Comment & Analysis: Politicisation of a pandemic is wrong

The COVID-19 outbreak has been wrongfully politicised by many political activists and governments across the world, and politics should have no part in managing the pandemic.

Copyright: Dwayne Hards.

Many governments are trying to pass laws which are intended to pressure their countries' law enforcement organisations into enforcing political decisions with the threat of punishment, and politicising a pandemic is dangerous because people are less likely to follow the most important safety measures — including self-isolating, testing, track and trace, handwashing, getting vaccinated, shielding, and trusting experts — if they're politicised. People will also lose trust in the police if they enforce unnecessary mandates or political opinions.

While some of the most important safety measures — including showing proof of a negative test or quarantining when travelling abroad, spitting at people, compliance with border restrictions, and business hygiene standards — do need to be enforced to protect people and prevent the virus travelling between countries, including the UK, governments also need to respect liberties; for example, governments should not unnecessarily introduce laws. If the pandemic isn't politicised, people are generally more happy to follow the necessary advice.

Governments' politicisation of the pandemic has allowed political extremists — including anti-vaccination groups, far-right and far-left activists, conspiracy theorists, and other types of extremists — to spread misinformation which people, especially youngsters, believe. Extremists are politically grooming young people by trying to get them to think how they do. The political grooming starts with ideas that seem to make sense to start with, then the extremists slowly deliver more misinformation on other subjects, including vaccinations and medical treatment.

People who call out misinformation — including the World Health Organisation and NHS, experts, most scientists and healthcare professionals, social media users, and citizens — are facing intense hatred by some people amid many governments' politicisation and management of the pandemic which has allowed misinformation to be delivered and pumped out by extremists.

Countries' borders should have been shut at the start of the pandemic, and the very first people who had the virus should have been quarantined early on; however, many governments, including the UK's Tory government, have just sat back and let people die, introducing catastrophic lockdowns which harm our economy and citizens' liberties, health, rights and freedoms, fitness, mental health, and relationships, according to most of society and a majority of experts. We need to balance out the right to life and liberty.

Politicising the pandemic is also making the experts' job to protect citizens' health and the economy almost impossible because people don't know who to listen to, according to an article published by the British Medical Journal.

All of these reasons are why I feel that the pandemic should not be politicised; instead, citizens' personal choice should be respected, except in certain cases where there is a serious threat to other people's lives; for example, trying to enter a care home without taking a COVID test or refusing to quarantine when travelling abroad. There should be no need to criminalise people who break these rules because it shouldn't be allowed to happen in the first place.

Remember, the pandemic is no-one's fault, so please respect each other's personal choice and preferences, and treat yourself and others with respect. Make the decisions that you feel are right for you and your family.