All borders are porous and cannot be sealed from the virus

Editor: As I write, the world is working through a pandemic with Covid-19, a new or novel strain of the Corona family of viruses. A few important takeaways come to mind from all the data making the news.
One, this new virus does not have a cure. We have been assured, however that a vaccine would come some 18 months into the future, or hopefully six months sooner.

Two, its pandemic nature means that every country has or will experience infections. There is no escape. All borders are porous and cannot be sealed from the virus. The drug trade and its shipping modalities will ensure that even with closed air and seaports, the virus can or will come in. Drug runners are not going to take a holiday, self-quarantine, or even report symptoms especially if they are mild.

Three, the strategies available to the authorities are at best, spread management tools, important as they are. They are to be and are being used to limit spread to somewhere between the impossible zero and the capacity of local health systems.

Four, no country can shut down for 18 months. I suspect like China, there will be cycles of targeted lock downs to lower infections rates when they get out of hand followed by reopening of life as we know it but with hygiene, social distancing, quarantines and testing regimes now part of the new normal.

Five, we are the interim solution. We have to assume that everyone else is a potential carrier and take command of how we interact with them in our everyday lives. Our personal health care practices will determine if we get infected and by extension how many infections our countries record between now and when the vaccine comes.

Being our brother’s keeper is now also front and centre.

R Mitchell