We held our first Skype Party on 11 April 2020 during the Circuit Breaker in Singapore. After 10 straight years of monthly events, this is our first event completely held online. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, all physical events were cancelled and the Humanist Society adapted by launching our Humanism At Home initiative, consisting of Skype discussions (‘Skype Party’) and Watch Parties on Facebook.
The topic of the discussion:
How did various societies, religions and cultures handle the plagues of the past, and what lessons can we draw from the Black Death and the Spanish Flu?
Pathogens are among the oldest enemies of mankind, and outbreaks have occurred several times in the course of our history. Among the most notorious of pandemics are the Black Death (mid-1300s) and the Spanish Flu (1918-1920). More recent outbreaks prior to Covid-19 were SARS (2003) and H1N1 (2009).
Pandemics have caused a considerable number of deaths worldwide, especially among people with weaker immunity. It has also devastated economies and caused severe job losses. It is thus important to learn from past mistakes and vigorously discuss current responses to Covid-19 by governments and individuals.
About 18 people joined the Skype discussion on 11 April, which lasted from 2pm to 330pm. We started with a brief round of self-introductions, followed by quick discussions where each participant was given one-minute to make some important points. Participants were then gradually allowed to respond to each other to develop their arguments further. During the last 30 minutes, there were free-flow discussions between remaining participants. Participants who wanted an opportunity to speak typed ‘R’ on the comments section, indicating the ‘Raising of hand’.
Some participants in the discussion asked whether the governments worldwide had mistakenly prioritised economic growth over healthcare? Were lockdowns implemented too slowly, due to fears that economic growth would be affected?
One respondent mentioned it is always hard to second guess the impact of a new pathogenic outbreak in the earliest stages. In between the major pandemics, there will be several minor outbreaks, each of them different from each other. For example, the seasonal influenza is very infectious but it had a much lower fatality rate. Other outbreaks such as SARS had a higher fatality rate, but it did not spread as fast as Covid-19. It was really difficult to predict how exactly Covid-19 would behave, and what’s the right balance for governments to strike in their responses.
Thus, although we wanted to discuss how we can learn from pandemics of the past, the discussion focused on the present instead.
Participants discussed other factors causing the widespread damage that Covid-19 is causing today. The increased interconnected-ness and interdependence of economies today, for example, has made it harder to seal borders completely. With affordable air tickets, people are also far more mobile than the past, accelerating the spread of the coronavirus. Nonetheless, that’s the reality of the modern world we live in. We cannot turn back the clock just because of viral outbreaks.
The speed at which lockdowns were implemented also depended on the political structure of each country. Countries where strong central control existed were able to implement lockdowns nationwide more rapidly, Countries where power is spread out across a federation experienced uneven responses.
Other factors influencing the rate of Covid-19 spread include population density, the strength of the country’s economy, the state of the healthcare system. In deciding which nation had ‘best performed’ against the virus outbreak, some participants cautioned that comparisons between countries need to be fair. For example, as far as possible, countries of similar size and population density should be compared to each other. A city should be compared to another city of similar size too.
At the time of writing, Singapore had reported 191 new Covid-19 cases taking the total number of cases to date to 2,299. The pandemic has yet to peak and it is difficult to predict the future.
Some participants wondered if things would ever be the same again after Covid-19 goes away. Participants noted that airlines and lower-income groups had taken a particular hard hit. FnB business and hotels too. However, one participant said the economy can always be rebuilt again and short-term lockdowns are a bitter pill that must be taken quickly.
Hopefully, post Covid-19, countries will understand the importance of investing in good healthcare systems, so that the world can be better prepared for the next pandemic.
Enjoyed our Skype Party writeup? Here’s some tips for holding a good Skype discussion:
- Set a strong and interesting topic to attract participants
- Consider breaking up into smaller groups in the later part of the discussion.
- People who are not speaking at the moment should mute their microphones to minimize interference from external environments.
- Facilitators should always try to diversify the discussion, proactively intervening to free up air time for the quieter ones.
