Better Together

by Zhao Yue

On a chilly early April night， Dr. Mangala Narasimhan left the office where she oversees intensive care at six major hospitals in New York， Americas first battle ground in the war against COVID-19.

Laura Lupi， a 24-year-old Italian nurse， cares for 34 patients during seven or ten-hour shifts at a COVID-19 hospital in Teramo， in the Abruzzo region of Italy. She has pleaded with locals to stay at home while pledging to continue working alongside her colleagues.

The birth of the daughter of COVID-19 patient Li Qing brought tears of joy to all people in the operating room in Wuhan Union Hospital West Campus on March 7 this year. The hospital was once deep inside the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in China. Li stayed in the hospital to continue treatment before finally taking her baby home at the end of March.

Although social distancing measures have created considerable inconvenience， South Koreans are considering extending the measures. According to a survey conducted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government from April 10 to 12 among 1，000 local residents， more than 60 percent supported an extension of social distancing measures after the nationwide policies expired as scheduled on April 19.

The virus respects no borders or races. Right now， people all over the world are at war with the same enemy. This is a time for international collaboration， openness， and transparency.

Eliminating the highly contagious virus with a relatively high mortality rate and its severe impact on the global economy requires all countries to join hands to reduce uncertainty and risk of economic recession. New technologies facilitating online education， remote work， virtual meetings and smart medical consultation that have exploded during the social distancing period present new opportunities for economic globalization， as predicted by many experts.

The world will only improve through higher-level global cooperation while de-globalization will only force every economy to adopt“social distancing.” Blame-shifting and stigmatization will not help anyone solve the crisis faced by the whole of mankind， but will only divide the international community and jeopardize joint efforts against the pandemic.

COVID-19 will certainly not be the last enemy in the era of globalization — human beings will continually be forced to confront a variety of traditional and nontraditional challenges. This global public health emergency has intensely highlighted the urgency of building a community with a shared future for humanity. Only solidarity and concerted efforts will create the power human beings need to prevail over the outbreak and embrace a shared brighter future.