Self-Isolation sounds like an easy thing to do. But we talk about self-isolation from a position of privilege. We preach everyone to stay at home and contribute their bit in this fight against COVID-19. The only reason why we so fervently believe in quarantining ourselves is that we don’t have to worry about the next meal that we eat.
But think about the Low Income Worker, who faces a life hundred times harder without the stability of Income. They don’t have the option to work remotely. They don’t have safety nets.
Think about the situation of street-side vendors. How are they going to sustain themselves without the flow of regular income? Think about your maid. In the case of a lockdown, she would lose her income. How are they going to feed themselves?
For you and me, socially isolating would cause little inconvenience. But for them, it is a crisis; it is about survival.
What Could We Do To Help Them?
Pay your maid for the leave, just as you expect corporations to pay you. Do it because it is the right thing to do. The government should take decisions keeping in mind the poorest section of our society and not the large corporates. Rather than a complete lockdown, the government should go for large scale testing. We don’t have the proper infrastructure as of now, the focus should be on ramping up our capacity.
Identify the positive cases, isolate them, rather than the entire population. However, the way we are testing, this scenario is not plausible. We are too incompetent for this surgical kind precision of identifying all positive cases. Hence, we are left with the option of everyone locking themselves.
In this case, the Government should support the daily wage workers and small businesses, the way the Government in the West is doing. It is sad that we have such incompetent people in power. All they have is ‘Tali bajao and thali bajao (clap and beat utensils).
I don’t know what to expect from them. We all are on our own.