Dr Rajkumar Singh
AT large, the stay-at-home orders issued by a competent authority across the globe is a mass quarantine strategy for suppressing or mitigating the effects of an epidemic or pandemic by restricting the movement of people and allow them to go out only when it is most essential and emergent. Its common name is stay-at-home but in different parts of the world it is also known as safer at home order, movement control order, self-quarantine, self-isolation or lockdown. Although, in medical terminology the word stay-at home or quarantine has a different meaning and it involves isolating only those and selected people who are considered to be possibly infected and not the entire population of the area. However, in most of the cases, level of restrictions and other facilities depend on the severity of transmission and number of cases in a particular zone. If the situation is going out of control despite restrictions, the authority implement a round-the-clock curfew, also called a shelter-in-place order. Difference of nomenclatures should not confuse us as in both situations same restrictions are imposed on public.
Narrow and wide meaning of terminologies: Normally not in Asia and Africa, but in the US and European countries major surgery is done on each and every word from different dimensions we use as terminology. In the context, the term “lockdown” was first used by the media and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to describe the actions taken by the Government of China in January 2020, to restrict the movement of the people in order to control the Coronavirus infections spread in and around Wuhan. Further when Italian authorities implemented the restrictions, media used the term lockdown and the same was repeated in Spain and France. In general, it shows the restrictive measures taken by the government to check the transmission of Coronavirus disease. However, some confusions arose when San Francisco Bay Authority used the term ‘shelter in place’, it however was corrected with an order announced by the Governor of California state who, instead said for stay-at-home order. The use of the term ‘shelter in place’ was not considered good for any more and Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, criticized the attitude of using the term in a press conference as it would invoke panic due to its attachment with an active shooting situations or nuclear war.
The term ‘Stay-at-home’ is also not used in lieu of lockdown. In the United States of America and Canada the term lockdown is frequently used for emergency preparedness and it requires immediate actions in hiding and locking all doors. If needed other actions like turning off lights and staying away from windows may be applied. In USA the word lockdown is somewhere associated with martial law to mean that people cannot leave their homes and it has a substantial difference with the terms, stay-at-home and shelter-in place. It’s a common meaning in the US that whenever states and federal government issue the stay-at-home or shelter in place orders, they should not be considered as lockdown because in these orders allow the residents to go in and out of their homes in a limited circumstance. In fact, in the US the principles of Federalism is stronger than in any other country and the constitutional law of the country gives police power to states. But in American context, the power of imposing complete lockdowns has neither been given to states or federal government very clearly. In addition, the nature and scope of lockdowns are also not similar. In some cases, they are more liberal while in others authorities stick to the restrictions and get them implemented by force.
Pandemic Covid-19 and lockdowns: Since the outbreak of Coronavirus infectious disease in Wuhan, China in November-December 2019 and its global spread in early 2020, a new phase of worldwide curfew, quarantine, lockdowns, stay-at homes, shelter-in-place along with other precautionary measures commenced. The Governments across the globe have implemented these terms in varied degrees as per their requirements to check the transmission chain of Covid-19. In these periods some governments ordered control of total movements while others restricted the movement for some time when transmission was at its peak, but the common order in all the countries include closure of schools, colleges and universities either on nationwide basis or on local orders. In this period of pandemic only essential businesses are allowed and all types of recreational avenues and public places were also badly affected. In addition, there was a large effect of pandemic Covid-19 on all aspects of human life. Closing of non-essential shops, non-essential production, stay-at -home orders and movement control, border closures, social distancing travel restrictions, mandatory quarantines self-quarantine are the measures which have made the life standstill. By the first week of April more than half of world’s population was under lockdowns. It was not a normal situation as it covered more than two hundred countries of the world.
Other aspects of pandemic and lockdowns: Despite the fact that pandemic has compelled a large part of the globe to go under lockdown still there are countries that don’t felt the need of major closures or lockdowns. Countries like South Korea and Taiwan relied mostly on contact tracing by cellphones and have far fewer cases and deaths. Among the European countries, Sweden was marginally affected and there only colleges and high schools were closed with asking the older and at-risk residents to avoid social contact. In Asia such countries include Japan and South Korea. However, the controversy about the utility and relevance of lockdown is still going on because it gave a significant jerk to economic activities all over the world.
— The writer is Professor and Head, P G Department of Political Science, Bihar, India.
