Some of the repercussions of Covid and the fallout that emerges from dealing with it are very obvious. When governments across the globe have locked down their economies, the repercussions are very 'in your face'. It is easy to sympathise with bar-owners, hoteliers and restaurateurs who have had to close their businesses – sometimes on a temporary basis though in other cases permanently – and also to understand the predicament of those in the airline or cruise industries who have seen a huge fall in business and therefore profits. The social effects of total lockdown, when citizens are forced into a kind of house arrest (as some such as the US Attorney General William Barr have called it) with only very limited allowable reasons to leave home are also easy enough to envisage, even if you personally have not had to deal with them.
There are other repercussions which however are much less obvious unless you are directly caught up in them. A few stories on the BBC website this week caught my eye which evidence some of these situations. One concerns a group of Jewish pilgrims travelling from Israel to Ukraine on a pilgrimage to the resting place of Rabbi Nahman, the founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement. They have undertaken this journey despite the advice of both the Israeli and the Ukrainian governments not to do so. Now they are trapped on the border literally waiting for divine intervention to lift the ban. Their situation mirrors that experienced by other religious groups during the pandemic, whether it be Christians who cannot celebrate Easter in the normal fashion or Muslims who have had to deal with tight long lockdown restrictions during Ramadan and Eid. The Saudi authorities have introduced unprecedented restrictions restricting the travel plans of those journeying to Mecca on the Hajj pilgrimage. Those who are religious all across the globe have had to deal with restrictions on personal freedom which have forced them to compromise their principles. Many in fairness have accepted that a trade-off has had to be made but it is no doubt a situation that has created a lot of angst for many people.
Going to the other extreme a report from Philippines dealt with quite a different problem. A provincial governor complained that those indulging in over-enthusiastic karaoke renditions were creating problems. You might think this had something to do with transmitting Covid directly as singing has been identified as one activity which can increase the transmission risk of the virus. In some countries this has led to a ban on hymn-singing in churches for example. However, it appears that the governor had quite a different problem in mind. He complained that those seeking to drown their Covid sorrows by singing too loudly were keeping their neighbours awake and a lack of sleep was adding to the risk that they might fall victim to the virus. For some reason which I do not completely understand the Frank Sinatra song I Did It My Way is considered to be a particular problem. Having spent some time in Manila and seen first-hand just how enthusiastic some karaoke performers in the country are I wish him luck in resolving this particular problem. I suspect he is going to need it.
One final slightly off the wall story from the UK concerns the man who got on a bus with an unusual face covering. The UK guidance concerning this says that in certain places including public transport face coverings should be worn but does not define exactly what form they should take. As well as conventional face masks, bandanas or scarves may also be used. This lack of definition created a particular problem when the man in question got on a bus wearing a snake wrapped around his neck as a face covering. This was not a modern or trendy face mask design but actually a real snake of the constrictor variety. Passengers looked on in a mixture of bewilderment, amusement and in some cases no doubt fear as they realised what was happening. A spokesman for the transport authority in Manchester where the incident took place came up with the rather wonderful comment that 'while there is a small degree of interpretation that can be applied to this, we do not believe it extends to the use of snakeskin - especially when still attached to the snake.' Whatever the motivation for these slightly eccentric actions it at least gave me a brief moment of light relief from some of the major challenges we are currently facing.
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Wayne Bartlett is an author for accountingcpd. To see his courses, click here.
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