From the global SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in 2003, it took six years for science to find the origin of the epidemic that passed from bats to humans; Eleven years later, in the global Ebola outbreak in 2014, it took a year for science to answer many of the questions that arose at the time. The coronavirus case is unique for science because its origin is analyzed in real time, the dispersion and projections by virologists, added to the work of epidemiologists who analyze mortality rates, the prevalence of the disease and the rate dispersion. That everything is happening in real time - the news, the interviews of the rulers who have denied the pandemic and their protocols such as Trump, Bolsonaro and López Obrador, the videos of the neighbors applauding from the balconies of their houses in Madrid, the moving videos , the depressing tweets, the chats in their delusional moments, and the hard work of the scientists and researchers - it is not a small thing, this dizzying speed has important connotations in the present: the speed that it supposes in public life and the slowdown in private.
In times when information travels in a matter of seconds from one end of the planet to the other, from the point of view of science, the sampling, analysis and projections of the pandemic are occurring, for the first time, in real time . And this speed assumes, unlike past epidemics, that this time the investigations are reflected in reality. It involves, for example, testing the first vaccines during the course of the pandemic. How old it seems all the time before the coronavirus two, three weeks ago. At the same time, the number of issues it has overshadowed, such as the fact that there are still 10 femicides daily in Mexico. At that time prior to the coronavirus, in past epidemics, science had recognized protagonists, names and surnames. If something changes the speed with which information travels, and if something implies that everything happens in real time, it is that since there are no protagonists there is a vision of unity and solidarity among scientists. And this reveals the pandemic not only as a health issue but also as a social phenomenon. This is unprecedented. Teams of scientists work around the world to report the results of their research to WHO, and it is not recognition, but sharing data as quickly as possible with other teams in other parts of the world in order to provide relevant data. for Governments and WHO. The same occurs in hospitals, health centers and the nursing staff: there are no protagonists, there are no names and surnames, all are in the service of health and people. Without a doubt, the most important thing of this dizzying speed in public life where the front of all is the common good.
Teams of virologists and epidemiologists have had days exceeded in recent weeks. An important issue: WHO has contacted several research centers around the world, including the University of Oxford in England, to establish guidelines and protocols to standardize them globally. Centers reporting to WHO are of crucial importance today, the results of collaborations between researchers from various countries are shared. An important topic for Latin America: The University of Oxford is part of a project that works with researchers and the public sector to understand how the virus behaves when it enters Latin America before it spikes. To Dr. Marina Escalera Zamudio (Leverhulme Trust ECR Fellow University of Oxford), part of the team, in contact with the authorities and researchers in Mexico, it seems urgent “that there be a standardized response in Latin America, that there be a consistent investment in the science research and an economic fund to absorb the crisis ”. He suggests ignoring the discrepancies between López Obrador and the Ministry of Health and going directly to reliable sources, such as the official page of the Ministry of Health, where the results of many of the centers that work together today are concentrated: " One thing is a president and another is the health sector, but epidemiological decisions go beyond any president. This is one of the problems. But there is also the lack of information, the spread of false information, politicization, and that the rulers discredit science and medicine because that produces a lack of confidence in the people. On the other hand, they do not give weight to research and want immediate answers. " In Mexico, less than 0.5% of GDP was earmarked for the study of science, and the López Obrador government cut it in half.
It is interesting to see how the faster public life runs, our daily life goes at an opposite speed, as our daily life has never slowed down before. The suspension of schools, universities, the closing of offices, some businesses and restaurants has changed the rhythm of the cities. The coronavirus has brought us two speeds: that of public life - never before in history so fast for science, fortunately -, and that of private life - never before, in times of capitalism, so slow. Slammed down. Since I was a teenager I haven't talked on the phone as much as these days with my friends. Those of us who work and try to do as much as possible from home, we have time to cook, some of us have had time to see a movie that we have wanted to see for months, we have time to read, to live together at home, to take a longer bath than the normal. Or spending time eating tomato soup at a dear friend's house as the most healing act. For the first time, the rhythm set by capitalism is slowing down. Both changes of speeds in public and private life are historical. It is true that the slowdown has an economic impact, this situation has also dismantled the capitalist system in which we live: it has forced us to question justice in work structures. The place that the most vulnerable have in this capitalist, patriarchal and racist system, such as informal jobs, the very important enjoyment of wages of domestic workers during quarantine, the issue of virus control in prisons, how to protect the nursing homes, perhaps the most vulnerable of all. What actions to take in the face of violence against women who must live with their aggressors or minors who are exposed to domestic violence. On the other hand, this slowdown has also revealed solidarity between groups that did not meet before. A paradigm in culture has changed, such as the number of museums, art fairs, galleries, editorial catalogs, film archives, spaces such as philharmonic, concerts that are available online today, for the first time, for everyone. In a horizontal line, what was previously possible through resources and travel, is now accessible on the internet. People we follow on social networks, we see them today in socks with their pets. Recently the philosopher Žižek said: “But perhaps another - and more beneficial - ideological virus will spread and perhaps infect us: the virus of thinking of an alternative society, a society beyond the nation-state, a society that is update as global solidarity and cooperation ”. Well, if there is something that crosses both speeds, the dizzying and the slow, it is that it forces us to stop being selfish and to act according to a community sense. None of this is for personal good, but for social welfare.
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