A WASHINGTON Post article entitled “Japan and South Korea see surge of suicides among young women, raising new questions about pandemic stress” revealed the following information about female suicides in Japan and South Korea:
“Suicide rates among young women have increased notably in Japan and South Korea, raising possible links to the prolonged coronavirus pandemic as it amplifies stress levels, worsens economic woes and aggravates feelings of loneliness and isolation…
“Japan and South Korea are among the few countries to issue current data on suicides, with most nations taking a year or two to issue their numbers. Experts worry that the emerging trends in the two countries could be an early warning for the rest of the world as the pandemic and lockdowns take a toll on mental health.”
I’ve written about the pandemic lockdowns before, but it’s worth revisiting the issue again (and again, as long as the issue remains relevant). Lockdown-related problems are popping up across different countries all over the world. Small businesses are being shut down; mass unemployment; increase in suicides and relatively recently lockdown-related protests.
Over time, these problems are only going to get worse, particularly if governments decide they should take on more control. There are already protests in Europe and America, and given time, I think they will spread to other countries. And there are also plenty of anger about coronavirus disease-related identification cards and passports.
Are we going to wait for those things to reach the Philippines?
So here, I’m going to stick my neck out with regards to COVID lockdowns. Our government should reduce them; less control, fewer rules and no IDs if possible. At this point, we know that the COVID virus is not the end of civilization as we know it, so let’s stop treating it as such.
This isn’t to say that there’s no such thing as a nation-breaking plague, but COVID is not one of them./PN
