SMOKERS' CORNER: THE FOUR STAGES OF PANDEMIC REACTIONS.

Byline: Nadeem F. Paracha

Newspapers and news websites in Pakistan continue to carry reports and lament about how large sections of society are being careless in their attitude towards the Covid-19 pandemic. Such reports have also lambasted the federal government for bungling the crisis by being misinformed about the dynamics of the Covid-19 virus and its spread.

Many have also criticised the regime for allowing its political biases to impact its contingency policies, which have so far been chaotic, ad hoc and almost entirely unable to stall the rapid spread of Covid-19.

Prime Minister Imran Khan and many of his ministers have been censured for 'misinforming' the people about the true nature of the disease while, at the same time, vetoing the idea of strict lockdowns. So, as the outbreak ravages the country and overwhelms the country's already fragile health system with frightening speed, PM Khan does not have much to say or show other than claim that he knew things are going to get bad.

With examples like China, Italy, Spain, Iran and the US before us, or other countries where Covid-19 had begun to peak before it spiked in Pakistan, it didn't require a genius to 'already know' that things would get bad here as well. Even though PM Khan was hailed by his sycophantic circle of ministers for being oracular for this insightful prediction, he had also earlier described the disease as, merely, a 'flu.'

The government then continued to add unsubstantiated claptrap to its largely convoluted narrative in this regard, until intense media criticism triggered a sudden about-turn and saw the government resort to accusing the general populace for letting things get out of hand.

Denial, panic, scapegoating and ultimate sense are the usual way societies have dealt with new diseases throughout history. But interestingly, all the countries currently with botched responses to Covid-19 are ruled by populists

What's more, the government also continued to sideline and ignore some rational and sound advice from provincial governments and health experts. One such advice was for imposing stricter lockdowns. But the PM disagreed. Instead, he began to rationalise his disapproval of lockdowns as an egalitarian act, undertaken for the benefit of the poor.

This rationale was almost immediately debunked by some writers on the economy. In a March 27, 2020 article in Dawn, business and economics journalist Khurram Hussain pointed out that lockdowns were, in fact, opposed...