India On Fire

India is now experiencing the worst COVID outbreak in the world in a situation not unlike China's a year ago.  The Indian people are short on protective equipment, ventilators, on oxygen canisters.  President Biden has pledged to send all of that to India to help out, as other nations have.  But not vaccines - not yet, anyway, as there are still procedural issues to be worked out, as I'm led to understand.  What's ironic is that India has been a major COVID vaccine exporter.

President Biden has imposed a ban on travel to and from India effective today, and that should help prevent the virus from wreaking havoc in the U.S. all over again, along with increased immunity through vaccines.  And sending all of those humanitarian aid to India should help get the virus under control there.  But - and there's always a "but" in talking about COVID - containing the virus in India and elsewhere may very well be impossible, given the difficulty in getting enough people vaccinated globally, and restrictions to fight COVID are still being promoted all over the world.  All of which is to say that the pandemic isn't over yet and may not be for a long, long time.  

As for India, I hope people don't start attacking Americans of Indian origin the way they started going after Americans of Chinese origin last year.  First of all, India isn't to blame for the virus, and second of all the Chinese government is still to blame for letting it spread beyond Wuhan and then China.  Third of all, if there's anyone to blame in India for the spread of the virus, it's Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his inept handling and cavalier disregard of it, along with his "superspreader" political rallies.

Some people say the virus will eventually burn itself out.  Alas, in India, like so many other places, it will leave a lot of scorched earth in its wake. 😢