As the city of Milan in the northern region of Lombardy, Italy, continues to experience the greatest hit from the Covid-19 Pandemic, the world is shattered and the epicentre of the disease seems to be headed Westwards into Spain and across the Atlantic into the US. Come to think of it, this thing seems to be taking the ancient route taken by Christianity; from Asia, to Europe, then Americas. Africa should fasten its safety belts!
And as the fear of death fills major cities in the world, the question on many people’s mind is ‘where was science when Covid-19 struck?’ How didn’t scientist see this coming? How comes our vast experience in the field of medicines cannot handle this? Why can’t engineers mass produce ventilators at 10 USD per piece?
It is also made worse by the fact that the solution for this lies in even simpler practices and not technologies. People are talking of washing hands with running water and soap, and staying at home. With such a pandemic, we would expect to hear of detection using single-photon emission-computed tomography and treatment using Artificial Intelligence controlled Linear accelerators and other complex medical technologies.
Wuhan
Life has gotten tougher for a local man in Wuhan who has always believed that human beings have solved all the possible problems that exist. We have achieved food security; we have gotten past world wars and no one is interested in annihilating an entire country or continent. Science and technology had already explained or solved everything. How comes now a tiny virus has shaken the firm foundations we had in science? Was science caught napping?
While no one is verbally asking this question, everybody seems to be asking the same question.
Italy
The thought of so many dead people has left everyone troubled, and the faith in Science seems to be in question. “How can one talk about science when kneeling at the bed of a dying child?” asked one resident?
Others seem to think that medicine and science are not real, but just a system of trial and error that does not seem to work at all times.
As the world goes through the pandemic, it seems that faith in science will greatly be shaken, and science will only remain to be an answer to what we already know.
Even the techies who thought that they were running the world with technology after technology are not sure anymore. They are now forced to make room in their heads for the tiny virus. And who knows? There could be more where Corona came from. Actually, there are.
