“If you think compliance is expensive- try non-compliance.”- General Paul McNutty, Former U.S. Deputy Attorney General
We are currently facing extraordinary times amidst this COVID-19, what Nassim Taleb describes as “Black Swan” events, or should we say the “Black Swan of Black Swans.” Remember that this crisis too shall pass. What we need now is better awareness that leads to better choices which in the end leads to better results. What’s happening now is no less than a large-scale social experiment.
At the time of writing, the coronavirus (COVID-19) has reportedly infected 5,588,356 people worldwide and 347,873 people are deceased. That number need not have been so high. So what lessons can be learnt?
The first step we need to acknowledge is not only the loss of lives (sadness and mourning should not be short-circuited) but also our ways of life, which for many includes travel, education, fun, and friendship just to name a few.
COVID-19, even though it appears to be more contagious than the flu, can still be managed by the standard public-health playbook:
Make no bones about it, get used to this “new world.” Life has been inexorably changed forever, like it was after the AIDS/HIV epidemic in the 1980s and after 9/11 in 2001. There will be more citizen surveillance than ever before and maybe even more nationalist isolation than global solidarity.
In terms of surveillance, China closely monitored people’s smartphones, made use of hundreds of millions of face-recognising cameras, and obliged people to check and report their body temperature and medical condition through webcams. The interesting thing is these same tools can be used by individuals to monitor governments too. The question remains is do we really want these mass surveillance tools? Do will really want governments and corporations harvesting our biometric data en masse?
What’s happening in some countries now would certainly make a mockery of what happened to Cambridge Analytica’s data hacking tactics. Furthermore, these so called “temporary” measures employed by governments during times of emergencies can be longstanding, further compromising our civil rights and privacy rights.
We must ensure that both governments and corporations don’t use our data in ways that violate our rights and silence our voices. We must have control over how our personal information is used, and prohibit its use to build systems that oppress, discriminate, disenfranchise and exacerbate segregation.
A more powerful way of combating the problem as seen by many is by empowering people- changing the fabric of society by giving them control of the situation. This alternative approach was taken by the countries of South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore who empowered their citizens by self-reporting, conducting extensive testing and informing their public by the trusted trio of science, trusted authorities and the media.
What’s equally interesting is what they don’t do. The use of N95 masks, face-protectors, goggles, and gowns are reserved for procedures where respiratory secretions can be aerosolized (for example, intubating a patient for anaesthesia) and for known or suspected cases of COVID-19. Their quarantine policies are interesting too. In Hong Kong and Singapore, when a hospital co-worker or a patient tests unexpectedly positive in a primary-care office or an emergency room, they don’t shut the place down or put everyone under home quarantine. They do their best to trace every contact and then quarantine only those who had close contact with the infected person
Lastly here are some tips that can help you right now during this COVID-19 pandemic:
As Nobel Prize-winning philosopher Albert Camus once said, “In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.’ Winter doesn’t last forever and spring always follows it. We will spring back to normal life, like we’ve always done. Remember that in every crisis lies opportunity. What you practice in private you will be rewarded for in public. This is your private time, this is your time for training, for practice, to prepare for what’s ahead.
“Acting after being asked is compliance. Acting without being asked is kindness.”- Ron Kaufman, Author
Plastic Surgeon BSc, MBBS, FRACS (General), FRACS (Plastics).
Regarded as one of the top plastic surgeons in Australia, Dr. Papadopoulos’ national status is underscored by his election as president of the Australasian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) in 2014-2016 and being appointed Board Director and Visiting Professor of the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) in 2018.
Dr. Papadopoulos is a specialist Plastic Surgeon known for providing patients with exceptional care from the initial consultation, in the operating room and through to post-operative follow-up. He is the Head of Plastic Surgery at Westmead Private Hospital, as well as, the Founder and Medical Director of CosmeticCulture Clinics in Sydney.
Read about Dr Tim on Greek City Times:
Beauty and The Greek: Dr. Tim Papadopoulos Speaks One-on-One