Covid-19: Let’s change policy on truck drivers
On Friday, May 15, Uganda confirmed 43 new cases of Covid-19, the highest tally in the history of the pandemic in the country. All were truck drivers. This brings the total number of positive truck drivers to 143 out of the 203 confirmed cases in Uganda.
The truck drivers were tested at the various border crossings and allowed to enter the country before confirming their status. A flurry of well-intentioned appeals by the public for the truck drivers to wait for the results, have been ignored and derided as suicidal for Uganda.
President Museveni is expected to address the country tomorrow to lay out his plans for partial re-opening of the economy. But our view is that the current policy on truck drivers must be changed before it’s too late. The sacrifices made by personnel at the frontline and Ugandans in fighting Covid-19 risk being thrown to waste if we continue allowing sick truck drivers into the country.
The government is spending billions of shillings to track sick drivers and contacts of contacts in the various parts of the country, risking lives of more than 40 million people who have endured months of a painful yet essential lockdown. If truck drivers cannot receive results in 45 minutes as promised, then, they must be quarantined at their cost for two days, tested and results confirmed before they are allowed to enter Uganda.
The East African heads of state met on May 12 and directed the focal persons to immediately work on a regional mechanism for testing and certification of truck drivers prior to their departure at the point of origin and every two weeks, and report to the heads of state. But the process has been slow yet the risk of community transmission grows each passing day.
The national taskforce should advise the President on what needs to be done. The community samples are testing negative, but preventable imported cases are making Ugandan nervous. Allowing truck drivers into the country before their results are confirmed, risks the gains we have made in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic.
We understand the predicament of a non-coastal country like Uganda, but a misguided policy on truck drivers shouldn’t be allowed to morph into a health crisis in the country.
Sick drivers shouldn’t be allowed into the country and we must have a clear plan for continued testing and isolating cases, tracing suspects and quarantining contacts. Compulsory hand-washing and wearing of face masks must be enforced at all times. The decision to re-open the economy cannot be taken lightly. The choice the government takes, will largely depend our ability to better understand the danger.
