failed miserably when the European Union suddenly realised that the borders of Greece were also the borders of Europe and sent assistance to their Greek brethren. Now Turkey is allegedly preparing to go to war against Russia. It is of interest to note that Turkey has never won a war against Russia, so what is their point. Africa appears to have less reported cases of the corona virus infections but this may be due to poor and/or inadequate reporting systems and methodologies to identify the corona virus.
Russia on the other hand immediately closed its huge border frontier with China, America restricted travel to and from China, closing its borders with Canada and Mexico, restricting all European visitors, other nations sat up and followed suit, probably because it was the right thing to do in the absence of good intelligence or based on the information provide by nations hardest hit. Italy went into lockdown and Iran began a war of words, joining China in blaming America for the Corona virus. Vietnam having problems with China has moved closer to the USA, while the Philippines appear to be moving towards China in some aspects. I have written these as examples that the world chest board is being changed and the players involved are all jockeying for position.
Conspiracy theorists are at play, with some saying that it’s an alien invasion designed to cull the human race, others state that China is practicing biological warfare to monitor how the virus acts on a global scale. Others point to books written many years ago by authors who happen to use the words corona virus, with knowing that there are many viruses that belong to the family of Corona Virus. Then we have those who believe it’s based on biblical prophecies designed to destroy mankind for its wicked ways. Even Bill Gates 2015 videos are reappearing because he happened to state that wars will not bring down society but a virus. There is more conspiracy theories floating out there on the internet far too numerous to add here, but readers will get the picture.
There is anecdotal evidence that many of those who have died once they were infected were smokers, in poor health and the aged. This information is scanty at best and cannot be conformed at this stage. However the rate of infection increases each day and that is what is worrying officials and those responsible for reacting to such crisis. The ship that was quarantined in Tokyo and the other in the Mediterranean were incubators and like Petri dishes to be examined but epidemiologists to ascertain the infection rate and how the virus is spread. Unfortunately we will have to wait for the studies to be complete. In the meantime there has been some good news by Australian researchers in the potential founding of a vaccine against the corona virus.
There is no doubt that the Corona virus has its origins in Wuhan province of China. However China today is attempting to create another origin scenario and it providing examples on how to manage and contain the corona virus which they are responsible for. “The earliest person with symptoms was traced back to 1 December 2019, someone who did not have connections with the later cluster linked to the wet market”. Today nations around the world are coughing because China sneezed and their vulnerabilities exposed to be manipulated at a later date. Maybe Bill Gates was correct, wars will not bring the world to its knees, biological warfare will.
What does this say about Australians, are we not a resilient and courageous race, are we not used to facing adversity, look at how we overcome the challenges of bush fires, floods, hurricanes and terrorism. I have great faith in our society to overcome this biological scenario we are now faced with. Australians can safely guard themselves by implementing information being provided by their respective State and Federal governments on how to prevent and avoid contamination. It is not the end of the world and sooner rather than later the world will return back to normal. My motto is and has always been: never have fear as a companion, never give up in the face of adversity, always look on the bright side and enjoy each day as it comes.
Peter Adamis is a Journalist/Social Media Commentator and writer. He is a retired Australian military serviceman and an Industry organisational, Environmental & Occupational (OHS) & Training Consultant whose interests are within the parameters of domestic and international political spectrum. He is an avid blogger and contributes to domestic and international community news media outlets as well as to local and Ethnic News. He holds a Bachelor of Adult Learning & Development (Monash), Grad Dip Occupational Health & Safety, (Monash), and Dip. Training & Assessment, Dip Public Administration, and Dip Frontline Management. Website: abalinx.com