Guilt in the year of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic

 

The year 2020 has been a year that is best forgotten.  The pandemic had vastly different effects in the population.  Essential workers are the heroes – having to continue working. Many small businesses had to close and lay off their employees. And then are many who are able to work remotely from home. Working from home comes with its challenges. With schools closed, parents with young children have to simultaneously work as well as help the young ones with remote schooling. In addition, one wonders how many children are missing adequate education because of lack of computers and access to reliable network.

How does the guilt factor come into play? For those of us who do not have young school going children, the thought that there are millions of families that have to deal with a multitude of challenges arouses feelings of guilt.  For many having a job and being able to work generates sufficient guilt. Not having the challenges of having to deal with issues related to school age children, that so many are facing, only adds to the guilt. One may try to reach a colleague over the phone and hear a response to the effect that your colleague is driving home after picking up their child during the middle of the day from the tutor (likely because the regular school is closed).  That is when you feel the guilt that you are not faced with these issues.

There is plenty of information on the disparity that exists in the society. However, personal experience is a unique feeling. I hope the situation changes rapidly so that some of us do not have to feel guilty.

COVID-19 PANDEMIC

My last posting was on October 2009!  What a time to get back to some bloggings! The entire world is reeling under the weight of the corona virus pandemic.  There are so many facets one can discuss about this pandemic.  One of them is the complacency of the developed countries in assuming that infectious diseases did not need attention. Attention and resources were focused on non-communicable diseases like cancer and cardiovascular disorders.  I am no exception to this pattern of thinking. Infectious viruses do not recognize national borders.  With international travel, every country should have paid greater attention to the possibility of a pandemic originating in a far of continent coming to our shores.

Who knew that global surveillance for potential pandemics is an established activity.  So then, why are we in this current situation?  Could it be because of the irresponsibility of heads of states whose primary responsibility is to ensure such activities are adequately addressed.  It clearly seems like they dropped the ball.    The Global Health Security and Biodefense unit, responsible for pandemic preparedness and established in 2015 by Barack Obama’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice, was dissolved in 2018.  This action likely contributed to the current state we are in.

Each one of us have our own personal perspective of what happened to our daily activities.  As for me, on Friday the 13^th of March is when I started working from home.  One fine day all who could work remotely disappeared from the lab and started working from home.  Since then, in the last seven weeks I have gone to the lab only three times for a few minutes tp get reference books and once for less than a couple of hours to relocate my office. I am hoping to start going to work in the lab soon.

Meanwhile, the whole process of shopping has been revamped.  Hardly any visits to Costco.  Donning a face mask when grocery shopping.  Going forward I plan to use a face mask when traveling in planes – which I started a couple of years ago.  Now I will feel comfortable doing so.

Another casualty of this pandemic was the cancellation of a trip to Spain, that I was very much looking forward to.  As I write this blog, I realize that I am off from work because I had taken this week off to for the Spain tour!  But here I am at home in Irvine using the time to collect some Continuing Education Credits (CEU). The Annual Conference of the American College of Medical Genetics which was scheduled for mid-March was converted to a digital conference.  I spend my time off to go over some of the presentations and gather some CEUs!

We were just now starting to do some travelling with plans for travelling at least once a year.  We did Kauai, Peru and Alaska.  And the December 2018 to January 2019 trip to India! Now, I am not sure when we will start travelling again.

Diwali, Pepsico, potato chips and Target

I was pretty amused to see a flyer which said "Share the joy of Diwali" with the symbols of Pepsi and FritoLay. This is advertisment targeting Indians. How about celebrating Diwali with Pepsi and potato chips? What is the role of Indra Nooyi in "Celebrate Diwali with Pepsi and potato chip"? Soon we will be celebrating Pongal, Onam, Vishu, Sankranthi, Holi, and Navratri with Pepsi and potato chips!

The power of words!

Here are words in modern “fed speak” – “extraordinary exuberance” and “unusual uncertainty”. The former introduced by the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan and the latter by the current Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernenke. What cleverly crafted phrases to capture the attention of the public! Eventually both phrases mean “nobody knows the basis for what is happening in the market/Wall Street”!

Oranges and mangoes - or any fruit for that matter

It has been a while since I have updated my blog. Here is one baout oranges, mangoes = or any other fruit for that matter.
How many of us venture to think about the time it takes for a fruit to be borne by a tree and ripened to the stage when we are able to enjoy it? Be it an orange or a mango it does not take more than five minutes to be consumed. How long does it take for the mango or orange to progress from a flower to a fruit on a tree and then ripen enough for us to enjoy? Orange blooms appear in the spring and the fruits are ready by end of autumn or beginning of winter. You see, that is at least 6 months. As for mangoes, the blossoms appear in January and the fruits are ready in June. That is again close to 5-6 months. So when relishing these fruits think of the time, energy and care invested by the trees in satisfying your taste buds – all in less than five minutes.

The 2009 healthcare discussions in the U.S.

The country is in the midst of intense discussions on reforming the health insurance. It started with the goal of ensuring that the cost of health insurance is brought under control. A number of factors contribute towards this persistent increase in the cost of insurance year after year. One of the factors is that the cost of healthcare for the 47 million uninsured individuals in the country is shouldered by those who are insured. The answer for this was to ensure that the 47 uninsured are provided the opportunity to have affordable insurance. Sometimes it is not the affordability; it is the rejection by some insurance companies to provide coverage because of pre-existing conditions. The proposal to provide an option to any individual who needed insurance (”public option”) has come under intense criticism. The underlying concern for the criticism was the concern that the availability of such an option would undermine the “monopoly” of the private insurance companies. It is difficult to come up with any other reason for the not so civil town hall meetings. One concern was that government sponsored insurance would stifle the private insurance. Responding to this criticism President Obama was quick to respond in brilliant fashion. He responded that despite the existence of the United States Postal Service, a government run agency, private companies like FedEx and UPS continue to thrive while the United Postal Service was the one in perilous existence. His made it clear that a public option was important for ensuring sufficient competition for the private insurance companies. After all despite the availability of the numerous health insurance companies, they all seemed to be functioning like one company. Another concern by those against the public option is that they do not want bureaucrats making decisions as to when and what they will pay. They are oblivious to the fact that is what is happens currently with the private insurance companies. It was also humorous to hear many individuals, including the Chairman of the Republican Party, Michael Steele, making superficial statements on how much they were against government run health care option without realizing that Medicare is a government run health insurance program! It is not unusual to hear many people at the town hall meetings make such statements that contradicted one another. One has to wonder if these not so well thought out statements are made because of confusion in thought, insecurity or because they are made by individuals from the opposition party with the aim of depriving a democratic President a victory whenever possible.

Are eighteen year olds ready make decisions on their own and be independent?

Are eighteen year olds ready make decisions on their own and be independent? As a parent of a child off to the University, I have had to confront this question. At the orientation I was make acutely aware, the staff at the University “Your child is an adult. You do not have any right to their documents, medical records etc;”. Incidentally when it comes to paying for college, the parents are still kind of responsible!
So, are eighteen year olds really equipped emotionally to make decisions and be independent? My experience is that it depends on the child. Some children are well grounded and mature and can make decisions. But not all children are ready. What are the consequences when society decides to give all eighteen year olds the status of adults – even those that are not ready to handle the independence? Unfortunately, I suppose there is no way to apply different standards to the two groups in a university setting. I am sure the staff will tell you that all students need this independence (irrespective of their level of maturity) to explore the various aspects of life and that they will all step up to the challenges.
I only hope that this is indeed the case!