As Covid-19 cases drop, it's time to take small steps

Dubai - Life must go on and we have to balance one part with the other.

One hopes the no-death-streak that started on Thursday in the UAE will continue... or at least tamp it down as we now see. It is most heartening and definitely establishes a blueprint for other cities and through them other countries.

For the first time as diehard distance lovers since March we have begun to at least speak about meeting folks in small numbers and going out of the gate of the house. Baby steps. Like, okay, walk around the canal perimeter. Maybe a couple for dinner, our place or theirs. Assume the domestic help are sensible enough to employ safe distancing and let them have their weekly off, if they so wish. If smaller children play in the park is it increasing the risk for them? From 'no way, Jose' to 'let's talk about it' is a very major step for many of us and the four month indoctrination from the globe has had an impact. The basic fear is that if we let the walls come down how will we ever forgive ourselves, never mind the utter chaos in the house that will come with it because having already been hit with a loss in the family. It is a very real fear.

Then again, as casualty figures drop and the confidence rises a cold logic creeps in. How long can one continue to be hobbled and tied down? We are also probably softening the belly and losing our immunity at the same time by confinement in a closed space.

Maybe we are not yet ready to fly or have a mass celebratory party, but little things are happening and only a few short weeks ago they were written in stone and taboo. Our deliveries have reduced this week. While we haven't yet made it to the supermarket, we have stopped dialing 800 and the pharmacy number.

I see it as moving in the right direction. Caution, care and a bit more of carefree. It is just that at the back of the mind that darn 'what if it rears its ugly head?'

But life must go on and we have to balance one part with the other. I know that, I just am not sure where the mines are and I don't want to hit one.

I am at present intending to spend the next few days canvassing opinion from like-minded people on how they are thinking. Not the we-do-not-care lot who throw caution to the winds and make light of it or find refuge in absurd carelessness, but people who know it is out there and have taken suitable precautions.