COVID-19: The Phantom War

By Michael L. Jarvis, London UK

Life imitates art they say.If that’s so we are witnessing that reality in the most worrying of circumstances.

In a situation reminiscent of the movie Predator, the world is caught up in an all-out war against an unseen enemy.

COVID-19 is stalking every country in a chilling cat and mouse, man versus virus game…but this is not fantasy, this is real life.

And there can only be one winner. Mankind must win.

This might not be the proverbial extinction-level scenario but at the moment that description comes close.

Amidst the understandable gloom, there are valiant efforts underway to avert the portending doom that this virus threatens.

Already governments across the globe have been forced into action and already there are some very encouraging signs.

The urgency of the crisis of the still-evolving disease has seen the best scientific minds spring into action to find a vaccine.

Creative political solutions are emerging, some quicker and more creative than others, but across the world governments are taking action.

Given the scale of the crisis and the threat of it worsening, it is accepted that some measures will be drastic, even draconian.

That’s understandable and to a degree acceptable. This, after all, is the crisis of a generation.

Some countries by virtue of their political ideology have taken quite extreme measures.

But what’s really instructive is the similarity of some of the measures across the ideological spectrum given the nature of the challenge.

COVID-19 does not recognise borders or ideologies. Well, it’s a virus.

However, if that China and Italy can find it necessary to completely shut down entire cities to contain and suppress the spread of this virus speaks volumes to the gravity of the situation and the common approach necessary to combat it.

It’s also notable that similar action is being taken across other societies though more gradual but with the possibility that if the virus takes hold, tougher action might become necessary.

In the main, the respective citizenry accepts that these inconveniences are mild and tolerable compared to the raging storm of social and economic disruption that COVID-19 portends.

It’s welcome and reassuring to see governments balancing restrictions on society with provisions to support the business sector.

All of these actions form part of the arsenal of measures being put in place to prop up the pillars of the economy and gird the society to withstand the onslaught of COVID-19.

From Cayman, to London, US, EU, Caribbean and others, countries are in rapid-response mode to suppress the spread of the virus while experts in labs worldwide work fervently to develop a virus.

There is hope.

At the same time though, one also hopes that governments will start working together as this ‘war’ requires an allied force of nations to combat and suppress this common global enemy.

Too much is at stake.

Victory over this virus lies in collaboration.