As I have said at least twice on this blog, the most important solution to travel and get life to be like it was pre-covid-19 is to contain covid, and this is not necessarily by vaccination. Afterwards, you can think about the economy, opening borders and travel, politics etc.
It's also incredibly funny because it seems when a 'travel bubble' is actually a reality, it necessarily seems to mean it will be indefinite, especially by the general population. Then when it is stopped/paused/whatever the fuck you want to call it, it's all doom and gloom.
Or when it is delayed/cancelled, there's disappointment and all those other feelings.
Are you stupid? Why are you surprised/disappointed/sad etc.? Do you know nothing about how covid-19 is transmitted, especially as it has been over a year since it was publicly announced as a pandemic by WHO? Do you know nothing about Humans?
When New Zealand and Australia's was a reality in April and then got 'paused', I just laughed. Then Britain put some countries on their green list, including New Zealand - I just thought, 'yeah I'm sure the UK is happy to let people enter New Zealand, ask New Zealand how they feel about letting people from the UK in'.
And it doesn't matter if you can travel, it's not just the fact you can, as I have said before, depending on where you depart and land, you have to take a covid-19 test at least once, quarantine or not, and this excludes if you get stuck in the country you're going to because there's a spike. Or there's a spike where you came from and your destination stops flights going there so you can't get back and end up spending more time and money than intended and quite possibly can't actually afford. It's no longer about just the airfare and other financial considerations when you visit a place, it's about the requirements and most importantly, 'what ifs' covid raises.
Singapore and Hong Kong have their 'travel bubble' which might not come to fruition, no shit. The Changi airport cluster made me laugh.
I believe I've said this before now, but below seems to be the best way to have life like it was pre-covid-19 or to live with it alongside us, like an unwelcome and unwanted neighbour.
- Governments need to effectively contain covid-19 before anything else can happen
- In the meantime, governments need to ask for financial assistance so they can help their population who are struggling, whether it's asking the EU or IMF or whatever entity, if they really don't have the money themselves
Governments need to find a way, especially in places like Italy, England, Germany etc, to reduce the impact of covid on the everyday lives of its population - stop bringing your population in and out of lockdown when figures temporarily improve, because then it almost always get worse, especially with the variants.
The economy is not more important than covid-19, and by extension, human lives. You do realize you need people to be alive to have an economy and not only if you have long lockdowns, but you keep bringing your population in and out of them, that does nothing for any economy. To break even, not even a profit, to break even, you need it to be regular to be sustainable. Not stop and start. And I know nothing about running a business, NGO, not-for-profit and likely will never found one, but I do have common sense.
It is possible to not be in any covid-caused lockdown ever or only for a short amount of time, it is also possible to live almost like it was pre-covid, barring border restrictions; 'Covid and lockdowns' has more information and my
Examples:
Taiwan
Sāmoa
New Zealand (lockdown for about 6 weeks total since covid-19 was announced a pandemic by WHO)
Hong Kong (never in lockdown)
Singapore
Where am I coming from?
- I am not even coming from a place that has been in lockdown
- Our amount of infected cases is low, especially compared to countries like Brazil, India, the USA; our number of deaths is also low, especially compared to places like Japan, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany
- The government has given some financial assistance to businesses and its people
- The government gave out a free covid test to us if we wished to get tested
- The government has covid-19 vaccines that are not mandatory to take and pretty much only children under 15 or 16 can't get jabbed
- The population takes precautions and there are hand sanitizers and temperature checks everywhere
- I am employed
- I have a roof over my head
- I have food on the table
- I have electricity
- I have water
- I have internet
So personally, I am comfortable and on a slightly wider level, I am living in one of the safest places that has covid-19 and during this pandemic; and I am still complaining about how covid has been handled by the governments.
I am repeating myself far too much, yes I am contradictory, I am not working for or in the government, but it is not unreasonable to expect any government to reach a minimum threshold for leadership during a pandemic.
- A.M.
