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My, my, my, my… corona! Or Dante's 'Inferno'?
Trouble is, Indonesians tend to overreact when they shouldn’t and underreact when they should react.
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Officers spraying disinfectant in Paseban Sri Bima meeting room, Bogor City Hall, West Java, Tuesday, March 17, 2020. (Antara/Arif Firmansyah)
W
ho says there isn’t an upside to the coronavirus, which on March 11 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization? Like probably many of you, I have been getting a barrage of really creative and funny videos, cartoons, comments, memes, etc. which try to put some levity into an otherwise dangerous and scary situation.
Yes, the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has even spawned a new “genre” of songs related to the virus. Two were parodies of the 1979 The Knack song “My Sherona”, another was of Barry Manilow’s 1978 “Copacabana”, and yet another was of the 1965 Simon and Garfunkle’s “The Sound of Silence”. The lyrics revolve around the super-contagious and zoonotic nature of the virus, its first detections from Wuhan in China, how to sneeze, to stay at home, frequent hand washing, wearing masks, etc.
Unconventional attempts to deal with the coronavirus have also surfaced. Trevor Noah, the dishy and dimpled host of The Daily Show aired suggestions people made to avoid the coronavirus, like eating garlic, drinking bleach, snorting cocaine and masturbation. Riiiight!
As for panic buying, in Indonesia it’s processed prepackaged food, while in first world countries it’s toilet paper! Toilet paper?? Really?? Maybe everyone is pooping in their pants in fear, hence the need for oodles of toilet paper!
But academics say this is a time when overreacting is better than non-reacting.
Trouble is, Indonesians tend to overreact when they shouldn’t and underreact when they should react. For about a month our government claimed we were coronavirus free. What? On Java? The world’s most populous island with a density of about 1,000 people per square kilometer? Denial, or just ineffective screening instruments? And no, Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto, the power of prayer alone won’t cut it!
Now the government is finally getting a bit more serious. They admit so far there are 172 cases, but apparently only 1,230 were tested as of Monday — out of a population of nearly 270 million? Get real!
