Published in El Pais, 4 July 2020.
Most people love new things, but at the same time we do not want things to change. In April when everyone was in quarantine it was fun and novel. Sharing jokes and photos on Facebook and WhatsApp made sense of everyone’s life. Now as many countries are returning to the new normal, countries that failed to control the rapid pandemic continue with quarantine measures. In Bolivia, people are getting bored and want everything to return to normal, like many in the world. But it is not possible.
Desperation and boredom cause people to do anything to justify that they can return to normal, but this is not helping to control the virus and improve people’s health.
First, there are many people who until now think that nothing will happen to them. They think they are healthy, young, and strong and that they will not get sick. It is true that a young and healthy person has less risk of getting sick or dying. However, there is always a risk, and, above all, they have the probability of infecting another person who does have a higher risk of dying. A 20-year-old person can infect his 65-year-old neighbor and sentence him to death.
Sometimes people complain that the big pharmaceuticals do drug tests in developing countries, showing the abuse to the population that will suffer the consequences. But now it seems that everyone in Bolivia is testing themselves without thinking of the consequences. It is dangerous to use medications that are not scientifically verified. I doubt that hospitals now want to receive patients who took bleach because they saw in a video that told it cures COVID-19 and a thousand other things.
Enduring quarantine is difficult, but Bolivia must endure a little longer. Not respecting the measures only lengthens it more, causing more deaths and more economic crisis in the country. I believe that nobody wants to be part of a death or a greater economic depression to the country. Let us accept living in this quarantine for a bit longer without conducting scientific experiments on our bodies and we will all be better and healthier.
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