Cycling: For the Sake of Health or Pain?

Cycling is cycling, but don't be a source of disease transmission, ladies and gentlemen! Save Merdeka Square!

Humans are indeed social beings, not individualists. Humans need each other. Interdependent. That is my scientific term. So, if there is a human who prefers "to be alone," it means he is "sick." Mental illness may be.

But there are times when being alone is essential and a must. The term NOW is social and physical distancing. We can't be too close to interact. The minimum distance is six feet or 1, 5 meters. Indeed, it is not alone. May be called a solitary range. Ha ha ha..

How come? We all know and understand the reason. None other than the spread of the coronavirus alias the COVID-19. This invisible but real creature has become human's toughest opponent today. Flying and peeking at humans' carelessness. Around us, everywhere and beyond measure. Sticking at everywhere and can last somewhere around seven hours.

Thus, we're upset due to the lack of any breakthrough human-made to combat the virus. All humans are furious because the virus's movements almost paralyze all activities. The move is accelerating because of the many undisciplined humans implementing health protocols established by the world health agency, the World Health Organization (WHO).

Merdeka Square and Bicycles

What I mean by the undisciplined humans here are the massive ignorant people who are hard to accept and carry out the appeal as well as current warnings. It's not easy to remind people; both the literate and illiterate people are also ignorant of the signals.

People must obey the safety protocols released by the World Health Organization. Otherwise, life will be in serious problems.

It's easy. But still many do not care. All consider themselves immune from the "patch" of the jagged virus. Some even dare say, "It's better to die from the virus than to die of hunger." How's that? It's strange.

As far as I know, no one has died of starvation due to this virus. The government is still able to "give" food for those of us who are affected. In return, we have to follow these health regulations to reduce the government's burden bit by bit in overcoming this outbreak. Not the other way around.

Regarding this neglect, Sunday (June 28th, 2020), I decided to see firsthand how the actual undisciplined crowd happened as widely reported through the mass media and my social media account groups. It's all about the hordes of cyclists in Merdeka Square, Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia.

It was true that there were still many ignorant people and did not obey the health and social rules related to handling the spread of COVID-19. Even though there were concerned officers on the spot, many cyclists did not comply with these rules. As if business ran as usual. They thought life was back to normal. Was it because of the New Normal?

New normal or the new order of life, yes, I mean, you and we all have to live our lives in new ways with three W patterns: watch your distance, wear a mask and wash your hands. That's the fatwa. Do we have to be flogged first then understand like the one in India? Don't let us be like, sorry, animal. Must be beaten or whipped first, then follow and want to obey.

Increasing Number

The latest release from WHO (Monday, June 29th, 2020) mentioned that the total positive sufferers of COVID-19 had reached TEN MILLION PEOPLE worldwide. The death toll was more than FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND HUMANS. And this trend would continue to grow because there are still more people who are not obedient. 

Moreover, there have been several new cases of second waves in several countries. They included Germany, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, and even China, as the first countries to spread this virus.

According to the latest data, the United States is still the top with the largest population affected by it. More than TWO HALF MILLION people affected, and 129K people died, recovered 826K. Many died in vain. And it had a chilling effect on me. Are you not?

Anthony Fauci, a US leading expert in virology, said that he would be surprised again if soon the number of people with positive COVID-19 in the US would penetrate 100K per day." The reason is that many US citizens are also disobedient.

By the way, Indonesia itself has entered the world's top thirty in the list of countries with the most sufferers. Due to this situation, President Jokowi was visibly upset that his cabinet's performance was not yet maximal in its efforts to deal with the spread of the virus. It included seeing the level of community compliance that was still low, as quoted from the plenary cabinet meeting last month (June 18th, 2020). 

For comparison, to date, no one has died in Vietnam related to this virus. Why can they make it zero? It's because they are obedient and disciplined in carrying out health protocols that have been established by the WHO and the government there.

Want to be healthy or sick?

Let's go back to the locus or crime scene Merdeka Square, Medan. Cycling is excellent and is highly recommended for health and also reduces air pollution. Perhaps we are familiar with the term Bike to Work (B2W), aka cycling to the office and Bike to School (B2S), cycling to school in addition to relaxing or touring.

Hence, let's obey the health protocol rules so that we can all stay healthy, safe, and comfortable carrying out our daily activities.

Please ride anywhere. But obey existing health and social rules—no need to gather or gather for too long. Let's ride for fitness. Don't ride a bicycle to get sick.

The choice is yours: you want to be healthy or sick. I am sure we will all choose to be healthy. 

Once again, I invite you and all of us to work together to comply with existing health and social protocols. We need to sacrifice together so that this virus does not spread and infect more humans. Be more patient in situations like this. It all starts with each of us.

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You may read the Indonesian version here. You can also read other articles here and here.