By Joan Williams
As one watches the developments,
discussions, and debates taking place since the scourge of the novel coronavirus
attacked the world, it is not difficult to remember the words of Walter
Bagehot, the late British journalist, that “Poverty is such an anomaly to
rich people, that it is very difficult for them to figure out why people who
want dinner do not ring the bell.”
Unfortunately, the vast majority of the world’s people who are bearing the
brunt of this virus are the poor and they, in reality, are close to
being the majority of the world’s population.
It may appear simplistic, but I have such difficulty watching the thousands of
people in high-end air-conditioned vehicles, lining up all over the USA to
collect food from the food banks. For these people who are claiming to be needy
have no reason to be so because they live in a country with lots of security
blankets that most in the world can only dream of.
And if those people are really having difficulty finding food, what must be the
plight of the really poor people all over the world, for this virus
is affecting everyone.
It seems the choices facing the really poor, therefore, may probably even boil
down to slowly dying from starvation/malnutrition or taking a chance that
the virus will not get to them.
Take my own home Jamaica where under 10% of adults were, up to
recently, said to be unemployed. But at the same time we must recall that
approximately a fifth of those who are registered as employed
include small farmers whose existence is determined by the elements. Worse off
are those who hustle day by day, driving route taxis or selling
anything from sweets to a few fruits to earn enough to buy food daily.
The day these people do not do that, is
the day they may not have food for their children.
Recently, a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company in Jamaica was found to
have a significant number of people suffering from the coronavirus. These
companies in Jamaica have been a major source of employment, providing jobs for
some 40,000 people, mainly women. According to the reports, one of the main
companies involved in that industry had not been observing hygienic practices
and that is where the virus spread exponentially, causing Jamaica’s contagion
rate to double overnight.
What bothers me though was the panic reaction from some influential
quarters calling for the BPO industry to be locked down and some are even
urging the Government to lock down the country entirely!!
Those proposing that solution, in my humble opinion, are either complete
idiots, people who think what happens in the USA must be emulated regardless of
other circumstances or fall into Bagehot’s description of the rich as quoted
above.
For the question arises, if these establishments are closed, what will happen
to the 40,000 people who depend on the pay cheque earned in these
establishments if they are closed? (It is estimated that every working
head of household, supports a family of 5 others in Jamaica).
Yes, the rich USA and European countries can afford to lock down indefinitely, but
very few third world countries can afford to.
In Jamaica, already our tourism industry
has been devastated, there is little demand for bauxite and even remittances
have dried up.
As far as I am concerned, the Government has been making the right moves by
closing the schools, testing as many people as they can, tracing those who
they have come in touch with, quarantining selected areas where many are
affected and instituting a nightly curfew.
However, I don’t know if closing down the parish of St Catherine was necessary.
Yes, the problem occurred in Portmore and that is a structured community
so a lockdown may work. But the rest of St Catherine is not like that,
but more like Kingston, where ‘hustling’ is predominant.
I think the better move was to intensify the testing, quarantining and
blanketing the airwaves with public education about washing hands, wearing
masks and social distancing and of course the nightly curfew.
This is the successful template South Korea followed, balancing
economic concerns with the public health realities, and they are receiving
commendations from all over the world for the success of their practical
strategies.
Happily, a number of entertainers have rallied to the cause, making music to
encourage their fans to do what’s right and that will have a great impact and
we have an added advantage.
This is based on studies by scientists
all over the world, who are now concluding that the BCG vaccine against TB that
children in many third world countries were forced to take before
entering primary school from the 1950s, seems to have strengthened our immune
system against this particular virus.
Walking the thin line between economic devastation and public health has to be
the strategy, for cutting off the majority poor from their daily
bread can only spell disaster, in both the long and short run.
I have always maintained that the worst thing that could ever happen to an
individual is to be poor and sick. Right now, the ‘sick’ part
will not apply as far as this virus is concerned, for the vast
majority of us will not be adversely affected by it.
