Africa-Press – Mauritius. The easing of restrictions that have been in place must not lead us into the false belief that we are Covid-free. We are not, and it is most unlikely that we will ever be.
Because the virus is now circulating all over the world, in all countries irrespective of their level of development. Like the influenza viruses, with which we have to live.
Unlike the influenza viruses, though, the Wuhan virus or, Covid-19 as it is more commonly known per WHO designation, is not seasonal like the former which are more common in winter and affect mainly the elderly.
Further, it is not restricted to the lungs but causes disease in practically all organs in all age groups, not even sparing children under the age of 12 in whom it produces what is known as a ‘Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).
’ Going out? Help keep you and your family safe. Pic – static. toiimg. com For a while towards the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021the country may have been Covid-safe.
That changed after January 2021 when probably the virus was in the community according to the information that has filtered in trickles. Whatever be, the fact is that after January we ceased to be Covid-safe, and currently therefore we are in a situation where we are neither Covid-free nor Covid-safe.
This is not being alarmist. It is merely the reality that we must keep in mind as we go about, and not be under the illusion – as we were when the lockdown was lifted last year – that we can now be totally free to do as we please.
This is what we did last year and until the current lockdown. We dumped all the sanitary measures. There had been much talk and writing about a ‘new normal’ after the lockdown.
But we simply went back to our ‘old normal’ – behaving as we used to do before, freely taking part in large gatherings and moving about in crowds. A recap of what we know about Coivd-19, the virus and the disease, will help explain why we are not Covid-safe.
Another factor of relevance is that, although reduced, there is a degree of air traffic that is taking place. This is likely to increase with the pressure to open frontiers, which in turn will further augment the risk of infection or re-infection, along with the potential introduction of the newer variants.
Moreover, considering the pattern of unfolding of the pandemic worldwide,it is clear that several countries have had third surges as well, and that is what gave rise to the term ‘rolling lockdowns’ as new ones followed the earlier ones.
This means, therefore that we have to take seriously the possibility – if not probability – of a third wave. For all these reasons, therefore, we have to constantly keep in front of us the crucial lesson that this pandemic has taught us: self-protection means that everyone is protected.
And so, for the love of family and friends, and out of a sense of civic responsibility, let us not let our arms down. That is, continue to implement the sanitary measures as long as required.
