Position Paper Sample – Lockdown for Coronavirus

Topic: Lockdown for Coronavirus

All over the world, there have been very strict lockdowns in order to stop the Coronavirus from spreading further and causing more damage and loss of lives. This means that no workplaces, no eateries, no parks, no gyms and no recreational activity centres are open (Kaplan, Frias and McFall-Johnsen). I strongly feel that this kind of a lockdown will have detrimental effects on the society (Su). There is no doubt about the fact that law enforcement agencies should ensure that no one leaves their houses unless absolutely necessary, but this kind of lockdown is not the solution.

The people we aren’t thinking about right now are the daily wage earners. In such kind of a lockdown, how are they going to provide for their families? How are they going to have enough food to eat? How are they going to sustain themselves? If they don’t get affected by the Coronavirus, they surely will get affected when they don’t have anything to eat. I believe that there are many types of lockdowns and these kinds of strict lockdowns that most countries have enforced are causing a lot of harm.

Even governments of developed economies will not be able to provide for most people who aren’t able to make both ends meet during this global crisis. Will they actually be able to go door to door to see what most people are deprived of? Or rather, do most countries have the kind of resources that they would be able to provide everyone who’s living under the poverty lines in these trying times? Surely not. A complete lockdown is really not the solution. At least workplaces should be open so that people can provide for their families. There should definitely be strictness around the fact that gatherings of more than five people should not be allowed anywhere. Recreational centres, theatres, parks, gyms and all educational institutes should definitely be closed down, because these can afford to shut down for a while, without there being a major impact on most people and the economy. But this kind of a lockdown is not justifiable.

The major problem with the proposed lockdown is that people fail to cooperate and understand till strict measures are enforced (Nationwide lockdown still on table if public does not cooperate: Firdous). Most people do not even understand the gravity of the situation and they keep the same routine that they had. They keep meeting people and attending gatherings that they used to, which can be a major cause of this disease spreading to more people. This is exactly why countries have had to take some very major strict decisions with regards to the lockdown. People don’t take such orders without them being imposed on them.

I still feel countries should become stricter with their rules and regulations of people not roaming the streets and going out without any legitimate reason. But they should definitely not lock down businesses and workplaces the way they have, because most people are struggling because of this. Stock exchanges have crashed and people don’t have any inflow of money (Hussain and Salmon). It is a question of survival now, if not anything else.

References

• Hussain, Danyal and James Salmon. More than £250 billion is wiped off top UK firms’ shares in a week as FTSE suffers biggest drop since 2008 financial crisis and Wall Street is hit by 1,000-point drop in the Dow amid global coronavirus panic. 28 2 2020. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8054871/Asian-stock-markets-plunge-overnight-worse-come-coronavirus-panic.html.
• Kaplan, Juliana, Lauren Frias and Morgan McFall-Johnsen. A third of the global population is on coronavirus lockdown — here’s our constantly updated list of countries and restrictions. 26 3 2020. https://www.businessinsider.com/countries-on-lockdown-coronavirus-italy-2020-3.
• Nationwide lockdown still on table if public does not cooperate: Firdous. 23 3 2020. https://nation.com.pk/23-Mar-2020/nationwide-lockdown-still-on-table-if-public-does-not-cooperate-firdous.
• Su, Julie. How Coronavirus Lockdown Will Affect California’s Economy. 22 3 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/03/22/819891936/how-coronavirus-lockdown-will-affect-california-s-economy.