A few weeks ago, I wrote about the COVID-19 coronavirus, the first pandemic to hit our world in 100 years. Since then a lot has happened. Some restrictions were tightened and people adjusted to living in such difficult, unusual conditions.
I should point out that I live in Australia so most of the information here applies to my country. Some countries will be less strict and others will take a tougher stance.
A higher rate of testing is happening. A lot more people tested positive for COVID-19, with many losing their lives, and many others recovering from the virus. A large percentage of the general public have a greater respect and appreciation for everybody working in the health industry, whether it’s in hospitals, local clinics, direct phone advisory services, pharmacies and so on.
Telehealth video consultations were implemented in the bulk of medical appointments, making it easier for people to maintain safe social distancing on the part of the medical profession as well as the patients. This has helped hospitals make more beds available for those in greater need and gives doctors the ability to handle more patients from a distance, saving the face-to-face appointments for those who need them.
Despite all the news coverage about restrictions, there are always people who think they’re exempt from any rules and can do anything they want. Hefty fines were handed out to people deliberately breaking the law. Some examples included:
• Cars with 4-5 people in them moving about freely.
• People spending time at the beaches in groups and having picnics, not exercising.
• Having large parties of 20 or more people, consuming copious amounts of alcohol, and some guests even drove themselves home.
• When police attend such parties, they give every person a hefty fine and slap an even bigger fine on the host for allowing the party to occur.
Apart from bad behaviour by small numbers of people, the majority have tried their hardest to follow the COVID-19 rules and restrictions.
As a result, there are some countries that are starting to ease restrictions in some ways. I live in Australia and in the last week or so, we have eased the following rules:
• Up to 5 people visiting you at home and it’s preferred that these are family members, but friends are okay. You still can’t have physical contact such as kissing and hugging, or shaking hands. It doesn’t mean big parties every night. You still need to maintain social distancing as much as possible.
• If people can work and maintain social distancing, that’s permitted. However, if you can work from home, keep doing so.
• Students should go back to school where possible. There will be staggered start and finish times and parents can’t enter the buildings.
Now we come to a tricky situation. If you have restrictions on one day and off the next, the coronavirus doesn’t switch on and off the same way. Even though many people are recovering if they have had the virus, lots of other people have lost their battle.
A vaccine hasn’t been created yet and nobody knows if/when it might be discovered. If people stop being as vigilant as they have been since this virus first hit our world, there’s a very real possibility of a second wave of the pandemic and experts believe that this second wave will be much harder to cope with because people may have returned to their standard of living before this pandemic first hit earlier this year.
Obviously, everybody is free to make up their own mind what they should do. The logical thing is to take everything slowly. Ease restrictions a bit at a time and, if there’s a problem, it’s easier to rein them in again.
A second wave is definitely NOT something our world needs now…or ever.