As the economy reopens

The prime minister held nothing back as he laid out the facts related to relaxing the lockdown before the nation the other day. He is right that we must now open up the economy even though the curve, measuring new coronavirus infections is still rising pretty steeply. No doubt doctors and scientists still warning against opening up mean well but they are completely focused on the pandemic, and are not required to worry about the economy or people's livelihoods or indeed all the supply chains needed to ensure such things. The government, on the other hand, does not have the luxury of seeing things in isolation. And since it must underwrite the costs of keeping people from starving and businesses from going bankrupt as long as there is no economic activity, it is better placed to determine just how horrendous the downside of a strict lockdown can be. Pakistan, being a poor country already badly burdened with debt, can no longer stay shut down and must open up in phases is the prime minister's declared view, which is exactly what his government has decided to do. This is a difficult decision, of course, but also a necessary one since the government feels that the lives being put at risk by it would perhaps be lost any way, along with their livelihoods, in case of absolute ruin of the economy.

Recognising these facts, the government seems to have taken all important power centres on board and decided to put its best foot forward. But for this initiative to succeed everybody in the country, whether employed or not, will have to play a part. One cannot argue with the prime minister that since the state just does not have enough resources to police every person in the country, people will be responsible for taking care of themselves and their friends and families. Nobody should, therefore, need to be reminded about maintaining social distancing and wearing masks and gloves whenever they leave their homes. The way some people behaved during the lockdown left a little something to be desired, which is not acceptable any longer. This message has to go across very clearly indeed. It needs to be drummed into people's ears and done so repeatedly and incessantly. Also, people who do not need to be outside their homes must stay indoors because, as the PM said, if this experiment fails we will simply have to shut down once again; most likely for a much longer time with consequences too grave to even contemplate.

Perhaps this is a good time for the government to be creative and incentivize public safety by a bit of creative messaging. It could, for example, announce a national competition for the best ideas for a mass media campaign about social safety protocols and how to implement them considering the country's population and poverty problems. The best ones can then be used by the state across different media platforms to reach as many people as possible and those who propose them should be adequately rewarded. This way the government can help people stay busy and help themselves as the country tries to collectively overcome perhaps the greatest crisis so far in its history. Pakistan is not alone in facing this problem, of course, but it does not have the kind of resources that some other countries do. That is why the need for discipline, precision and collective responsibility cannot be stressed enough. The government has decided to reopen the economy in phases so that it can manage things as they go along and be able to pull the plug quickly in the worst case scenario.

It's pretty clear any policy to combat the coronavirus will be dodgy at best till there's a breakthrough in the laboratory and a vaccine is found. That is why governments, industries, companies and individuals the world over are redefining their risk assessment matrices. Nonetheless, the show must go on and it falls on governments to make sure it does. That is why there is near consensus among almost all countries relaxing their lockdowns in these couple of weeks. They all seem to understand why it is important to do it slowly, as opposed to a sudden free-for-all, and ensure that all safety protocols are followed by everybody, especially maintaining a safe distance and never stepping into the open without masks and gloves. These guidelines can make all the difference between a slow, calculated reopening and another quick shutdown. The Pakistani government did all it could to whether to storm so long as it was necessary for the economy to come to a stop for everybody's protection. Now it can no longer afford such an arrangement. Therefore all segments of society must join hands to make sure that the next step of stimulating the economy works, because there's really no other viable option.