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Poverty and Lockdowns
What about countries like India?
My parents are from India. So I do follow Indian news to some extent. Along with many others worldwide, I was filled with sadness when COVID-19 swept through the subcontinent. I watched scenes on the online site WION of relatively young people gasping for breath, and funeral pyres operating around the clock. There were heartbreaking interviews of people mourning loved ones or begging for oxygen tanks.
Some countries did send help to the beleaguered country. The Indian government also imposed some drastic measures to contain the pandemic.
Giving people only 4 hours of notice, the Modi government imposed a 3 week national lockdown on March 24th, 2020. This event occurred in response to confirmed caseloads reaching about 500 people. Observers believe that this measure reduced the spread of the disease — the rate of doubling first went to 6 days and then, by April 18th, it had gone to 8 days. Based on these results, Prime Minister Modi extended the nationwide lockdown for another 20 days, until May 3rd, though regions that had experienced lower case loads were allowed to relax the measures somewhat. However, overall lockdowns were not partially lifted until the end of May.
While these measures helped contain the spread of the disease, they also came with costs. The people most…
