PadPall Page March 20

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IT'S NOT REALLY FAIR
GAME... IS IT?!
While such a policy may be possible to enforce in an
authoritarian regime (and I acknowledge certainly seems to
be slowing the virus spread down in China) whether it will
work in the Me,Me,Me society in the West is a lot more
dubious .
If the policy of isolation is to be the chosen one then the
powers that be have to convince the general population
that they will not as individuals lose out because of it
and as yet that is an argument they have failed or not
even tried to make.
I find it absolutely incredible that Western politicians are
willing to cancel large mass events such as the Milan
football derby is being played behind closed doors when
such an event takes place in the open air but the same
authority have put no restrictions on crowded commuter
vehicles moving thousands of people into the same city all
of which are enclosed within those vehicles. Nor have they
closed down areas where thousands of people daily mix to
work in enclosed spaces.
It is certainly acceptable for governments to say stay in
isolation, but if they do not put in safeguards for those
who do so in terms of stopping employers from
disciplining employees who do as they are told, or
ensure there is no financial penalty for effectively
listening to the expert advice, then I can only see such
a policy failing very quickly. And what about such things
as food for these people, which is never mentioned.
In the end though it is perhaps most telling that the WHO
have not declared this a pandemic and commenting
about China have pointed out that although 80000 cases
are a massive number there are around 1.4 billion people
who live there and are not infected. Yes they have raised
the danger to its highest threat level but they keep called
for a concerted response something which is being
ignored by the politicians .
As the great John Lennon said “Imagine there’s no
countries, it isn’t hard to do “ and perhaps this is the real
way that this crisis can be overcome but the chances of
concerted action is between nil and less when the likes of
the Donald to paraphrase says if we (meaning the US)
have a problem we will deal with it then until such time
carry on as usual - you have a fair idea that the WHO is
wasting its breathe.
For the rest of us perhaps we all need to step back, take a
deep breathe and not sneeze on anyone else!
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