Dinshaw Avari- Trying my Hand at Blogging!

May 30, 2020   (This is a long article) (photo credit- webmd.com) Since my last “diatribe” on this topic ( https://dinshawavari.com/2020/04/19/imitation-is-the-sincerest-form-of-flattery-further-ramblings-of-a-layman-covid-2/ ), we have opened a lot of our lockdown sectors, retail outlets, business, etc.     Now comes the question- has lockdown helped or not? 1.      Personally I believe that lockdown was an important strategy at the outset of this pandemic- however, it should have been all encompassing and stricter.  Our businesses have been closed for last two months instead of 2-3 weeks – and that is due to a “hybrid” system instead of “total” lockdown.   However, dynamics have changed.  Two months without income cannot sustain any economic band of society- it’s just not possible.  Giving credit where it’s due - to the State Bank and the Federal Government for supporting companies and businesses - is important but it isn’t e...

May 2, 2020 To arbitrarily attack the World Health Organization that it “flip flops” is unfair.  As WHO puts it- “ What it has done differently is it has very much relied on its relationship with its citizenry and the ability and willingness of its citizens to implement self-distancing and self-regulate ” ( https://nypost.com/2020/04/29/who-lauds-sweden-as-model-for-resisting-coronavirus-lockdown/ ).   Besides this, Sweden has issued rules for social distancing and encouraging working from home- they haven’t arbitrarily opened up their society. While that strategy seems to work for Sweden, Australia & New Zealand’s strategy of lockdown has worked for them ( https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/world/australia/new-zealand-coronavirus.html ) . So, WHO’s statement on Sweden’s strategy should not be taken out of context. Practically speaking, none of us alive today have EVER faced a pandemic like this in our lifetime.  Nations, leaders, scientists...

April 19, 2020 Well, we are in a Pandemic and it’s not really about “flattery”- it’s more about … COPY WHAT SEEMS TO WORK from past and current experiences, regardless of personal or political conflict, geographical boundaries or religion! So, what seems to be working? 1)       Mitigation strategies - a.        Scale up COVID tests & diagnosis- doing large number of lab diagnoses allow authorities to slow the spread of the infection by isolating known cases while they are infectious, enabling treatment to be administered at a far earlier stage b.        Increase easily available, random & free testing c.        “Test and trace for the high-at-risk groups”, which means increasing the manufacture of local test kits d.        Continue to maintain social distancing e.        Limit ...