By now, the dangers posed by the novel Coronavirus pandemic that has really gone worldwide, are so wellknown that all of us – including the totally dumb – comprehend how deadly it can be. It has been said that it kills only the old, which is untrue. Yes, they are among the most to die. But the stories we get to know about, concerning men and women in the best of their lives who have succumbed to the disease, are mind boggling.

In such circumstances, there can be no excuses for those who fail to comply with the directives which the sanitary authorities issue to get people to observe all the precautions they are told about.

One might perhaps understand the behaviour of those who, having been cooped up in their house for days on end, sometimes scurry out for a walk...

But that families and other groups organize getogethers in squares, the countryside or by the sea... activities such as picnics or similar... is absolutely outside the pale.

The risks of infection come from all corners. Behaviour that ends up giving these risks greater impetus is much worse than irresponsible.     

***

MORE KIDS

Someone told me: The Coronavirus pandemic might succeed in changing the profile of the European population, which is too skewed towards the elderly. It’s just possible that the balance will change... and we might get quite a big, new wave of young people.

So, is this something to look forward to? I replied. That the grim reaper, before his time comes, is given the opportunity to kill off so many elderly people... as has been the case in Italy and Spain?

You misunderstand me, came the reply. I wasn’t referring to the death of older people. What has been happening... and still is happening... to them is shocking, of course. But I was thinking about what happens when people get locked down for a long while in the same place. Without going out... And so you need to tone down the monotony of the life one is leading. What happens do you think?

At this point,  I remembered what used to be said in New York when for one reason or another, there would be a power cut for a day, if not more; nine months later there would a spike in the number of births.

I got the point.

*** 

FRENCH MINISTER

I had forgotten her name. Roselyn Bachelot. She was health minister when Sarkozy became the president of France...

In the year 2009, the H1N1 epidemic – not so different from the corona virus influenza – was spreading. For a while, it caused huge worries. Bachelot had immediately ordered an enormous supply of face masks and vaccines to be fully prepared for the onset of the disease. Luckily, the H1N1 epidemic suddenly faded out. But Bachelot was widely attacked from all fronts, not least medical unions and her political comrades, for having wasted so much public money “for nothing”. Some months later, she lost her ministerial job.

Today, the work she did is being given due recognition. If those who are now in her former role had taken the precautions she did, perhaps France might have contained much better the corona virus threat.

It seems to me that there is much to learn from this story.