There had never been so fierce a fight between hope and despair on a global level when humanity was put on a test of a disease. The issues, pattern of behaviour, and the models of protection were the same — no one would have believed this uniformity some months ago.
The problem, reaction, and sufferings are almost the same with some degree of cultural variation.
There are people in every country who are taking the disease seriously, there are those who are yet to digest its reliability despite sufferings in close quarters and there are people who are working on some solution or the other to get humanity rid of the situation.
The debate over wearing the mask or throwing the mask is everywhere that is demanding the governments’ intervention to come out with measures to enforce the social distancing and health hygiene protocols.
Agreeing with the situation the psychologists and sociologists are suggesting restraint and follow up measures to convince the masses that the disease is real and their co-operation is a must to stop the disease from spreading too fast.
“This is not a common situation. Many of us might have heard about a pandemic, but would never have faced it. Doubts are natural, here lay the responsibility of the socially conscious people to convince the community to maintain restraint and follow the government-sponsored announcements. Because all those announcements are well researched and taken into consideration only after consultation with the global community,” said a clinical psychologist who has several years of working experience in Oman.
Some sections of people are questioning the limitations of science and technology, which is so developed that has found ways for the moon, mars, and many other unbelievable things, without understanding the magnanimity of the disease which has hit the globe in the form of COVID-19.
It is time for them to imagine the situation when cutting edge technologies like modern-day hospitals and 21st-century ventilators would not have been there. People would have been dying in far more numbers even without knowing about the preventive measures and reasons.
“The kind of cooperation the global community is getting from each other is also praiseworthy. If it has raised many questions in front of the world community it has paved the way for many answers. It has shown our strengths and weaknesses and forced us to draw plans accordingly,” said Dr Khalid, a social thinker and a writer.
For this global problem, there will be a global solution in which local input will be very important. Take, for example, tourism. There is a perception of tourists. A tourist is not a tourist until he comes from some other country.
Today the hospitality industry is deriving ways to woo local tourists. It is forcing authorities to look for policies for domestic tourism, which is most likely a reality very soon.
The level of cooperation among the global scientific community is a ray of hope for everyone and there is certainly some light at the end of the tunnel.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here