Monalisa irmayanti hasibuan (UAS)

Will COVID-19 Change the World and Human’s Behavior?

By: Monalisa Irmayanti Hasibuan

   Indonesia is one of the countries that has announced the first case of COVID-19 for a long time since the outbreak of the virus in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. Until finally Indonesia officially recognized the outbreak of the COVID-19 on March 2, 2020 with the announcement of the first two patients by President Joko Widodo. Which means that now it has been almost four months that Indonesia has continued to struggle against this pandemic. Since then, the number of positive cases of COVID-19  in Indonesia has continued to grow. Until june 27, 2020, government official statement said there were 52.812 people who were positively infected, 21.909 people were cured and 2.720 people died. The increase in new cases every day makes the government must move quickly to stop the spread of COVID-19. The government made a policy related to the spread of COVID-19 in all fields, both education, all sectors of the industry, procedures for worship in the midst of a pandemic and while in public areas. With the increasing number of victims from COVID-19, the government took a quick step in overcoming the spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia by issuing several health regulations and later this will become a new habit for the community if COVID-19 cannot be defeated.

   The main rule is that people must use a face mask and washing hands frequently with soap. This method is considered quite effective in preventing the spread of the virus. When leaving the house everyone must use a face mask. And if someone do not use it in the public area it will be given sanctions or fines. The penalty to be imposed by the government is 250 thousand rupiahs or by conducting social activities. Besides maintaining cleanliness is also very important in the current situation. Always washing hands with soap is strongly recommended to reduce the possibility of spreading the virus. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said that some viruses can remain active after 2-3 days on plastic and stainless steel, 24 hours on cardboard, and four hours on copper. Therefore it is highly recommended to always washing  hands especially after leaving the house and must be in the right way at least 20 seconds using soap and water, or use hand sanitizer.

   Besides that, the government also requires everyone to do Social Distancing and stay at home. Social distancing, also called "physical distancing," means keeping space between yourself and other people outside of your home. COVID-19 spreads mainly among people who are in close contact (within about 6 feet) for a prolonged period. Spreads occur when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks, and droplets from their mouth or nose are launched into the air and land in the mouth or noses of people nearby. The droplets can also be hidden into the warp. Recent studies indicate that people who are infected but don't have symptoms likely also play a role in the spread of COVID-19. So it is very important to keep a distance from others to reduce the risk of contracting. Not only Social Distancing, the public should also stay at home to help stop the transmission of the virus. Do not leave the house for reasons that are not important and do not gather with the crowd. Although the risk of severe illness may be different for everyone, anyone can get and spread COVID-19. Everyone has a role to play in slowing the spread and protecting themselves, their family, and their community.

   The third is to learn from home. Since the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia, the government has decided to close schools and Universities and study online. As carried out by many countries, to prevent transmission of the COVID-19 in schools, the Minister of Education and Culture issued a circular dated March 24, 2020 which regulates the implementation of education in the emergency period of the spread of coronavirus). However, changing patterns or habits is very difficult. After the enactment of online learning, both teachers and students had many difficulties in this way. Because in fact,  not all students and teachers can access the internet. In addition, demands for large internet quota costs also make it difficult for parents of students in the midst of an economic crisis due to this pandemic. In terms of the province, the more remote the province is, the smaller the percentage of students who get online learning. In East Java, 40% of respondents said their children got online learning. In NTB online learning is less than 10% and in NTT less than 5%. So it can be said that online learning is still not effective in Indonesia.

   Not only learning from home, but the government also issued regulations to work and worship from home as well. Dr Ali Khan, an epidemiologist and professor at the UNMC College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska said that the great risk of spreading the virus is not from the [office] building but from sick employees. If one person is sick, he can spread the virus through coughing and sneezing, touching the surface of objects, and talking to other people up close. Even on their private tables, viruses can also be spread by droplets that settle on the surface of objects and cause contamination. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home is not feasible for all workers. One of the reasons is that approximately 60 to 70 percent of Indonesians work in the informal sector and their jobs necessitate their continuous physical presence. There are some jobs that cannot be done from home such as gojek or  taxi drivers. Gojek must continue to work outside their home to fulfill their needs.

   The last one is to provide assistance to people affected covid 19. Various research institutes project this year's economic growth to only 1% and the number of poor people to jump 12.4 percent or 8.45 million people. Economic conditions that are chaotic amid a pandemic and with problems faced by the poor make the government issue a policy to provide social assistance in the form of money or food. But apparently there is a lot of aid that is misplaced because many who get help are actually people who are economically capable. And the people who need it are increasingly troubled in the current conditions. So tit makes few people who demonstrate demanding the government to re-evaluate the list of people who are recipients of social assistance.

   From the explanation above, it can be concluded that some of the rules set by the government to prevent the spread of Covid 19 are not quite appropriate and even detrimental to some parties. For this reason, the government needs to re-evaluate and find the right solution for all problems that arise in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus. And it is hoped that the community and the government can establish good cooperation to accelerate the eradication of covid 19 from Indonesia and all will be well again. But if we fail to fight covid 19, then all current government policies will become our new habits in the future.

References
https://kontras.org/en/2020/03/20/demand-the-policy-of-covid-19-settlement-by-the-government-of-indonesia-march-13-2020/
https://lifestyle.kompas.com/read/2020/03/20/073631820/berapa-lama-virus-corona-bertahan-di-pakaian-bagaimana-mencucinya?page=all
https://theconversation.com/riset-dampak-covid-19-potret-gap-akses-online-belajar-dari-rumah-dari-4-provinsi-136534
https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2020/04/05/will-covid-19-ultimately-change-the-way-we-work.html