Introduction
The outburst of coronavirus has resulted in a multifaceted impact. The stock market crumbled; lives were lost through death, lives were disrupted through travel plans; Businesses experience loss in revenue; and there is panic and fear among people.
This coronavirus is a wake-up call for many of us. We are dependent on other countries for our products but a virus can interfere with our main supplier which in turn can impact our food supply. In the Caribbean, many of the countries have one industry namely tourism and if this virus is not controlled or eliminated, it can pose a threat to the livelihood of many as the travel plans for tourists will be reduced.
Economic diversification
The coronavirus is a wakeup call for countries to diversify its economy. A country that is based on one industry is a high risk and with the increase in robberies and now the coronavirus it can destroy the very industry that we work so hard to maintain. Therefore it is important that we diversity our economy and in the event (God forbid) our main industry is impacted, we will have other industries to maintain our livelihood. Let us use this opportunity explore the expansion of our local agriculture industry and possibly check other Caribbean countries for fruits and vegetables.
One case can impact all of us
If a virus such as coronavirus hits our shores, it can easily spread to all of us in a heartbeat simply because of our small size and we interact with each other very frequently either in the grocery store, in the work place and school. This is same with crime. It takes one criminal activity to negatively impact us. Other large countries, one case may not be impactful like it would impact us.
Be consistent with basic hygiene
For years, we were taught basic hygiene, wash your hands, cover your mouth but somehow we took many things for granted that we diverted from the basic hygiene practices. For instance, money transfers to and from our hands and we eat our food with our hands soon thereafter without washing our hands. Let us go back to the basis hygiene and stop taking short cuts.
Always seek God
Sometimes it takes a crisis for us to seek God. We should always seek God during the bad times and good times. Should we seek God more often, confess our sins, pray, turn from our wicked ways, God will heal our land. Don’t wait until the storm comes.
Everyone has a role
In times of crises, the blame game kicks in but everyone has a role. The Government has to be proactive, ensuring that the public is fully aware of the crisis, provide tips, have a place set aside for individuals, ensure that we have the human and equipment resources on hand to deal with the crisis. Individuals must ensure they are responsible by adhering to the tips provided. They must also be responsible citizens by not spreading malicious and misleading information in the public domain causing people to panic.
Conclusion
The Coronavirus is indeed a wakeup call for all of us. We must be consistent in our actions. When the AIDS epidemic was brought to light, people were very cautious at first, however, it appears that we all have forgotten about AIDS. When crime hits the streets, you may see police officers in the area for a while and when it wears off, you don’t see them. Now we have the coronavirus. Will we remain consistent in our hygienic behavior?
Will we now focus on contingency plans because it takes one incident to impact our fragile economy? Already we have seen tourists wanting to cancel their trips to Turks and Caicos even though there are no cases. Imagine if there were cases of the Coronavirus.