Covid-19 or the Government, who ruined the 2 countries I love?
When this pandemic really has done its work, before anyone realizes, the poor and the weak of both these countries will already be living the nightmare future of recession, hunger and hopelessness
I sit in my car with AC on, while my wife toils in the line for getting groceries. It takes a couple of hours. Me being the person at high risk for Covid-19 infection, my wife is our designated shopper. I can work from home on my laptop for all 8 hours (and a lot more, since I can’t give an excuse of getting late for the train now). I can talk to my people back in India on a video call lounging on my couch. Many in the US despite the reach of the internet, do not have this kind of luxury. While back in India, internet service itself has not reached more than half of the population. Coronavirus tale of these 2 countries is quite different and yet more or less has the same effect. There is a lot of suffering on the ground.
Healthcare or No Care, that is the question
The US has reach to the top of the world with respect to number of Covid-19 cases as 25% of the confirmed cases in the world are detected in the US. It has lost 132,000+ people till now. Many of the states, after trying to reopen the economy, have seen an increase in the rate of hospitalization for Covid-19 cases. Meanwhile, India has seen 19,000+ of its citizens, succumbing to death due to Covid-19. Looking at this number, it feels like India is doing much better. But the number of people tested in the US are 37 million while in India only 10 million people have taken the test. In a country of a billion, where everyone interferes in each other’s life not by choice but by the sheer lack of space, this is a ridiculously small number.
Indian government, current as well as the past, have never taken any interest in providing a robust healthcare system to their people. India spent less than 2.5% of their GDP on healthcare in 2020. It has less than 1 doctor every thousand patients. If you are in a rural area, good luck finding a doctor in emergencies. 3 out 5 people are uninsured and majority go to private facilities to get treated while paying exorbitant amounts of medical bills. The government facilities are lackluster at best and unlivable at worst. This pandemic could have been the opportunity for the ruling party of India to put focused money and effort into improving the healthcare infrastructure but it cared more about installing 70,000+ TV sets, so that the home minister can give a political speech.
Another system that carries the mantle of screwing its people is, the US healthcare system. But in an entirely different way. The US has the world’s most expensive healthcare system but it has failed in catering to the public when in real need. By the end of June, the “coronavirus deaths” curve is still rising with models showing it to continue that path. Employer based health insurance does not look rosy when millions have lost their jobs. Covid-19 tests are covered but treatments are still not. Some of the patients are getting slammed with astronomical bills to pay with no insurance to cover it and no decent paying jobs in sight. It has made a strong case for the single payer healthcare system, which a lot of the other countries in the world already have and have managed to survive the pandemic better. The existing healthcare system has let down the poorest of the poor when it is supposed to take care of them.
I got 99 problems and yes, healthcare is not the only one
Health issues are not the only concern. Sudden lockdown has exposed all demons hidden under the garb of good governance or development rhetoric. Approximately 40 million American citizens have filed for unemployment till now with almost 40% of the jobs expected to be lost permanently. The government policies have failed to create conditions in which people are able to isolate themselves, without the worry of a job loss, rent or mortgage payment and availability of food and other necessary items without worrying about the cost. People are desperate to get back to work not because they love their jobs but the thought of tackling next month’s expenses haunts them. Small businesses are suffering and most of them are predicted to close indefinitely. At the same time, big Wall Street finance institutions are getting direct slush fund from the government and big businesses are using this opportunity to take over the small independent businesses to further their monopoly. $1200 payments are about to stop, and people are going to struggle for their rent while corporations are seeing great stock market growth not just satisfying but exceeding the holier than thou “fiduciary responsibility” towards their shareholders. If US was worried about growing income inequality, after the implementation of the CARES act, they should just accept the reality that it might never get resolved and stop worrying about it. At least, accepting the truth will relieve some pressure.
In the East, with sudden lockdown, India saw the biggest migrant crisis since 1947 India — Pakistan partition. Migrants walked, cycled and drove 1000s of kilometers to go back to their villages because governments, central and state, failed to make any arrangements before lockdown for these migrants to go back to home or provide them with a proper support system while they were stuck in the cities they work. They got beaten by local police and many of them lost their lives while travelling. The relief package is more or less just the play with numbers to create a sense of security but really there is no money to be given by the government as Indian economy was struggling long before the Pandemic. The distribution of food, money and services are not being implemented efficiently. Big businesses are quick to take advantage of peoples’ desperation and fill their pockets with some extra cash.
Media… who?
Middle class of both the countries (especially people having the ability to work from home) have spent their time with digital entertainment making creative viral TikTok videos, watching shows on online streaming platforms, doing their office conference calls on Zoom and hanging out with friends on Houseparty app. People who hardly ever plan to go out anywhere on the weekend(s) now miss the freedom of weekend getaways. Twitter has become the tool to express their anger and disappointment to all the things Covid-19. From posting complaints about boring life, new cooking hacks, fake corona virus cures and 10 things to do while in quarantine to spreading unsubstantiated news about China’s plan to take over the world by spreading the virus, all is shared on Twitter and WhatsApp. Different opinions are sparring over threads and threads of 280 character tweets. Fake articles and images related to pandemic and government action are shared and busted over WhatsApp. ‘Solidarity with essential workers’ post is used to get retweets and likes. Men are getting a high on achievement of helping their partners in household chores and freedom from wearing formal pants. Some people are praising the government while some are hating it. Nationalism in both countries is on all time high despite them being among the worst responders to the pandemic and for once, NYC subway is clean as no one is using it for daily commute.
In all this, there is one important aspect missing from people’s lives. Information. Critical evaluation of the policies of both countries are missing from mainstream news channels.
In the US, both parties are just doing symbolic policies to earn brownie points with the worker class. Most of the relief is going to big corporations and Wall Street interests are taken care of instead of the poor. But where do we see this discussed thoroughly? Right wing channels are praising the government for the $1200 cheque and vilifying impacted people to expect more. While liberal channels are praising democrats to get on committees but not questioning the unopposed movement of the CARES act in both houses, one of which is led by democrats and in the other one, not even a single democrat dissented. We need to go to alternative digital media to know about hidden details of the government policies or opposition’s lack of resistance. To get any information, critical of the status quo, people need to go on platforms, independent of corporate funding. Small YouTube channels and Substack are giving more detailed information.
In India too, propagation of the government’s nationalistic narrative is the priority of the most TV channels. Instead of discussing minute details of the government relief efforts and suffering of the migrants, TV anchors are busy praising the prime minister and spreading communal hatred using panic of the pandemic. Various state governments changed labor laws, taking away protections of the workers while no one was paying attention. There was hardly any mention of this on the TV media while a channel was airing “Antakshari”. Popular TV hosts were busy talking about how the prime minister played a master stroke by asking everyone to come to their gallery and praise healthcare workers by clapping or bashing on their plates. At the same time, doctors were getting harassed by their neighbors, hospitals were not equipped enough to manage the outbreak and people isolated in quarantine facilities, established and managed by the government, were not getting enough food and water. With all the money and journalistic power at their disposal, most of the news channels seem to have missed these and other important stories.
We all lost. Together.
A crisis demands a hero or league of heroes (not endorsing DC or Marvel). This crisis got them in the image of healthcare and essential workers (without pay increase). And they tried; tried real hard but they could do only so much. People deserved good government policies and in return they got haphazard plans to put a band-aid on a gaping wound which is leading to a substantial loss of blood. Media are those photographers who do not want to show the blood because it is too graphic as per told by their corporate editors. It will neither stop the bleeding nor will it take away the pain. It will just make the elite and middle class of both countries oblivious and uninformed. When this pandemic really has done its work, before anyone realizes, the poor and the weak of both these countries will already be living the nightmare future of recession, hunger and hopelessness and it would be too late for a hero to save them.
Originally published in Medium on July 6th 2020