IT'S QUITE HEROIC TO BELIEVE IN THE FUTURE NOW

It just didn’t seem right. After the initial scare in Mid-March, after more than two months of lockdown, the pre-March blessed state of being, of being spared the ravages of the pandemic terrorising the rest of the world, seemed to be the norm. The infections happened neatly in clusters, were quickly contained and brought under control.

Politicians showed little or no restraints at public events, and the general public followed suit. The general elections were finally held in August without a single infection being reported, followed by the Colombo international book fair.

Now, two weeks after that mass gathering, one infected case from it has been reported. But this has gone largely unnoticed in the new panic, already stretching into weeks – the Minuwangoda cluster which resulted in more than 1000 infected cases in a few days, putting several districts and key towns under lockdown. It was reported that Covid 19 has spread to 21 districts, with the total number of cases islandwide now going past 5000.

By the time this article appears in print, these statistics would be out of date. It’s the fear of becoming a statistic that has given many people an acute sense of social responsibility now, a vital change given that very few bothered to wear masks in buses barely two weeks ago though no one had declared the country pandemic free.

If the new outbreak is brought under control, it will be due to this new sense of urgency more than any official lockdowns. But social responsibility doesn’t mean locking yourself in at home until the world outside is officially declared safe. Work from home is not an option for a good part of Sri Lankans. Even those who have that privilege now prefer to go to work because working from home means more work for less pay, with boredom as a bonus.