Beyond Connectivity: Networks of Care

Páginas103-108
103The Value of Internet Openness in Times of Crisis
Near the end of 2019, the World Health Organisation was informed that
unusual cases of pneumonia had been identified and mortality rates
were on the increase in the city of Wuhan, China. Now, over five months
into a worldwide health crisis, environmental experts say this this novel illness,
a mutation of the SARS virus dubbed COVID-19,is a symptom of rapid changes
in humanity’s interaction with the natural environment. These range from
human extraction of natural resources to territorial expansion into crucial natural
habitats and declines in biodiversity and ecosystem resilience. Somewhat ironi-
cally, the result of this overwhelming expansion into the natural world has been
a contagious virus whose spread can only seemingly be slowed by physical dis-
tancing. As a result, some governments are enforcing lockdowns in order to re-
duce transmission and fatality rates.
COVID-19 is exacerbating previously existing precarious situations in the Global
South such as for those living in informal settlements with little space to distance
or clean water to sanitise. Informal and day labourers rely on daily work to sur-
vive and must make hard choices about whether to risk their health to earn their
daily bread or stay home and go hungry. Meanwhile, businesses and education
facilities have been encouraged to shift their activities online and there have
been millions who have done so, creating a new “normal” of online meetings,
classes, app-enabled home deliveries, etc. The narrative of this shift online has
generally been one of success — of people and institutions taking advantage of
online spaces to keep afloat, and of ISPs and mobile operators keeping their net-
TEN
LocNet Team
Beyond Connectivity: Networks of Care
26/10valueOfINet.qxp_Layout 1 03/11/20 5:54 PM Page 103

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