In the last couple of weeks, we were witnessing the creation of two opposing camps in response to a dilemma that leaders in many countries confronting around the world. On the one hand, a camp demands to reopen the economy immediately arguing that the cure can’t be worse than the disease, pushing for the herd immunity in hope of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel faster.

On the other hand, another camp believes nothing can go back to normal until a proven vaccine is created. The members of this camp demand the continuation of social distancing and other protocols that have been effective to diminish the curve so far.

The members of the first camp are mostly shareholders of big corporations, traders, business owners, even small businesses, and political leaders in many countries who fear economic instability leads to social unrest. Among these leaders, there are dictators who are worried about the rebellion and elected officials who push for restarting the economy in fear of losing their positions in the next election.

The members of the second camp are scientists, doctors, and nurses who shouldered most of the pressures during the pandemic. Also the middle class and underprivileged belong to this camp that doesn’t consider coronavirus as a democratic illness. Academics and opposition groups are usually supporting the second camp.

There are subcategories in each camp whose members are not as zealots as others in their groups. Among advocates of reopening without having a vaccine, some believe the process can go smoothly with sending less vulnerable back to work based on new data, driven by more vigorous testing. On the other side, some are not adamant about pushing the whole period of 100% proven clinical trials for a vaccine.

Other than the mentioned camps and their subcategories, there are still people whose religious or racial beliefs make choosing sides even harder. Struggling with own perceptual paradoxes that contradict the reality, some orthodox religious believers, regardless of the brand i.e. Christian, Jews, or Muslims, prescribe taking the risk in lieu of performing holy ceremonies. And there are those who are always counted as the base for political parties or in case of a dictatorship, enablers of those regimes hurray for the pose of strongmen in their countries, even with the price of own families being smashed in the re-rotation of economic gears.

Furthermore, it’s worth to mention about the paradoxes of a few Iranian opposition groups that criticize the regime in Iran for a premature reopening but sympathize the Trump’s base that definitely falls into the camp of “reopen now.”