Delhi is seriously afflicted with corona virus. Everyday there are hundreds of cases. The situation is grim. So when the CM says "We will have to be ready to live with corona virus. We will have to get used to it". What does it really mean? The congested part of the Delhi is inhabited by the poorest and lower middle class, and these are substantial in population. There really cannot be any concept of social distancing in such places, think of single brick multi-storied hellholes in Pahar ganj, karol bagh, madangiri, east of kailash so on. These sections of society doesn't really have access to better medical facility, hygiene conditions too are limiting, as the cases are mounting they will find themselves in dire situation. People are mostly careless and lack civic sense. Its a jungle out there that checks your fitness to survive at every instance. They live in congested places, they travel in congested places, they die in congested places...there really is no escaping. Its fate at every step.
So when it is said "learn to live with it" what it really means is that substantial number of people are going to get infected and many are going to die, its inevitable (depends on your luck ie fate, and in certain places it runs too thin). There is very likelihood that Delhi CM's strategy will be copied by most CMs (CM of Andhra -who hinges his popularity firmly on slave morality, instead of sticking to facts did a Trump by saying "its just a flue"!). It is the easiest way out, significantly it keeps the powerful section that control the system happy as we go back to "normal" ways while herds are habituated to blame their fate. It can easily be understood by the way Trump is working. You will rarely see such carelessness in civilized sections in Europe or caring societies around the world, or even educated society will not tolerate such wanton transgression (I really don't think CM of Kerala can make such statements and get away with it. There will be serious consequences). There is no cure to this pandemic. Vaccine will take time. Many people are able to recover but many are not. What impact does it have on long term health of those who have recovered is also not yet known. Community immunity means lots of people's life is going to be compromised, and in a malnourished poor society this is going to be substantial and very definitely going to be from less blessed sections. This society suffers from serious systemic biases and ethical ambiguity so when push comes to shove things will be quite ugly. Arguably economics is a concern, there is serious breakdown happening and this could lead to social repercussions and strife. Policy makers are acutely aware of this. But that doesn't really mean that we have to learn to live with it. It leads to lackadaisical ways in a society famously known for its lackadaisical attitude. Hopefully stringent measures are vigorously pursued to contain the impact. Situation is closely monitored through health workers and local volunteers, and areas isolated on continuous basis. We have seen enough videos of Iran, Italy, USA and China of people dying on the streets, hospitals overcrowded (patients lying on the corridor unattended, bodies dumped in rooms, mass graves dug) and other horrifying scenes. Livelihood is important but that is not the reason to take neo-liberal strategies that puts humans at lower rug of the deal while the moneybags influence the policy makers. If it goes to community spread (which probably it has in Delhi, hence this defeatist attitude) then we are looking at a wave of untold misery compounding the economic crisis. People will then be living with possibility of death at every step. Hopefully policy makers are fully aware, and are equipped to take judicious decisions. Most importantly they know what they are talking about, and not jostling to posture as saviors. Squatter ensconced have such problems, they have incorrigible urge to showcase blessedness.
