Will the world change?

Learning from the pandemic experience

Till Covid-19 happened most of us had not heard about the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. It had been tucked away in the pages of history. It is estimated that about 500 million people were infected with Spanish flu and 50 million died. It was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, but it has hitherto received only scant referrals.

When we say things will become the ‘new normal’, what does it mean? What did we learn from the world phenomena of 1918? Did that change our behaviour then? And will the Covid-19 change our behaviour henceforth?

Both pandemics spread mainly through human contact with infected droplets. On June 25, 1918, an Indian newspaper wrote, “To avoid an attack one should keep away from all places where there is overcrowding and the consequent risk of infection such as fairs, festivals, theatres, schools, public lecture halls, cinemas, entertainment parties.” Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

The speed and extent of the fatalities of the Spanish flu were overwhelming in India. The flu killed about 18 million people, more than the casualties in World War I. In Bombay, 768 people died in a single day--on October 6, 1918. A report released by the sanitary commissioner in 1918 documented that all the rivers including the Ganga, were clogged with dead bodies.

An interesting fact was that this epidemic came in three waves. The first wave impacted all economic and social segments as it was diagnosed that the soldiers returning from the World War in Europe brought the virus into the country. The second wave showed the stark impact that birth and economic status can have on surviving an epidemic. Over 61 lower caste Hindus of every 1000, succumbed to this virus compared to 18.9 upper caste Hindus and only 8.3 British living in India. The lower caste Hindus then and now, were severely malnourished, engaged as sanitation workers and exposed to unhygienic living conditions.

This time too it was the affluent international travellers that brought the Covid-19 virus into the country. It has now slowly entered congested slums. With very little healthcare, sanitation facilities and chronic malnutrition, the slum dwellers are now succumbing to the virus. That is why in the Dharavi slums we see such accelerated deaths. The same story will be replicated in other cities if we are not vigilant.

It is interesting that more women died during the Spanish flu than men. This was due to the fact that women usually ate less than men in an average poor household. Moreover, women would often nurse the sick and become more exposed to the disease. It would be interesting to see if the same trend continues today. The realities for the women especially from the underprivileged homes have not changed. They tend to eat less and are the last to get medical treatment.

It is documented that during the Spanish flu pandemic in India, the British rulers realized the complexity of governing such a diverse and vast country and began to consult the emerging Indian political leadership. Eventually, it was the NGOs and volunteers that set up dispensaries, treated patients, raised money and ran centres to distribute food, provisions and medicine. “Never before, perhaps, in the history of India, have the educated and more fortunately placed members of the community, come forward in large numbers to help their poorer brethren in time of distress,” quoted a government report. We see the same story in 2020. Reports state in 13 states, NGOs fed more people than the government during the lockdown. In the past few years, the government has displayed a distinct attitude of mistrust towards NGOs. During Covid-19, however, they have reached out for help for the first time. And that is how it should be. We have to build a spirit of collaboration and trust between civic society and the government.

What should we have learnt in the last few weeks of lockdown? That we are more privileged than migrant workers who leave their villages seeking jobs in cities and end up with no steady shelter and food. We now know how large the numbers are and that no economic plan should ignore them. Around 41 lakh people in Karnataka do not have any ration cards and are not in the Public Distribution Coverage. We should have learnt that the country’s wellbeing depends largely on how stable and secure the poor are. We need to invest in our public healthcare and welfare system and not in defense to fight mock wars.

We have seen for ourselves that during lockdown the air has become cleaner and that the wildlife is safer. We have learnt that it is possible to work from home, buy only what we need and travel less for a few days a year. It is possible for us to join hands to take care of the economically weaker sections and not leave it entirely to the government.

Can we consider choosing one week a year for a global voluntary lockdown to clean our air and water and recalibrate our lives? This could be to commemorate the lives lost during Covid-19. We could work from home worldwide this chosen week. We could give our domestic help paid leave. We would not travel and not go out shopping. We would plan this ahead so that the migrant workers can be given advance wages and sent home to be with their families. This voluntary lockdown for a week idea may sound crazy but even a month’s lockdown was considered impossible before. Unless we resolve to think and act differently, this Covid-19 will not have made any sense.

(The writer is Founder-CEO, Parikrma Humanity Foundation)