I had a rather interesting opportunity to travel across districts for the first time after over two months. It was interesting to see how the state was handling movement during the pandemic, especially since inter-district movement is being allowed only since a few days now.
Moving past about seven checkpoints made one thing clear: the strength in our dealing with this pandemic is not a centralised issue; it is not one that can be dealt with by a group of men at the national capital. Empowering local officials is of the highest importance. Of the seven checkpoints, four were lax, one was moderately well guarded, one did not care since we were leaving the district, not entering it, and one checked us thoroughly and with good intention but in vain—apparently, the only criteria for entering a district was that you had to be asymptomatic.
For a disease whose majority of victims are believed to be going undetected thanks to their being asymptomatic, the fact that all we are looking for are symptoms is worrying. That said, expecting full testing at every checkpoint would be unrealistic so I suppose this is the balance we have collectively chosen to strike.