I've just watched the Chernobyl miniseries, which is excellent, and quite accurate (apparently). Watching it at this time is quite interesting. In that case, once the explosion happened there was not too much that could be done by the average person, just a lot of responsibility on a few people to get the situation under control within days and stop it becoming worse. So the rest of the world was just waiting and hoping. But then once it was under control, then everything was fine. It was kind of an all-or-nothing impact for most of the World.
The current virus couldn't be more different. It affects everyone directly or indirectly very dramatically, and the situation looks like it will go on for several weeks in the very best circumstances (which hopefully includes Kenya) and many months in most other circumstances (in most of the developed World). And yet there is something we can each do.
If we lock ourselves up (if we can do that without starving or running out of money) then we can be protected. Our fate is in our own hands. And yet because of the nature of this virus, is our fate in our own hands? It may be as invisible as the radiation from Chernobyl, but at least the affects are much quicker. It may not be as deadly as radiation, but it is contagious (very highly so), and someone else could infect you without you really knowing, indeed we might already have been infected without knowing or getting sick. And even more strangely, we may be infecting other people without really knowing it (we may have done that a week or two ago before we started to "social distance").
It really is a once-in-a-century crisis, like a War, though thankfully one that we know how to stop, if people all followed instructions, and doesn't require such dramatic changes to our lives (if only everyone followed the instructions of an "invisible enemy" which is harder than the "visible enemy" in war). And it will have economic implications for a while, just like the Great Recession a decade or more ago. It is a shame. Just like the smallest thing could have prevented Chernobyl, some small and simple things with the virus could also have stopped everything--initially within China (in terms of addressing the virus earlier) and later with other countries who could have taken very dramatic actions in the short-term (i.e. banning all international incoming travel) which seemed bad at the time but would have been much better than the current situation (which we now know through hindsight).
It is strange not knowing what is going to happen... the uncertainty for most of the world seems unusual to me and hard to comprehend. Only the fact that our own fate is sort of in our own hands helps, and our family being fortunate enough to be able to handle the economic impacts. We think there is a roadmap to follow, though implementing that roadmap is very hard. And yet, it might not actually work.
I wonder what lessons the World will learn from this crisis. Certainly most of the World seems to have a lot of time on their hands to reflect anyway (on different political systems; on the importance of communication; on the importance of following guidance; on the value of preparation and preparedness amongst others). I suppose the helplessness of everything--the invisible nature of the virus; the speed at which it moves; the lack of a vaccine or any good medication; the fact that it basically affects everyone (though i suppose if you are wealthy it is easier to self-isolate, and if you are young/healthy you may not be affected even if infected). This sense of helplessness seems to be the most intriguing thing to me. And just like a decade ago, there is not much one can do when an economy is collapsing.
The flip side of helplessness? Valuing what you have and doing the things that you can do in other ways. Families and friendships; freedom of movement. As is so often said, you often only miss them when you don't have them. We all need to appreciate what we have more and live for today because you don't know what the future will hold.
