Staying Sober and Having Fun At Social Gatherings - Sober Nation

During this pandemic of COVID-19, we wonder what our lives are going to be like, will it continue as if it never happened? Or, will our old routine never come back due to the spread of COVID-19. It is hard to tell. I want to focus on our social interactions after we are able to return to the real-world, having all the restrictions lifted. As well as what could happen if we release too early. I think once everything opens up and we are finally out of quarantine, everyone is going to go crazy for a few months. If that happens we might have to go back into quarantine. 

I found a Time’s article that spoke on how a small island called, Hokkaido, has lifted their restrictions from their citizens but, a little earlier than planned. Dr. Kiyoshi Nagase, chairman of the Hokkaido Medical Association, a doctor who talked with Times, says he wishes they had done things differently. He states, “Now I regret it, we should not have lifted the first state of emergency,”. The governor of Hokkaido, Naomichi Suzuki, has called for an emergency meeting to talk about reinstalling the quarantine on his island. Which has become a warning sign to other countries like ours. Times shares that, “…Hokkaido offers a grim lesson in the next phase of the battle against COVID-19. It acted quickly and contained an early outbreak of the coronavirus with a 3-week lockdown. But, when the governor lifted restrictions, a second wave of infections hit even harder. Twenty-six days later, the island was forced back into lockdown..,”. 

 But, we will see how eliminating the bans will affect other countries since the World Economic Forum has an article written that speaks about the countries that are preparing to end their lockdowns against COVID-19. It shares that the “Numbers of new infections in Italy, France, and Spain continue to fall. That these countries have now begun the process of easing their lockdowns. Shops and factories will be among the first to resume operation,”. Hopefully, this turns out well so we have to wait and see. If we hope for our country to erase our lockdowns as well we need this.

If we lift our bans against social interactions, we may risk the respread of COVID-19 and having to go back to isolation. Because of course, everyone is going to want to be with their friends out and about to make up for all the lost time they were apart from each other. All public places like restaurants, malls, and parks are going to be full to the brim of people. It is going to be a lot at first but, I think we should slowly lift bans from a few things at a time.

 For example, allowing schools to be open one to a few days a week then slowly add more days because social interactions between students and teachers are more important than opening up dining areas in restaurants first. If we manage the first few weeks of no restrictions then eventually we can go back to normal. Controlling the first few weeks is just so  we can see if we can manage if the virus continues to spread. After a while, the craziness will die down and be easier to manage when everything is open and safe for the public.

 Zierra M