Fighting corona starts with you

A photo showing employees keeping distance during a lunch break at an auto plant in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei Province on Thursday.

What you need to know:

  • The issue: Coronavirus
  • Our view: If you have been exposed to a person suspected infected by coronavirus, start by isolating yourself and call the Health ministry toll-free lines for assistance.

A photo showing employees keeping distance during a lunch break at an auto plant in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei Province on Thursday, which has been shared on all social media sites, is very instructive. Indeed this is proof that the Chinese are taking keeping distance seriously.

One may argue that this is happening because China is one of the countries that has been worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic. China registered at least 3,281 deaths to date hence they have to take extreme measures. Given the gravity of the pandemic, keeping safe distance should be embraced by everyone.

It is, therefore, baffling that in Uganda, despite the reports of increasing number of infections worldwide in general, and Uganda in particular, people have not embraced keeping safe distance from one another. But with Covid-19 in place, it is no longer business as usual.

Keeping safe distance should be the way to in many organisations. Although some work stations have taken the proactive approach of sending many of their employees on leave, or asked them to work from home, others don’t seem to see the need. They want to do business with workers sitting and eating in congested work spaces. In the circumstances, this is like inviting corona virus to destroy us.

Many workers decline to stay home despite being offered that option. They want to continue working from their offices or places of work. This is much like people who think that God will not hear them unless they say their prayers in a church building or mosque.

This must stop. The safety of life must come first. We do not need to first register thousands of infected cases or deaths like China or Italy before we start doing the right things.

If for one reason or another you do not have to be at the workplace, then stay home. Stop making flimsy excuses for leaving home to the work place, and exposing yourself and others to the coronavirus.

If you cannot stay home, then you have no moral authority to blame the Ministry of Health officials or anyone else when you get infected by Covid-19.

Staying safe from the pandemic begins with you. In this regard, keeping a distance breaks the chain of infection. Employers must facilitate the work-from-home strategy to enable their workers deliver to the best of their ability.

If you have been exposed to a person suspected to have been infected by coronavirus, start by isolating yourself and call a health worker or Health ministry toll-free lines for assistance. Self-isolation or working from home is not a punishment.