Corona War Exit Strategy

The US learned in Vietnam that for every war you get yourself into, you need to have an exit strategy — or you’ll stay in it forever. The war against the coronavirus pandemic no different.

Also, many people are sick (and nervous) about the apparent endlessness and hopelessness of this worldwide epidemic.

So, what’s the endgame?

First, people must keep so much distance that the number of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths goes down drastically. (This under abundant testing. Because if you don’t test a lot, you don’t know if the rate of infection really is going down.) Or for areas where it never went up: stays very low. (NB: If numbers still are skyrocketing despite social distancing, that could be from doing more tests. You now see how bad it really was. It doesn’t mean that the distancing doesn’t work.)

Then you need to do mass tasting. This to find the still sick, trace their contacts and isolate them.

And then you can cautiously reopen the economy. (You can only do that when you’re mass testing.)

That’s really all that there is to it.

***

However, you need to keep a certain amount of social distancing for the time being until this virus stops being around or until people are vaccinated (if a vaccine is found). Also, the discovery of medicine that works in every case (as with AIDS) would help to ease restrictions.

However, there are no guarantees that such vaccines or medicine cocktails will ever be found. With AIDS, it took decades to find medication, with other viruses, they are none.

Almost all experts see as highly implausible the rumors from China that people can get reinfected once they healed. Don’t forget that the Chinese cannot freely speak. It seems that their tests and the emergency ones the US made aren’t as good as the German ones that the WHO recommended from the start. So, many Chinese declared cured, in fact, may not have been. Also, in any dictatorship, truth may be a rare commodity in the public sphere and life of the common citizen can be cheap.

Many people have lost their jobs but many will get the same positions back quickly.

Many small businesses may need help for a restart but capitalist society will be very happy to provide.

Citizens will quickly start buying and hiring what got behind. Hairdressers will be very busy and so will retail. Teachers and kids will return to school. Backlog non-urgent medical treatment will come up. Depleted anything in the house will be bought finally. This will jumpstart the economy by which money will be available to support everyone — vicious cycle up.

Some sectors of society may lie still for some years, though. For Israel, tourism is important. There will be no entry allowed from hotspots for a long time. Airplanes may start flying again but be prepared to see, for a few years, mainly people from countries that blocked the spread of the virus from the start, like Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea, Austria.

Therapists will be very busy. There will be much mourning, many relationship troubles, and despair. Suicide prevention is important too. Know that generally, people try to take their lives because they see no hope anymore or because they want their pain to stop (not from trauma). You help them by listening to them and believing how much they suffer and telling them that still it will look much better in half a year. Dieting may also become a hot topic after lockdown.

***

Yes, we can. And we must. The climate change challenge is awaiting us. World hunger. Refugees. For those who like to be busy, a good time is coming.

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. * His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1