We failed. All of us. The entire country, the politicians, the public, we all failed. The question is whether we get a do-over or not. For those who died from the coronavirus or any other disease for which they could have received treatment but didn't because of the pandemic, there is no do-over. We've already surpassed 1,000 men and women who have died as a direct result of the COVID-19 disease, caused by the virus. We can endlessly rehash the mistakes that were made, and God knows we made every possible one. We can be a light unto the nations in terms of what not to do, in order to prevent or reduce the spread of the pandemic. But what now? Where are we headed? Did we learn a lesson?
There are many aspects to the pandemic, chiefly as it pertains to our health, but the economic and social impacts are no less important. They too, at the end of the day, affect our health and quality of life. The effects of unemployment and loss of income has material implications, such as money for food, but also produce anxiety and stress, which are detrimental to our health as well. Additionally, the lockdown leads to isolation, which can be terrible for our mental and emotional health, not to mention our physical health.
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For the most part, the voices coming from the media in recent days represent one view of the pandemic. The hospital directors see the patients and the deaths; they see the medical staff collapsing under the workload, the impotence of the healthcare system to manage the crisis. Representatives of the various industries see the economic side of the pandemic and only want their viewpoint to be addressed. It's imperative to aggregate all these aspects together and it falls on the politicians and leaders to do so – although it's obvious this is one of the more stinging failures of the current situation. Prof. Ronni Gamzu tried, but without the necessary backing, too many people from all sides put were able to put spokes in his wheels.
Today, too, there are better options than a full lockdown, but in the eyes of the professionals at the Health Ministry, none of them can succeed. This is the lesson they learned from the recent past, and it's certainly possible they have a point. None of their proposals were implemented, enforced or accepted by the public, hence they decided that anything less than a total shutdown wouldn't be implemented or possible to enforce.
We still lack precise and focused information about the spread of the virus. Just for example, what is the number of new asymptomatic cases per day, and how infectious are they? This type of information could help pinpoint the problem, but for the time being, we need to act immediately based on the figures we do have. We know that large gatherings are a main source of infections, but we haven't been able to prevent them, in certain sectors more than others. The fact is that morbidity rates are high across the country. It certainly should have been possible to prevent large gatherings without imposing a general lockdown, but if the public cannot follow this protocol – maybe there is no choice.
Between the two extreme options, which are both bad – the option of a full lockdown is awful but has a reasonable chance of reducing the morbidity rate. If, of course, the lockdown is comprehensive and the public abides by it. The other extreme option, to simply do nothing, comes with tremendous risk. The death toll will rise, and the healthcare system could collapse. Maybe the youth and the economy won't suffer as much, but that's just a maybe. Some intermediate options exist and were explored, but the public and politicians were never able to turn words into action; thus out of the two terrible options, we can see why Health Ministry leaders opted to recommend the full lockdown.
Ergo we are headed to another general quarantine. Maybe it'll be short, but it will be comprehensive. And what did we learn? That maybe we should let the professionals lead, make decisions and give their plans a chance to succeed, because if we had done those things two months ago, we wouldn't be in this situation. So let's avoid large gatherings and maintain social distancing – all of us, without exception.
If our do-over fails, as many in the media and beyond believe it will, then we can try the second extreme option of total apathy. We won't do anything; but we'll see a very high death toll, fragmentation and social disintegration. In this case, too, the harm will be catastrophic on the economic and social levels. There is no good solution. We've rejected the logical, reasonable solutions. The public and politicians wouldn't accept them, so now we are "on punishment" for our behavior.
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