Time flies and it has almost been a year into COVID19 since I started my weekly blog with a count down 51 weeks ago.
It seems so long ago when we were in the old normal, travelling for vacations and taking frequent flights everywhere. No one a year ago would have believed me if I had told them the whole world will go into a lockdown to stop this invisible enemy from spreading, that mask-wearing is compulsory and social distancing is expected.
Everyone on earth had gone through some form of home confinement within their homes or hotel quarantines for weeks and months. Some countries have even done this a few times as the second, third waves hit us while the virus had also mutated into more contagious strains. The situation was compounded by a number of world leaders who were slow to react or even tried to deny that the virus was deadly. The months of advance notice which could have been used to prepare and prevent the spread was sadly wasted.
It was every country for itself as there was initial chaos. No one had the right formula or procedure to contain the virus and it was all trial and error while thousands die. The whole world finally decided to focus on the development of a vaccine as a long term solution. The rush towards a vaccine resulted in more than 100+ independent groups working frantically to get a successful result.
We finally had vaccine successes late into the year. The biggest vaccination rollout program the world has ever seen has started into the new year. Many have adopted the strategy of giving it to the front line staff and the elderly first. It seems that richer countries have the advantage of money politics to secure supplies ahead of others.
I am very thankful that the S’pore authorities were proactive in negotiating and securing vaccine supplies early in the game during the development stage. They had hedged their bets by placing advance orders on the most likely successful ones, ahead of most developed countries. S’pore is now slowly rolling out the vaccination program since Jan. We have the luxury of a stable and safe environment to hand out the vaccines slowly, unlike the Western world where the urgency to stop the runaway viral spread in the community is high.
The timeline to get enough people vaccinated to achieve herd immunity seems possible by year-end. Travel could start on a limited scale by mid-year with the issuance of immunity passports. There is yet still not enough data to determine how long the vaccines can immunize the individual taking it and if they protect the person from the newer strains. While those that had the virus before are also encouraged to take the vaccine, will they still be contagious? There are still many unknowns that we have not figured out yet.
We are now less than 2 months into the new and hopefully brighter new year and much had already happened. There was the 06 Jan storming of the Capitol and finally a sense of normalcy as Biden takes over on 20 Jan. The quick trial to impeach the former president is over with the predictable acquittal end result as getting a two-thirds majority could never have been achieved without bipartisan support. Meanwhile, Biden has been moving fast to address the pandemic chaos and undo/reverse the damage done over the last 4 years.
Then we had the Myanmar military coup on 01 Feb. It made our microfinance business even harder as the situation changes day by day. The civil disobedience movement is spreading and the youths are determined to make sure that their voices are heard. The military’s show of force is all around the country and its patience may be wearing thin. It looks like a powder keg that is waiting to explode any time soon.
I hope that violence can be avoided at all cost. The opening up of Myanmar in 2011 after more than 50 years of isolation can go south very fast. I do not think that its citizens want to go back to those dark times again. With the internet and mobile phones, it is not possible to keep a country with a population of 55 million quiet again. I pray that this will end peacefully instead of violence.
I will begin my next phase of lifelong learning next week as I embark on a 6 months online course from IBM to learn about AI (Artificial Intelligence). It is part of the SGUnited initiative to convert mid-career participants to a new field. Hopefully, we can use our past work experience to pivot to this new and exciting career. https://webibmcourse.mybluemix.net/SGUnitedProgramme.
It’s unbelievable that we have already been in the brave new world for 51 weeks. It seems like it has been a long time and we have forgotten what the old norm is like. 2021 should be much better than in 2020. The light at the end of the tunnel can be seen now. The question is: How far are we from the light now and how long will it take?
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