"There Will Be No Return To The Old Normal For The Foreseeable Future," WHO Director-General Says

[appalachiablue]

"There will be no return to the old normal for the foreseeable future," WHO director-general says. CNN, Naomi Thomas, July 13, 2020.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said Monday “There will be no return to the old normal for the foreseeable future."

Speaking at a media briefing in Geneva, he added, “But there is a roadmap to a situation where we can control the disease and get on with our lives.” “We need to reach a sustainable situation where we do have adequate control of this virus without shutting down our lives entirely or lurching from lockdown to lockdown,” he said.

In order to get to this place, Tedros said that three things would be required. These are a focus on reducing mortality and suppressing transmission; an “empowered, engaged community” that takes individual measures to protect the whole community; and strong government leadership and communication.

“It can be done. It must be done,” Tedros said. Tedros said that there are no shortcuts out of this pandemic, and that while we hope for an effective vaccine, there must be a focus on using the tools that are available now to suppress transmission and save lives. ~

https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-07-13-20-intl/h_bd77f11095a3930c53817f06c86592d3
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"No Return to the 'Old Normal' for Foreseeable Future," Warns WHO Chief, "If the basics aren't followed, there is only one way this pandemic is going to go. It's going to get worse and worse and worse."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/13/no-return-old-normal-foreseeable-future-warns-who-chief

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Right. We are at present in the very beginning of a new world.

I've been using this example. Say it's spring, 1939, and you and I are planning to go to Europe next year. It's going to be a wonderful trip. We've been saving up for a couple of years now. We're still working out all the details, but we're hoping to go to London, Paris, Rome, Venice, Naples, Madrid, and lots of other places.

But then September rolls around and WWII breaks out. It's clear our trip to Europe is postponed. We're hoping that the war won't last very long, and we can take our trip in 1941. But the war goes on and on. It's not over until May, 1945. The soonest we'll get to Europe will be 1946, maybe a year or two after that. And when we finally get there, it's going to be a vastly different Europe than the one we might have visited in 1939.

This is precisely what we're going to experience. This pandemic is not going to be over soon. Effective treatments are slowly coming in to place. A vaccine is being desperately researched. I have hope one will be found, but it's not going to be all that soon. Next year, maybe the year after or the year after that. Meanwhile, people are going to get sick and die. Countries will keep their borders closed to others. The global supply line will be permanently disrupted. Things that had been outsourced will return home, It won't matter that those things now cost more money than when they were made overseas. The important thing is that now we can count on getting those things. Health care will be re-thought. So will schools, workplaces, everything.

When all this is finally over the differences will be at least as vast as Europe in 1939 versus Europe in 1946. Maybe even more.

[czarjak]

2. Will need more than seven years too!