Coronavirus has completely taken over all forms of media and the discussions around me. Not an hour goes by without a mention of the global pandemic. It’s not an all-out panic yet, but an increasing number of positive cases in my city has, for sure, put the people on alert.
I am avoiding unverified information that gets spread on social media and group messaging platforms. But it is difficult to stay and keep others, sane amidst the deluge of news bites that get spewed across every few minutes. It becomes tedious and tiring to focus on facts and keep enlightening people around you about the same.
It sure looks like a storm is brewing within all. I just wish that the uncertainty subsides before there are more cases of worst sides of humans on display. If not, any hope for the social solidarity that Kara Swisher, so succinctly, calls for will be lost.
In addition to social distancing, societies have often drawn on another resource to survive disasters and pandemics: social solidarity, or the interdependence between individuals and across groups. This an essential tool for combating infectious diseases and other collective threats. Solidarity motivates us to promote public health, not just our own personal security. It keeps us from hoarding medicine, toughing out a cold in the workplace or sending a sick child to school. It compels us to let a ship of stranded people dock in our safe harbors, to knock on our older neighbor’s door.