Dancing must be saved from Caronavirus
Posted by: Gareth on: 28/04/2020 Category: news
Dancing is in a bit of trouble. It's one of the activities least compatible with lockdown and social distancing. To guarantee its future, we should begin formulating strategies or risk losing momentum.
Here's the problem. Scott Morrison has stated that social distancing will need to remain until a vaccine is found for Covid-19. However, that's a pipe-dream until it happens. A sobering fact is that it may never do so. No successful vaccine was found for either SARS or MERS coronaviruses. That increases the likelihood that none will be found for the current one.
Mainstream media sources highlight vaccine trials, creating the impression that success is just around the corner. Bill Gates has warned that developing a vaccine could actually take two years. That's far more realistic. It's called 'Novel Coronavirus' because there are aspects of the virus itself and its effect on human health that are currently unknown. This will improve over time, but time is what it takes. So early vaccines that appear successful may still fail as they remain untested against as yet unknown factors. Additionally, readily available research shows that only a small percent of vaccine candidates that successfully complete Phase-1 testing make it to later stages.
What all of this points to is that if we remain locked down and distant from each other, we can sacrifice our productivity and our lifestyle enhancements for a bet that is never going to win. Granted, the longer things continue without a breakthrough the more likely authorities will see the point and relax rules. There will be little to gain by arguing that social distancing can save your life. The reality is that loss of wealth-gain from productivity and a reduction in quality of life will simply result in people dying from other causes. The longer lockdown lasts, the more obvious that will become.
Note that social dancing is an activity long identified as promoting good health. It's excellent for fitness and maintaining a positive mental attitude, so it helps with longevity.
If this does turn out to be the case, other remedies will be needed. These will mostly amount to rapid development of technology to identify those most at risk of dying or serious complications from infection. Also, quick and convenient testing, along with intensive searches for medical cures. Certainly, advancements will be made and some already are. But they may not erase the hard reality that we will at some point simply have to take our chances as individuals, or lose a major part of our lives. I hear people talking about "as soon as this is over and things get back to normal..." But this may not be over soon.
What should dancers do to minimise damage to their beloved pastime? We cannot wait two years to start dancing again. In Adelaide we have long struggled to keep venues willing to support us with live music. A long hiatus could see many, if not most of them unwilling to re-commence Rock 'n' Roll dance sessions. As individuals, during the time that we cannot participate we will lose our fitness. Our dancing skills and our social times will suffer. With many Rock 'n' Roll dancers in their sixties and beyond, the impact on us will be greater than for younger generations.
The dancing community need to begin formulating plans to guarantee their future. We could lobby the government for early exemptions to social distancing. We could initiate and put forward proposals for dancing events with limited numbers. One initiative could be minimisation of risk through a requirement for all participants to show subscription to the contact tracing app. They might need to show they have been subscribed to it for longer than the incubation period and demonstrate that they have not been notified of any contact with an infected person.
That's just one suggestion. No doubt there will be many others. However, I am not aware of any coordinated efforts to lobby for our future. I would like to see some. If our members have any good suggestions along those lines, please post them. Alternatively, inform me of efforts that I am not aware of.