Yet another unsung victim of COVID19: RIP Krishnappa

I heard of the passing of Krishnappa yesterday - yet another unsung victim of COVID-19 that has claimed thousands of lives across the country, and millions globally.

Krishnappa was a friendly neighbor who would make small talk with me and share local news and happenings in the neighborhood.

Although it was shocking, like every death, it wasn’t unexpected given that Krishnappa had been hospitalized and was on a ventilator for a week, gradually going downhill. A couple of weeks ago I realized he was ailing when he came to collect coconuts we had gathered from our tree - his dry whooping cough was a dead giveaway though he was mobile and tried sounding ‘normal’. This was a few days before he officially tested “positive” and had to be hospitalized.

In his mid-sixties, Krishnappa and his wife were living a typical middle-class dream – kids and family living nearby, grandkids going to a decent private school. The pandemic cut short his life rather hastily.

Krishnappa and his wife lived off the rent from a multi-story house built on a small plot a couple of rows opposite our house. He lived in the ground floor with his wife and a son and had let out the 5-6 rooms on the two floors above to students from a nearby university. He had gifted a part of his plot to his daughters who had built another multi-story house where they lived with their families.

He also owned a private-auto that he would drive around. In the mornings he would run errands - buying greengroceries and supplies for other Paying Guests (PGs) in the neighborhood, after which he had the entire day to himself.

On most days, Krishnappa could be seen walking around the neighborhood, chatting with all and sundry. Even during the days leading to the recent lockdown, one could spot him chatting with the local vendors and hawkers on the main road nearby. During late afternoons, I would see him lounging on his auto parked near our compound where he would hold impromptu meetings and get-togethers with his friends.

Given the severity of pandemic and spread of COVID-19, one wonders if he should have been a bit more cautious, not ‘socializing’ as much. But it is not for us to question what, or why.

There was a flurry of activity in the neighborhood yesterday, and a few locals were seen walking around gathering near Krishnappa’s house. I suspected something afoot; perhaps he was being shifted to an ICU for Oxygen? Turns out, he had just passed away.

With the COVID-protocols in place, his body was directly whisked away from the hospital to the crematorium for a quick and quiet funeral. Unlike ‘normal,’ times no neighbors or friends around to pay their last respects to the departed.

With his abrupt passing, Krishnappa joins the thousands of unsung names and faces who are ending up as yet another blip in the great-statistical count of our generation.

#RIP Krishnappa

COVID 2.0 Crisis in India (April 2021) Is this the time for finger pointing over “failure of government" ? Not right now!

There is a tremendous amount of finger pointing over COVID-19 and the failure of government in the media.

Stop and think for a minute how all this finger pointing over the “failure of government” is utterly counter-productive... and it can be disheartening to government and frontline workers and policemen/women helping us battle the pandemic. 

Yes, it is heart-breaking to see thousands dying and millions being affected by a virus. Images of mass funerals bring tears to our eyes, but let’s step back and think how WE are helping battle this pandemic!

Image via NYT

About a year ago when the world was coming to grips with the virulent effects of COVID-19, the central government used all its political goodwill to impose three rounds of nationwide lockdowns.

• Stage 0: Jaan hai to jahan hai - Even during that stage, the media was quick to focus on the negative - the plight of migrant workers returning back. Did we once stop to question why the greedy factory owners and builder forced this on the workers by refusing to pay them during lockdowns? 
• Stage 1: Jaan Bhi Jahan Bhi - The same industrialists, commercial leaders and builders then used political pressure on the government to open up the economy. 
• Stage 2: Present-day crisis - After restrictions were lifted and people took it easy. This led to a free-for-all and a callous attitude towards the risk posed by a virulent pathogen. Why, we were blaming local officials and policemen who were enforcing mask-wearing rules!

Guess what? After restrictions were lifted, the pathogen mutated and came back with full vigor

I love it when folks like us sitting in front of computers are able to collate digital resources - “Reddit - Resources for Covid-19 - Beds, Plasma, Oxygen, Vaccines, Medicines, Grocery etc” Try to upvote and RT tweets that from folks who are trying to help, get oxygen, vaccinations etc. We should do more if we can and contribute to such efforts.

It is easy for armchair critics like us to sit back and criticize “the government” while thousands of central and state government officials, workers and contractors are helping us battle this pandemic. Just sitting back and forwarding articles and posts about “failure of government” is counter-productive at best.

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Remember, there is a time and place to criticize: make sure you reflect on all this when you get to the voting booth during the next general election. But till then, help contain this pandemic if you can.

Yet another suicide: unsung victim of COVID shutdown and downturn

 We have all been reading about the impact of COVID-19, shutdown and financial loss suffered by millions. The story hit closer home recently when a neighbor committed suicide. 

The victim was our neighbor Babu, a 40-something techie working for a multinational at a Tech Park in Bengaluru who also had a thriving side-gig: investing in real estate with his brother-in-law who is a local contractor. 

The Babu family is well-to-do - by Indian middle class standards - with a couple of houses and plots that his dad and uncles had invested-in a generation ago. During the past couple of decades, their properties had grown in value exponentially, and Babu had mortgaged the properties to invest in additional real-estate projects.  

On the surface, Babu led a fairly normal middle-class life with his wife and young daughter. His parents in their eighties, lived with them in their old duplex house that Babu had built a couple of decades ago. He had also built a couple of shops on his property facing the street that was let out, generating additional income. Babu’s only sister, married to the contractor also lives a few blocks away and the families would frequently meet up.

Our subdivision is adjacent to a private mega-university that has been expanding considerably over the years. Many independent houses and plots in the neighborhood have been converted to commercial enterprises including multi-story Paying Guest (PG) complexes that accommodate the influx of out of town students.

A couple of years ago, Babu and his brother-in-law decided to jump the bandwagon and tore down a couple of old houses that the family owned in the area. Babu financed the construction of the multi-story PG complexes spanning 200+ rooms, and the construction was supervised by his contractor-BIL. 

The project took nearly two years to complete and they had a grand inauguration in February. And then came COVID-19 and the lockdowns. 

The buildings remained vacant for the next six months while Babu began to struggle to pay off his loan and mounting interest. During the past few months, he unsuccessfully tried to liquidate a few other properties that the family owned, and Babu continued to fret over the complex web of finances that were starting to unravel.

Last weekend, Babu’s wife went to visit her parents with their daughter and on returning found him dead, hanging from the ceiling fan. 

The family quickly corralled together to finish the inquest and funeral, but this incident didn’t even make the local news. 

#RIP Mr. Babu

When will the Covid-19 pandemic end? Looking at life beyond lockdown

With nearly half of mankind under some form of government-imposed lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, the end of the Coronavirus Pandemic seems to be front and center in our minds. Almost all of us are struggling with answers to questions like “When will the Covid-19 pandemic end? “how will this end?” and “when will life get back to normal?”

In a recent NYT Article, Dr. Jeremy Greene, a historian of medicine at Johns Hopkins explains that “pandemics typically have two types of endings: the medical, which occurs when the incidence and death rates plummet, and the social, when the epidemic of fear about the disease wanes.”
When people ask, ‘When will this end?,’ they are asking about the social ending. One can argue that we are already seeing the social ending to the Covid-19 pandemic saga.

New-normal: Social Distancing and telecommuting at work

During the past few months, nearly all economic activities around the globe came to an abrupt standstill for weeks on end as leaders began reacting to the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic across the globe.

Business leaders, who quickly moved to shutter operations in line with national and local lockdown regulations, began watching the unrolling of the restrictions in parts of the world with reduced cases of COVID-19.  In many organizations, especially in the technology sector, telecommuting and work-from-home became the norm.

Company-men – self included – were quick begin parroting phrases like ‘new normal,’ surreal, once-in-a-generation and unprecedented times while trying to come to grips with the uncertainty of the pandemic.

What does end-of-lockdown feel? Not very different

By all accounts, the social ending to the lockdowns and restrictions isn’t going to be as dramatic or abrupt as the start. For one, people are willing and ready for such a change; and many are yearning to go back to life as it was.

The other day, I was in a zoom session with a colleague from China that was among the first nations to rollback lockdown restrictions. After weeks of working from home, employees there are back to work wearing masks, learning to live with additional social distancing norms and ubiquitous temperature checks at offices and all public places.

While people have begun to get back to work, and factories and manufacturing have resumed, the gears of the broader economy are slower in turning forward. Leaders around the globe are closely watching the Chinese blueprint to either follow along or modify as their situations dictate.

Onward to ‘new normal’ or back to old-normal?

After two consecutive nationwide lockdowns spanning one-and-half months, the Indian government announced a slow easing of the curbs with a ‘partial’ lifting of lockdown last week. By the end of the week, it felt like a giant had woken from its slumber. One can already see a few minor traffic jams accompanied by honking on roads by restless motorists. Shops have started opening, and it almost feels like ‘social distancing’ is a thing of the past. In the narrow grocery aisles masked-customers are back to shoving each other while selecting vegetables and fruits; the six-feet-rule be damned.

While it was jarring to see the American President abruptly rollback federal restrictions, leaving state governors to work through a hodgepodge of local regulations, he doesn’t seem to be alone.  After reacting strongly to address the outbreak of pandemic, government leaders around the world seem to be certain of one thing: they cannot indefinitely lockdown societies while awaiting a vaccine for Coronavirus, or for the death rates to plummet.

Commerce, just like life itself, must go on

States and cities around the world that have slowly lifted lockdown bans are beginning to see economic activity resume. While multinationals and large companies are being cautious in re-starting operations, small businesses are already rolling up their shutters.



Government officials are beginning to parrot how “people must learn to live with the virus” while following prevention guidelines.” Just as the crisis-management and pandemic-preparedness of governments across the globe was uneven, the way individual communities around the globe move forward after lockdowns is going to be asymmetrical.

With governments around the world finally abdicating their role in combating this deadly virus, the ‘end’ of the Covid-19 pandemic is going to be a bit of an anti-climax. And in a way, the much awaited new-normal may not look or feel very different. At least not in the short term.

Here is why Trump’s decision to pause WHO funding may be a good thing

The Trump administration’s recent decision (link) to withhold funds for World Health Organization (WHO), is generating a tremendous amount of media attention.  This week, the American president tried to blame the WHO for its role in COVID-19

“failing to adequately investigate early information about the virus’s ability to spread from one human to another and for not calling out China on its alleged lack of transparency over the virus.” During a news conference at the White House, Mr. Trump said “The WHO failed in its basic duty and must be held accountable. So much death has been caused by their mistakes.”

To be fair, the United States is a major donor to the UN and WHO. According to the world body, top voluntary contributors include United States of America, United Nations, Republic of Korea, Australia, Gates Foundation, Japan and European Commission. In 2017, America made over $100 contributions. (link: WHO) In addition, over $400 voluntary contributions were made from the United States.

Source kff.org

It’s too early for finger pointing

To be fair, the WHO has been at the front and center in tracking the progress of COVID-19. After a couple of months of closely tracking the outbreak of the virus, the WHO announced on 11th March it was upgrading COVID-19 to a Pandemic

“We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic. 

Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death.” 

The day WHO upgraded COVID-19 to pandemic there were about 1629 cases in America as per the CDC. President Trump also announced a ban on travel from Europe on 11th March, and followed up with a National emergency declaration on March 13th

Source: CDC

The trump administration is under tremendous pressure as the number of cases in the US escalate and the response has been patchy. They are looking for points of failure and perhaps a scapegoat. After initial attempts to call it a “China virus” backfired (link), the world health body is emerging as a convenient scapegoat.

Who is WHO?

Trump’s move may turn out to be a good thing as headlines on the decision to pause WHO funding generates a renewed attention on the role of the world health body in the modern world order. Trump’s announcement on WHO is also stirring a political debate in America, which will also generate interest among Americans. The average American Joe and Jane, who hadn’t heard of WHO will be curious to know more about the world body.

While America donates over $100 million of WHO’s $2+ Billion budget, it is not the only donor. All these headlines continue to generate interest in WHO and its activities, which in turn will lead to other donors stepping in. Large global donors like the Gates Foundation with billions at its disposal can easily make up the shortfall if America backs out of its commitment.

The risk of not contributing its dues to the world body is greater for America. By not donating, America and its researchers risk losing their standing. Part of the aid to world bodies comes in the form of contributions in kind, including time and experience of American doctors, researchers and CDC. Such experiences are mutually enhanced by collaboration between researchers; and the world will be a better place if American researchers and CDC continue to collaborate with their global peers.


Links:

• CDC - Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
• A timeline of the Trump administration's coronavirus actions
• China Blasts Trump’s Move to Pull WHO Funding, Pledges Support

Is a recession due to the coronavirus inevitable?

First things first: what is Recession? “In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending.”

What keeps an economy buzzing? It is the consumer; and a positive consumer sentiment that motivates us to shop for new cars, houses , household stuff and services.

Consumers are humans. With the #COVID19 induced barrage of news, uncertainty, and lockdowns humans around the world are feeling overwhelmed. The consumer and business sentiment is far from positive. Check out United States Consumer Sentiment index

The global economy is already in recession. Why do you think the governments around the world have stepped up with bailout plans? (ref: The bill for saving the world economy is $7 trillion and rising).

Let’s look at the light at the end of this tunnel: Humans are resilient when facing uncertainty. Recessions eventually lead to extended periods of growth. We will certainly get past this economic slump.