The unfolding Covid 19 Crisis brought a couple of interesting ideas and debates that affect not only the everyday practice of the state of law, but equally issues that on the medium and long term may change the approach to citizenship and solidarity.
From the very beginning: I am a strict mask wearing follower, with a problematic immunity condition. I respect the lockdown - partial and complete - decisions in my home country of Germany, I am trying as much as possible to limit my human contacts, and using intensively the online tools video options for connecting both to my work, academic and personal contacts. I am working from home since mid-September and me and my mini-family we spent religious holidays and birthdays and other personal encounters in very reduced format. I did the Covid test preventively twice and every time I have to attend a doctor meeting, I keep a track of my symptoms and temperature, at least 5 days in advance. I didn´t travel out of Germany and actually out of Berlin since the beginning of March. I am pushing for extra caution and I do not put into question the state decisions regarding the overall rules and regulations as well as responsibility during the pandemics.
However, as a political scientist and historian of mentalities, I am observing trends and challenges and I am keeping an eye on the eventual consequences for human rights and freedoms. There are a couple of aspects that I´ve noticed in the last months that I would outline, without making any clear conclusions as the situation is on the run as for now and most probably there will be more challenges taking place. My observations are based on everyday interactions with people and news and analysis pertaining to a large diversity of sources mostly from US, France, Germany, Sweden, Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe. I wish I have more available time and resources to extend my observations to other corners of the world, such as Latin America, Australia or Africa.
- An important aspect that is common all over the world is the critical situation of the medical system. No matter where and what. There is not enough medical personnel and the hospital beds simply do not reach the high demand not only for Covid 19 patients, but generally. The sector is underpaid and so is the personnel.
- The full chain of support for the medical personnel is also lacking, and this applies as well to the people working in other essential sectors, such as rule of law - justice and police - or educational personnel.
- Single parents and people with a precarious social situation - including refugees and old people - are directly affected by the economic restrictions and laydowns that enfolded in the last months. Some countries are lacking a proper social system to compensate those staying at home or unable to work during the pandemic. The number of people at high social risk increased significantly and it´s a very dangerous situation from the social point of view.
- There are categories at risk - women and children - of being the target of an increased domestic violence. The fact that the institutions and organisations in charge with preventing such abuses were on ´home office´ which often meant unreachable either by email or by phone and without access to basis files and information - at least the case in Germany - complicated the situation.
- From the scientific point of view, we are far from fully understanding how the virus operate, what and how fast are the mutations and what exactly we can do to prevent its spread. The lockdowns operated pretty well, but once people are back to normal, the number of cases are increasing. The solution of a vaccine is welcomed, but how life will look like in one year or two is hard to evaluate. The rules of the scientific research may require a lot of analysis and investigation and careful conclusions and there is a pressure on behalf of the society, including for economic reasons, to find a solution. Scientists cannot operate properly under such conditions.
- As for now, it is not clearly known how the virus spreads. The dynamics within a family, for instance, can vary, with cases when both parents were infected, while children not. For children growing up in a climate of fear and suspicions that they may be the cause of infection for their beloved ones it is a high risk of psychological trauma. The fact that they may go to school and requested to limit their contact with their peers, as well as with their parents and grandparents adds on more distress.
- The old people, some of them isolated for months in care facilities do experience their own trauma as well, besides the inevitable problems of the old age. Many of them died alone, some are unable to have contact with their beloved one which increases their anxiety and alienation.
- People living separated from their beloved one also represent a category of mental health risk. Living alone in a foreign country, for different reasons, separated from your beloved ones, that may be themselves in critical situations, creates difficulties that video calls may diminish but still cannot replace the reality of a close hug. The therapists and mental health personnel are faced with new situations and proper answers are relatively improvised solutions as for now.
- Let´s talk statistics. First and foremost, in countries with a limited or non-existent democractic system, the official data released regarding the Covid 19 rates of infection and death are largely put into question. Reporting a high number of data may create credibility issues for the political regime therefore hiding the truth is what the local politicians will rather do. On the other hand, when it comes to democratically elected countries, there are still difficulties in offering a credible account of the extent of the pandemic as sometimes the medical causes of death are not corroborated with previous medical conditions. The ways in which data are reported, from the statistical point of view is also largely different from a country to another and, in case of federal systems, from a region to another. Therefore, when political decisions are based on those data, there may be slight issues.
- What about civil liberties? The decisions to introduce the lockdown were mostly imposed by political decision makers, without democratic debate, on the argument of high security. Some countries even used in this respect tracking systems in order to secure the full implementation of those measures. The respective personal data were shared by intelligence agencies creating high suspicions about how easily those information can be politically instrumented. The freedoms of movement were limited and controlled by agents of the state authority - mostly police. Security was considered prevalent for freedom, on the base of the emergency. For non-democratic systems it was automatically possible based on their authoritarian reflexes. In democracies, it created a big debate and the state actors aimed to protect the rule of law and human freedoms started to impose different decisions on political rulings - particularly in Germany. The question is also: Will this create a precedent of retraining political liberties? What are the democratic antibody that should activated in this case?
- Responsibility and solidarity: Angela Merkel´s discourses related to the Covid 19 often mentioned the need of solidarity and responsibility towards each other. The decision of wearing a mask and respecting the social distance, as well as the minimal sanitary measures is an expression of responsible free will. We are more than isolated individuals, but we are part of a human network and social context that involves a minimal solidarity. What are the daily rituals that build this solidarity? How do we become responsible for one another? On the other hand, there are cases when people do request the intervention against fellow citizens as purposely not implementing the lockdown requirements. Such situations reveal a mistrust in people belonging to different cultural and religious groups therefore expressions of a deep mistrust and discrimination tendencies.
I am looking forward to follow many of those ideas, hopefully from the comfort of a location safe from the health point of view and while enjoying at least a minimal social contact with my beloved ones.
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