Since the winter came around, the spread of the corona virus has been accelerated significantly, just like the healthcare workers predicted. The studies to develop a vaccine are going on and also there are restraints in our daily agenda. I have given some statistical information about the corona virus in my previous post and mentioned that i will write about the humans behaving selfish or careless with some sort of individualism perspective. We have either seen, heard or witnessed the faulty actions of people regarding the corona virus. In this post, i will try to talk about the reasons that may cause these kinds of behaviours and make my own analysis about it. The subject of individualism deserves and requires a larger post. Therefore i have decided to write about it more extensively in another post after studying it a little bit. But i will briefly explain the relationship between this mentality and the consequences.
As far as i understand, individualism has separated into several areas. In other words, it is reflected differently according to when and why you are prioritizing your individual interests. This is emerging in our actions throughout our way to achieve ultimate comfort. Later on "indifference" to the world is added on top of it. I have looked at it from the corona virus perspective and mentioned that social distancing is overall protecting the society more than individuals. Back then i was concerned if people can take necessary precautions to not to endanger the others. Because the people who are reluctant to even take care of themselves, because of underestimating the virus or overestimating themselves or turning a blind eye to facts, may not be able to think about others, let alone empathize. You might have heard in the news. There were people who organized weddings knowing that they have the virus, the janitors who hides their condition and infecting the residents in their own home, quarantine fugitives, public transportation vehicles with full of passengers, people who got ticketed because of not wearing mask and continuing to do so after paying for it and even people who believe this whole corona virus thing is made up.
Selfishness + apathy combination is pretty dangerous. The hospitals are full and unable to accept patients because of you. Healthcare workers were unable to go home to their families and also they are dying because of you. People are getting infected even without leaving their homes. Just think for a second, how are you helping yourself by disregarding other peoples well being while prioritizing your benefits, since you are a part of that society. You will face with the consequences of these actions when you can't find a bed in the hospital. Today 's world does not operate in a way that one can completely live as an individual. A selfish person may realize this and change himself/herself it but we call "apathy" as the 2nd phase that prevents this kind of change. It begins with focusing on their own interests more than others and drifts towards disregarding or ignoring other peoples'. One further step is making efforts to harm others. This is a very unstable understanding even for an animal society, even considering that animals are mostly interested in their own well being and may literally eat their own babies. But in the end they never turn into the second or third phase. They do not hunt more than they need for example.
Europe has already started lockdown procedures. Turkey is moving towards that direction too. We know the economical situation in Turkey is more sensitive than european countries. Some companies have already had to fire workers or went bankrupt. Some of them forced their workers to work under risky conditions but it wasn't enough. It seems that some sectors like restaurants, cafes, sport centers, movie theaters or theaters will get more damage because they can't have alternatives out in the open. I have another question by the way. Even if we lock ourselves for 2 weeks wouldn't it emerge again with the passengers coming from outside of the country and false negative tests?
There is also the confusion about the numbers of the cases. People say the cases have been reflected less than real values during the summer times to protect the tourism income. Over the last week, the method to evaluate the cases has changed and it has skyrocketed the numbers too. Thus some people lost their belief in the declarations. The political agendas are inevitably effecting the economics of the country. Did we save today by sacrificing tomorrow? You may already know some countries around the world have tried different methods. Some tried not to restrain a lot and tried to create massive immunity but failed. Chine has literally barred peoples' houses to lock them in their houses. They have even tracked people with drones. Anyway, back in June, i have compared Turkey with Spain and Italy, where the virus was most effective those days. Let me briefly compare them again.
The updated data can be found on both WHO and Wikipedia internet sites. Over the last 2 weeks, the number of cases in Turkey is around 20k. It is 15k for Spain and 25k for Italy. The number of deaths are (i remember the same statement again, death of 1 is tragedy, millions is statistics) around 200 in Turkey and 300 for Spain and 500 for Italy. The number of cases and death ratios where was similar in June among these 3 countries. You can of course find more about Turkey, Spain and Italy via these links. Come to think of it, it could be 3-5 people bringing the virus into the whole country.
Healthcare workers and experts were predicting that the pandemic can rise again after the fall and it has happened so. It is also fed by decreased immunity and people moving to closed environments together. There is also the element of employers forcing their employees to work with close contacts (in the name of normalizing) and the carelessness in the public transportation or the obligation to use them. Virus being misidentified because of different seasonal illnesses is another problem. It is no surprise to see pandemic grew fast under these conditions combined with carelessness.
I think this virus also proved that our understanding of hygiene is not enough. Our parents were warning us about the bacteria and germs everywhere but this kind of taught us the fear more than the habit. Just like most of the teaching subjects, this should have involved more awareness maybe. First what are bacteria and virus can be taught, then exampling what harms can these do and lastly pointing out that it can cause other people to get sick too. This would be my approach. But when it comes to caring for others, there is always a lack of conscious involved unfortunately.
On the other hand, there is a small possibility for the virus to mutate and reoccur every year or so in the future. This could also make any vaccine useless or functionless. My biggest fear is that this could turn into the create problem first and sell the solution later mechanism. Some people can work on turning the crisis into their benefit. Of course this is a bit of a conspiracy but it makes you think when there are humans involved. Speaking of conspiracies, some people who does not believe the corona virus or anti vaccine supporters may not get a vaccine shot and contaminate others like a cooked grenade. This is also a result of an inconsiderate mindset.
To sum it up, when we were talking about normalizing, we meant turning our social and work lives to normal. Back then i wrote that we humankind have deficiencies in this manner. That is why, right when the pandemic grew strong again, i wanted to say no to normalization. Because the normal of the people who don't hesitate to harm the world they live in, is actually abnormal. See you at the next post.
Leave a comment