While evolving the strategy to fight the corona pandemic, the policymakers found the phrase “social distancing” as the most convenient tool to fight the menace. But unfortunately they could not comprehend that it has a dangerous dimension and it would expose society’s fragility.
A crisis of this dimension often provides the opportunity for a society to reinvent both its best aspects and the worst, but in the present case the pandemic has simply exposed the lack of imagination of the policy makers and governments. For fighting a pandemic of this nature it is imperative that people must have a social connect with a physical distancing.
Most of the countries just after the eruption of corona as pandemic in March had opted for lockdown and keeping social distancing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi as usual resorted to gimmick: “Mahabharat war was won in 18 days and we will win corona in 21 days”. But his loud talk exploded on his face. Even after four months of his high voltage declaration, the pandemic continues to ravage Indian cities, towns and even villages.
Every country, whether developed or developing, has strictly enforced lockdown. But none of these countries could get the desired result. Even after the imposition of the lockdown huge loss of human lives occurred around the world. In most of the cases the people, even those from the developed and countries, were reluctant to obey the directives. Though people faced the threat of losing lives, they refused to be confined within the four walls of their houses. The consequence of this defiant attitude was quite disastrous: more than 1,50,000 people across the world died of corona.
The pandemic has laid bare the cruelty of welfare policy, the hypocrisy of a system in which every time a crisis hits we are told “we’re all in it together” but in which, before and after the crisis, the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable are largely ignored.The economic burden imposed by the policy of social distancing has fallen most upon the poorest and the lowest paid, many of whom cannot work from home and have few savings to fall back on.
Coronavirus has exposed the fragility of social life. The fact remains that most people could not withstand the rigours of social isolation. No aspect of our bodies or our lives is immune to the coronavirus pandemic. This is the case for mental health. A bunch of 72 published studies involving more than 3,500 patients found that a quarter of people hospitalised for coronavirus infections have some kind of delirium. This reflects a direct attack on the central nervous system.
The concept of social distancing manifests the intellectual bankruptcy of the society. The policy makers ought to realise that keeping people socially apart is not the panacea to cure the malaise. People must be encouraged to have close societal relations, not distancing. Instead, they should maintain physical distancing. A person is a social animal and he needs a strong social bond for survival. If from the beginning the main thrust would have been on physical distancing, certainly such large number would not have succumbed to the disease.
During this time, besides corona, no other disease or problem is getting health attention. At least two prominent features are visible: pornography has become ever more popular and the incidents of domestic violence have also increased. In sharp contrast the labourers are suffering with the trauma of hunger. Reports from rural areas underline that there has been an increase in the number of suicides. Isolation and fear of survival have added to the despair of vulnerable people.
One of the reasons for allowing people to resume their livelihood work has been aimed at reducing mental tension and easing of stress. The main challenge before the people has been how to manage mental health and well-being during a lockdown. Unfortunately this question has so far remained unanswered. People have already been suffering mental diseases. Schizophrenia, amnesia etc have already acquired a much bigger dimension. In the backdrop of the spread of corona and subsequent lockdown, the crisis of mental disease has aggravated alarmingly. This will degenerate an entire generation.
The lockdown has forced disruption in the daily routines of people, who are cooped up in their houses all day. This is having very bad impact on their health as they barely step out for some fresh air.
A recent survey conducted by the Indian Psychiatry Society indicates that there has been a 20 percent rise in mental health cases since the outbreak, with at least one in five Indians suffering from some form of anxiety and depression. Everyone is desperate to know when the lockdown will end and life will go back to “normal”. The pandemic has plunged the world into a great deal of uncertainty. People are worried about their health, jobs, and finances but the real struggle, for most of us, is to deal with the isolation and the mental toll it takes.
With friends and family away from each other and unable to meet, mobile gaming is offering an interactive way to stay connected. Multiplayer games like Ludo King, Houseparty, Pubg and Psych are at an all-time high right now with the digitised version of the classic family game ludo enjoying as many as 50 million daily active users. On the other hand, reports show that user engagement on Houseparty and Psych reached a level where people started experiencing lags.
People with an anti-social inclination have been insulting and even assaulting doctors, nurses and other paramedical personnel, who have been risking their lives by working round the clock with COVID patients. Reports of doctors being stigmatized and assaulted by those refusing to undergo medical tests are a daily affair. (IPA Service)
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