Emotional rescue: Songs for our times
As countries all around the world enter the most restrictive peacetime measures they may have experienced, people everywhere will experience a range of moods and emotions that will impact on their lives. Such emotional swings and changes are not to be discounted lightly; they will shape how countries, communities and citizens respond to the requirements of the situation we collectively face. It is important that we understand them, see the collective pattern and ascertain where we are individually and collectively in order to determine appropriate responses.
We foresee that after the initial burst of energy associated with the introduction of tough new measures, we may enter a period of despondency and disillusionment as the reality of the situation takes hold before we begin to emerge into a new world. We need to be conscious of how our moods change: this will help us as we navigate through uncharted territory together in an epic struggle that has profound implications for us all. We’ve characterised three changes of mood through song titles that can help us to appreciate what is happening to us and millions of others at this time: No regrets, Stuck in the Middle and I can see clearly now.
If we are wise, we can come out of it better equipped for the bigger challenges that will lie ahead.
Songs for our times, credit:
Emotional Rescue (The Rolling Stones)
No regrets (Edith Piaf) (Robbie Williams)
Stuck in the middle (Stealers wheel)
I can see clearly now (Johnny Nash)
On 21 February 2020, Dr David Nabarro, Strategic Director of 4SD and Co-Director of the Imperial College Institute of Global Health Innovation at the Imperial College London, was appointed as a World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Special Envoy on COVID-19. In this role, David and five other special envoys are providing strategic advice and high-level political advocacy and engagement in different parts of the world to help WHO coordinate the global response to the epidemic. David joins special envoys Professor Dr Maha El Rabbat, former Minister of Health of Egypt; Dr John Nkengasong, Director of the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr Mirta Roses, former Director of the WHO Region of the Americas; Dr Shin Young-soo, former Regional Director of the WHO Region of the Western Pacific and Professor Samba Sow, Director-General of the Center for Vaccine Development in Mali in this collective effort.
Please visit: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019 for official guidance from the World Health Organisation on the virus. These Narratives are being written and shared by David for those who want more information and to help raise awareness and readiness of all actors.
Snapshot from WHO COVID-19 Situation Report – 58, as of 00:00 CET 18 March 2020
→ WHO Risk Assessment Global Level VERY HIGH
→ 191,127 confirmed cases (+15,123 new in the last 24 hours)
→ 7,807 deaths (+786 in the last 24 hours)
→ 1 new countries/territories/areas has reported cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours (Montenegro)
→ WHO, IFRC, and UNICEF jointly released the Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Action Plan Guidance for COVID-19 on 16 March
Nishita
Thanks for this helpful article. Why is the UK not prioritizing testing at scale when that is the method from China, Singapore, South Korea? The UK shouldn’t be allowed to behave in this manner when the WHO have explicitly said we need to test at scale. We have so many UK cases of patients at home with no testing to confirm them so we cannot effectively measure the cases and we cannot identify who has immunity.
Thuy Nguyen
Dear Nishita, thank you, this is a great question and we are aligned with WHO on the importance of testing. The situation is evolving quickly so please join the open online briefings this week to hear the latest: https://www.4sd.info/covid-19-open-online-briefings/. Best regards, 4SD