This is not a single fix problem, Covid-19 is just one wave, with increases and declines periodically as one singular wave. In other words, coronavirus is present at all times, depending on conditions and movement of humans, it fluctuates accordingly.
To fight such an incessant predatory virus like Covid-19, one needs to first throw out any temporary or tiered plans, simply because this is a long-term coronavirus pandemic that is accelerating its infection rate globally at an exponential pace.
To combat an infectious virus while there is mass international, and national travel is futile, therefore as long as travel of humans exists, the virus will never stop. This is simple physics.
Due to the virus infecting humans multiple times, and the relatively short time that antibodies are present in the body after infection, there is also no chance of herd immunity or a valid vaccine. Any hastily created vaccine should be viewed with caution. Valid vaccines take decades to develop simply because they have to undergo rigorous testing during prolonged timescales of efficacy safety tests. Any vaccine created hastily within a year or less and then deployed to millions of people without the prerequisite testing procedures over time could harm entire populations with unaccounted consequences that were not factored into the equation because the vaccine was pushed out fast for profit.
Long Covid should also be factored into the equation, because the effects of Covid-19 do not seem to go away in time, exacerbating the victim for months/years.
Global solutions to global problems need complete global partnership, and without the assistance and participation of all nations worldwide, there will never be a solution to Covid-19 unless some miracle nanobot cure somehow materialises out of nowhere. In the sclerotic world we live in today, especially with many rogue states who do not wish to participate as a singular global entity, it is highly unlikely there will be global unity in combating this virus any time soon.
In the West, there are additional questions regarding curtailment of freedom and increased authoritarian behaviour to supposedly counteract and reduce viral infections. Unfortunately the laissez-faire approach does not work, as much as the more authoritarian approach does not work.
If everyone, in unity, wore a clear bubble around their heads when in public and washed their hands once home, things would be different, however this is of course wishful thinking, and could never be implemented simply because in the West, everyone has their own mind and rights. Policing humans to act in a certain way is a nightmare. In the end, civil unrest ensues and governments are not only left dealing with viral infections but riots.
So, what is left? In the absence of global unity to tackle this virus what can be done?
Economies have to continue their growth or die, and businesses have to continue to trade or whole swathes of industry dies, as many sectors are doing now. Telling people to change jobs is also futile as many are not capable. Telling a barista to learn to code is not a valid option.
People are getting older every day, and as old people (65+) are the main target of Covid-19 then as people get older and older every day the population will be whittled down to a point where anyone over the age of 50 will not exist any more. By that generational time, the virus may mutate further and start to inflict deaths on mass on lower age groups.
The reason many governments globally are acting in a very laissez-faire slow manner today is because of the way old people in Western industrialised nations are treated. If the virus was visibly killing the young, then there would be massive action, and a huge global response, but seeing as it’s old people dying, they are viewed as an acceptable casualty to Covid-19.
We will therefore not see any major action by any government until there is an increased visibility in deaths of young people from the virus, it will have to switch its attention to increasing mortality rates on the youth. This is the only way governments will really be geared to act. At the moment, there is little or no action, and this flat-footed approach will continue for as long as the virus concentrates its killing action on old people.
