The spread of the coronavirus has taken the world by storm and has poised a giant question mark on the correct way to handle mitigation. We’ve seen countries within Europe, such as Italy, implement a wide scale restrictive lockdown in a bid to prevent the spread and lessen the load on public healthcare. Just a small distance away in Sweden, an opposite approach had been taken – no lockdown at all was issued and thus far they’ve been able to make their way through the crisis with less exposure than many others.
It’s difficult for anyone to measure the correct way to handle this with such a wide variation in how it is affecting populations across different parts of the world – many of us are now stuck at home and could be for the next month or two. Finding ways to distract ourselves – book sales are finding a sharp rise as many have more free time to indulge in a good read, mobile gaming has continued with a sharp uptick as one of the most trending casinos continues to benefit from an increasing audience and the downtick of betting competitors. But as with everything, where we see one trend, there is almost always a contrasting stance as now many Americans have taken to the streets in a bid to protest state guidelines and urge for restrictions across the country to be eased, and to be lifted.
These protests are beginning to spread across the world too – there have been some groups forming in Brazil as well as in some parts of Europe as many exercise their right to voice an opinion. Whether or not the steps taken in any given country is the correct choice, is for the individuals in charge to decide. But it does bring some questions to the forefront – in the digital era, wide range access to information along with a communication platform for users to be in contact globally around what is happening.
Platforms such as Facebook have taken their stance by stating they will ban any promotion or organisation toward an organisation of protests, in a fear that a wide scale spread of medical misinformation could cause more harm than good. However, it will still allow political conversations to take place for the freedom of information – political leanings aside for whichever way you fall, the right to exercise the choice is what many are leaning toward as the reason for wanting to protest.
The biggest concern for many, is the impact a lockdown is having on the economy – experts have warned that we may very well be heading toward a severe global recession. Yesterday, the West Texas Intermediate oil price – a benchmark for oil pricing in the economy – fell to -$40 per barrel. To those who could store it, traders were being paid to take these barrels of oil as a reduced demand has led to unstable pricing.
There is also the uncertainty for the future – there’s still yet no indication of whether the inbound recession could be a long one, or a short one, and as many countries are dealing with the epidemic in different ways, it’s likely there won’t be any uniform recovery to the world economies either.
There is a silver lining however as ,despite fears that a second wave is possible, there are some that are beginning to ease restrictions and get the country’s daily life back underway. Prior to a surge within the US, Italy had been the hardest hit country in the world and were amongst the first to issue widespread measures to prevent movement. As they have seen a rapid decline in new cases over the past two weeks, efforts are being taken to relax those measures and get people back to work. The same is true within Germany and Spain too, as although under some strict rules that preventing gatherings of people and preventing too many entering a shop at any given time, the rules are relaxing. Within the US the same is also proving to be true, as some states are beginning to ease their restrictions after government guidance that suggests they will support any change in lockdown efforts.
As with everything, this too shall pass given time – a lot of efforts are being made to minimize the risk of the spread and many are pulling together in efforts to discover a vaccine. In the meantime, those who feel they must be exercising their right to freedom, whilst others are ready to settle down for the long haul and wait the whole thing out.
Only time will tell the full impact and how long this will last, but there are some clearing signs in parts of the world that will give many hope.