Adebola Olabode
Time is a cascade of change. The world we live in never stops evolving in diverse ways. It is shaped and reshaped all the time by various existential forces. If it is not political change, it would be social reorder. If it is not industrial or economic revolution, it would be technological transformation. And if it is not war or conflict, it would be disease. Sometimes, the seismic shift our world experiences could even be a miscellany of the diverse catalytic factors mentioned above. Whatever manner of change it is, humanity is always at the centre of it all.
In recent times, disease has taken a frontline position as a world changer. It brought along an unprecedented pandemic, COVID-19, which has disrupted life as we knew it. To be sure, history is replete with a litany of epidemics that afflicted mankind in epochal proportions before COVID-19. For instance, there was the Bubonic Plague or Black Death which reportedly caused 75 to200 million deaths in Asia, Europe and North Africa in the years 1346-1353. There was also the unforgettable 1918 influenza pandemic, namely Spanish flu, which was widely regarded as the most severe pandemic in recent history, before COVID-19. The number of Spanish flu deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million and up to500 million worldwide.
Thus, disease outbreaks like pandemics have ravaged humanity over time, occasionally altering the course of history. At times, such pandemics also instigated the end of entire civilizations. Today, a similar pattern seems to be emerging with the COVID-19 pandemic changing the sequence of human history and engendering a new era called the New Normal. What does the New Normal dispensation really entail? How will the post-COVID-19 era affect people? Will human beings still stay normal in the New Normal world?
Since the full-fledged outbreak of coronavirus pandemic in 2020, it has drastically and pervasively changed the way we live, work, interact and move around. At the peak of its severity, most nations and governments of the world resorted to imposing mandatory lockdowns of public movements and activities, as well as shutdowns of educational institutions. Social gatherings were halted. Economic activities were restricted. Even religious meetings got strictly regulated. ‘Stay home, stay safe became the buzz phrase everywhere. WHO-backed precautionary measures such as nose mask wearing, social distancing, hand washing, avoidance of hand shaking or hugs, and so on became the order of the day.
Over time, isolationism has become a way of life, most especially for elderly members of society who are said to be more prone to COVID-19 complications. Social intercourse is no longer as expressive and interactive as it used to be. Going to school is being reordered as remote or online learning. And the world of work has become more of working from home or Zoom conferencing, just as life generally gets more technology-driven than natural. So, the normal way of human life is giving way to the New Normal lifestyle. What calls for concern, however, is that the New Normal world has its negative effects on the humanity of humanity.
Yes, due precautions and regulations need to be observed in order to stem the spread of the coronavirus disease and minimize fatalities. But, in a strange new world where we keep isolating ourselves in our homes, avoiding or limiting social activities, elbowing or fisting instead of shaking hands and hugging during greetings, covering up human emotions with face masks, and shunning physical official meetings in the world of work or business, the vital human touch to life and living is being lost. It is really an existential conundrum. Containing the pandemic and saving lives with drastic isolationistic measures is coming at great costs to holistic human well-being. What are the costs?
For one, there is the social cost of mental health depreciation which could get worse if the New Normal trend continues into the post-COVID-19 future. Vulnerable people would develop post-traumatic stress disorder. In fact, mental health experts have since identified psychological distress as major human fallout of the pandemic restrictions. Symptoms of the psychological and emotional distress are said to include such conditions as depression, anger, anxiety, boredom, disappointment and life dissatisfaction, morbid fear of infection, isolation, loneliness and so on. The foregoing stressful conditions may in turn lead to more people committing suicide, and perpetrating domestic and sexual violence.
For instance, while there was news from the Ministry of Women Affairs, Children and Social Welfare in Anambra State which claimed that no fewer than 80 cases of rape were recorded in parts of Anambra State during the prolonged lockdown of the country in 2020, the Minister of Women Affairs in Nigeria, Mrs. Pauline Tallen, also reported there were over 3,600 rape cases across Nigeria during the COVID-19 shutdowns. Globally, the United Nations also recently raised an alarm regarding the increase in reported cases of domestic and gender-based violence, which was a direct effect of forced lockdowns. The Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, confirmed that about 243 million women and girls (aged 15-49) across the world have been subjected to sexual or physical violence since the pandemic restrictions became a way of life.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues and the restrictive New Normal lifestyle endures, the mental, emotional and social effects on human wellbeing are likely to become more pronounced into the future. The riveting factors of social distancing and public security measures adopted by most governments will continue to affect human relationships and social development. For a long time, the human society has always been energized by physical interactions, be it at work, leisure spots, religious centers, sports events and other public functions. Every day, people are used to socializing, working together in offices and businesses, making friends, and enjoying conversations. All these human activities are what aid human bonding and social development.
But in the New Normal world, social distancing would be breeding isolationism, individualism, social rejection and, of course, the loss of a sense of community. The alienating New Normal life is obviously antithetical to the veritable ideal of social inclusiveness, which is enabled by socializing. Yet, social scientists opine that socializing is a basic human need, just like food. When we are deprived of this basic human need for socializing, it could portend dangerous implications for our mental and even physical health. It is no wonder that the United Nations rates human mental and physical health as a fundamental human right. According to the Covenant by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, everyone has the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Although world governments have a right to take measures for the prevention and control of an epidemic and other diseases, the right to health is said to be closely related to and dependent upon the attainment of other human rights such as rights to food, housing, work, education, human dignity, life, non-discrimination, equality, prohibition against torture, and the freedoms of association, assembly and movement. So, in view of the foregoing proposition, the challenge of the New Normal times we live in calls for a balancing act between flattening the pandemic curve and preserving the fundamental human right to holistic physical and mental health.
In conclusion, as COVID-19 continues to spread mostly by human contact, the fact must also be recognized that the coronavirus is our real enemy, and not our family members, friends, neighbours, and all fellow human beings. In the long run, the effectiveness of societal response to the pandemic and our collective survival has much to do with how robust our social experience is. That is, how close we stay physically connected to one another and how much empathy we show to others while still taking prescribed cautionary measures counts a lot. We simply need to find a healthy way to stay human, healthy and normal in a New Normal world.
––Olabode, Chairman of Media Specialties Group, wrote in from Lagos.
