MONEY AND ECONOMY : Let’s not criminalise Covid; we’re better than that

Ajit Ranade
The country is anxiously waiting to get back to work. The lockdown has been essential to slow down the spread of the virus. By compulsorily keeping people confined to home, and made to follow strict social distancing, the possibility of contracting the virus is minimised.

Otherwise it would overload the already weak healthcare system. Mumbai, which has one of the better hospital infrastructure, has barely 2,000 ICU beds. And maybe fewer ventilators. Imagine if a few thousand serious cases get unleashed. Hence the lockdown and the sanitising protocol. Thus far the lockdown has been effective. There is data coming out that the death rate is actually much smaller than earlier estimated. In fact the actual death rate is falling. In central Mumbai there were 21 per cent fewer deaths in March compared to last year. In Ahmedabad deaths are down by a whopping 67 per cent in the same month as compared to last year. What’s going on? India has on average 800 deaths every day in road accidents. Mumbai’s rail network alone sees more than 3,000 deaths every year. These deaths have been averted. Even cases of drug and alcohol abuse have gone down. Murders are down. The skies are clear, and river water has become drinkable.

Environment is becoming cleaner. OK, let’s not overplay this line of argument. But the fact remains that the lockdown seems to have decreased the normal fatality rates.

However, the lockdown is now at a stage where it is likely to cause a food crisis. It cans lead to starvation. We certainly don’t want people dying for want of food. But lack of food and rise in hunger is a slow burn fatality. Extended lockout can invite an economic crisis. Millions have already lost jobs and incomes and have no savings or social security. The CMIE reports that urban unemployment has shot up to 30 per cent.

Hence it is imperative that we open up the locked economy as soon as possible and start providing livelihoods to people. Public policy should be extra responsive to people at the bottom of the income ladder. They need emergency food assistance but also sustainable incomes, hence jobs. But their voice seems to be feeblest and falling on deaf ears. So as we gradually open our factories, the guidelines are putting onerous burden on the factory mangers and owners. Even if one person is found Covid positive, harsh and punitive actions will be taken. The first set of instructions, which came from the home ministry, seemed to indicate that the factory would be shut for three months, and manager or owner could be put in jail. This was immediately refuted by the ministry. Apparently in the murky and viral world of WhatsApp, the initial instructions had been misinterpreted. The ministry just wants all the re-opening factories and establishments to follow strict and standard protocols to take adequate precautions. In spite of such precautions, if a person working in the factory is foun to be Covid positive, would that be a criminal act? We hope not.

The pandemic can bring out the worst prejudices in society. We have already seen instances of doctors, airline staff who have been spurned and ostracised by their own housing society folks. Even people who recover completely are treated as suspects. Covid is seen as an enemy, and this is a battle. But let’s not demonise the people afflicted by the virus. Remember, this is how we used to treat leprosy. Lepers were treated as outcastes and shunned as less than human. Such attitudes mean that pandemic disease acquires moralistic meaning, and anyone getting infected is somehow a horrible, disgusting person. The bubonic plague was referred to as “pestilence”, which actually means injurious to religion, morality and public peace. So the language we use for pandemic and disease betrays our biases, which are often rooted in irrational and dehumanising prejudice. It took the likes of Baba Amte’s lifelong work for some prejudice against leprosy to go away.

Let not the same bias cloud our thinking about this pandemic. It is clear that only vaccine will save us from this pandemic. Till then we have to slow down its spread, take precautions, observe social distancing. There is increasing evidence that its mortality rate may not be any worse than other kinds of influenza. In the United States more than 30,000 people die every year because of the flu, even after an extensive vaccination regime. This is because the morbidity is correlated to other co-existing diseases such as hyper tension, heart disease, obesity, asthma or blood pressure.

So let’s dial down the phobia. Let’s reopen the factories and deal with ongoing infections calmly without prejudice and hate. Until a vaccine is discovered this is the way we are going to live.

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