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COVID 19 Opinion and Questions by C.G. Obrien
We look forward to the day when the Coronavirus is defeated and then some big and obvious questions can be asked.
There is no way of knowing today what short, medium and long term consequences this pandemic is going to have but all indications are that they will be drastic.
History provides some sobering precedents. The so called Plague of Justinian (541–542 AD, with some recurrences to 750) is said to have led to the final collapse of the Roman Empire and the Black Death of the 14th Century saw the end of the political systems that had ruled in Europe in the Middle Ages.
For the moment we are united behind the Gibraltar Health Authority to mitigate the effects of this pandemic on our City and of the Spanish health service authorities in doing the same in the Campo de Gibraltar with the aid of civil society. We will continue to do this by informing and by highlighting areas of effective action. We also call for fellowship and solidarity so that the best aspects of our Western civilisation can weather this storm.
Now is not the time to be tendentious so here are few undisputed facts for those who are interested.
We make no comments but raise some questions. It is important that you should also enquire further.
Wuhan in China, which is thought to be the source of Covid 19, is the home of the Wuhan Institute of Virology; a research institute on virology administered by the Chinese Academy of Sciences which opened China’s first biosafety level 4 laboratory in 2015.
The Chinese government denies experimenting with military grade chemicals and there is no evidence that they are not telling the truth.
Covid 19 which is also known as SARS –CoV-12 is closely associated with Bat SARS-like coronavirus WIV1 (Bat SL-CoV-WIV1) which is a strain of Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus isolated from Chinese rufous horseshoe bats. Bats are a natural reservoir of severe acute respiratory syndrome (“SARS”) coronavirus. Phylogenetic analysis shows the possibility of direct transmission of SARS from animals to humans.
China and Hong Kong were hit by SARS in February 2003 causing hundreds of deaths and untold economic damage.
Ironically the Chinese government’s success in quickly bringing Covid-19 under control in the first quarter of 2020 has increased morale in a country that has major international ambitions economically and otherwise. Are authoritarian governments better able to deal with crises such as this pandemic than democracies? Where is the European Union in all this, or are the nation states back in full control, which each following their own strategy? Will Europe’s perceived weakness be taken advantage of by others?
Is the millennial culture of entitlement finished?
Whatever happens let us individually keep a dignified stance and let us look after each other; all of us; only then can the civilization that has given us so much and which we so prize endure.
COVID 19 Opinion and Questions by C.G. Obrien
Coronavirus Gibraltar: What You Can do For Your Country
“The point is, we’re lucky here in Gibraltar. We have the resources to deal with the coronavirus and with planning and unity, we should not suffer any depravation…”
