Don’t lower your mask, distance on Covid-19

Uganda is not yet free of the deadly coronavirus disease or Covid-19. So the easing of restrictions yesterday to allow private vehicles to move, shops to operate, and restaurants to open, should not lull us into a false belief that we are free of Covid-19 pandemic.

To the contrary, we should more strictly keep our guard up and wear facemasks, sanitise, and travel at half capacity in vehicles as directed. With more movements and interactions now allowed, Covid-19 can more easily creep up on us as the virus spreads through person-to-person contact.

This is why our wearing facemasks, sanitising and keeping social distancing should be even more rigorous now. These measures are absolutely necessary first steps to protecting ourselves and communities against the coronavirus disease. We only need to remember that Covid-19 has no formation and frontline but advances stealthily on us through our contacts with infected persons, surfaces, etc.

This means every one of us is our own first line of defence. Otherwise, it would be self-defeating choices, were we to opt to rely on the security agencies to continue prompting us through impromptu on-spot checks, to ensure we observe the directives to help stop the contagious virus. Commendably, for two months now, we have kept our guard up.

But because many of us have not yet been scathed, Ugandans must not sink into a false sense of security. Even as we breathe a sigh of relief for now, we should only remember we haven’t yet overcome the Covid-19 pandemic. This is borne out by detection of tens of cases at our borders points. For instance, up north, Gulu Regional Referral Hospital is managing 57 cases, mostly from our border points with South Sudan.

Similarly, Mutukula on our southern border with Tanzania, has recorded several other cross-border cases. These trans-border cases have also given rise to some tens of cases among community contacts. These incidents warn us all of the deadly risks Ugandans still face from Covid-19.

Hence, with our neigbhours in the East African community also battling hundreds of cases and suffering deaths, none of us would want the pandemic to degenerate into situations of unmanageable loss of lives as have been registered elsewhere on the African continent and overseas.

In sum, let us keep our guard up against Covid-19 because we are all potential victims. This demands we all must be vigilant because the security agencies will not be everywhere and at all times to remind us to take care of ourselves. It is everyone’s responsibility to stay safe from Covid-19. Together we can overcome the coronavirus disease or Covid-19.