Silvia Fesquet
08/16/2020 - 18:34
- Clarín.com
- Opinion
Surprise, hope, doubts; some of the sensations that marked the week. First came the announcement of a vaccine against the coronavirus from Russia, and almost immediately the distrust of the international scientific community in the face of works that had not been published, an unavoidable requirement in these cases. However, perhaps with one eye on Cristina and another on Trump, the President did not hesitate to congratulate his colleague Vladimir Putin "for an achievement that will remain among the indelible pages of the history of world medicine.". Shortly after, Fernández made his own announcement: Argentina will be part of the production of the vaccine developed by the AstraZeneca laboratory with the University of Oxford, one of the most advanced trials in the field. Undoubtedly promising, it would not be convenient to fall into the extremes to which we natives of this land are so prone. "This week everything changed (...) My life changed," launched Axel Kicillof in Olivoswhile once again the quarantine that is not prolonged. Promising, as said, but developments in the end, which must be approved. Those responsible for the project in the country were even more cautious, explaining that they work "at risk." “If the vaccine is approved, it will be sold. If not, what was done is thrown away ”, said, realistically, Hugo Sigman, the businessman behind the local production, closer than many officials to the ideology of José de San Martín , -whose death is 170 years old today-, when he said: "No promise should be made that cannot or should not be kept."
Neither bad nor good but incorrigible . That's what Borges used to say about the Peronists. The definition , strictly speaking, could be extrapolated to Argentines . Those who complain the most about quarantine tend to be those who violate it the most, and not precisely out of necessity, logical and understandable, to go out to work: meals with friends, family gatherings, some clandestine party, a barbecue. A Management & Fit survey weeks ago found that more than 87% had violated isolation to visit relatives or friends . Of course, applying that of Sartre that "hell is the others", whoever does it does not see it that way. It is the same as with traffic problems - those who drive badly and commit infractions are always the others-; with corruption - the alien is pointed out but the attempt to bribe to get away from a fine or the subterfuges so as not to declare before the Treasury what should be declared is not counted as such-; or with education - it is bad everywhere except at our children's school. Anyway: so Argentine is not to call things by their name as to break the rules. So formally there is a quarantine, but as it is not formally complied with, non-compliance is informally accepted and formally denied , with which we end up suspended in a sort of quarantine limbo.
And since antagonisms have been our thing since time immemorial, the crack also reached the coronavirus . It happened in the United States, where many saw in the use of the chinstrap an attribute of the Democrats and it seemed very republican, or very "macho", its non-use, with the disparate and alarming results registered in some States. "The problem for the US was that medicine got mixed up with politics," summed up Dorry Segev, a researcher at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Here the divisions already go beyond the parties, and are even within them.
Neither disease nor death know ideologies. Every crisis, and a pandemic is one, becomes fertile ground for abuses of power . Attentive citizens are needed to detect and report them . Every crisis, and especially one caused by a pandemic, also needs responsible citizens, who understand that beyond quarantines or preventive isolations, there are basic precepts that must be met and respected , the only tool proven so far to stop the virus: social distancing , hand washing, use of masks, for ourselves and for others. And, any crisis, more than ever, also needs a united society at all levels, rulers and ruled, ruling party and opposition. Returning to San Martín, "let's make an effort of patriotism, put down particular resentments, and conclude our work with honor."
