Think about the long distance truck drivers
The Ministry of Health yesterday registered 13 new cases of Covid-19 from long-distance truck drivers from Kenya.
The number announced yesterday was a bit too high, but the trend has been the same over the past few weeks: the frontline in the fight against the coronavirus which causes Covid-19 has shifted to long-distance truck drivers and border areas.
The debate on how to regulate truck drivers has been intense. Some want them blocked from crossing borders, but the government won’t have any of that since the truck drivers ferry in essential goods. The other suggestion has been that the drivers are kept on the borders until their test results are out and are found to be Covid-19 negative.
It would appear that the government finds this difficult because it would delay the movement of goods. It would also mean that many truck drivers converge at the border and spend a lot of time – about a day – as they wait for results. That could also provide fertile breeding ground for the spread of the virus.
The government has, therefore, decided that the truck drivers will have their samples taken at the border points and allowed to proceed on their journeys, under monitoring. The government has proceeded to warn the population to stay away from truck drivers.
It started with warning women who engage in sex work to keep away from the truck drivers in a campaign run by the Ministry of Health. President Museveni also warns about the same in his addresses.
The warnings expanded to include food sellers and other Ugandans, who were asked to keep away from truck drivers. The President, in his latest address, said the drivers are supposed to keep in their vehicles and should come with packed food so that they don’t have to interact with anyone while in Uganda.
The rationale is understandable. To avoid the virus, strict physical distancing is required, and it is even more so when it involves a group of people who are at high risk of infection.
But on the flip side, the decision makers need to think seriously about the mental and emotional wellbeing of the truck drivers. What is the effect of them living with the fact that they drive into and through a country where everyone, including the government, says that they are the enemy? It can have serious consequences.
A solution that serves all objectives, including taking care of the mental health of the drivers, must be reached. Allow in only those who have tested negative.
