Don’t be complacent in observing Covid-19 SOPs
Minister of Health Jane Ruth Aceng appears before the health committee over the Public Health Amendment Bill at Parliament on February 21, 2022. PHOTO/DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
In my opinion, the minister was telling the public that the pandemic has subsided but it is not over. Yes, the figures are better, but they are no ground for complacency
In Uganda, Covid-19 figures are generally getting better and the country is fully opening up. A week ago, the Ministry of Health declared end of the Covid-19 third wave in the country after a consistent low positivity rate, no district in alert or response phase.
The ministry, however, warned that districts such as Kampala and Wakiso were still under close monitoring because a significant number of new cases were still being registered in these areas.
Prior to this rather relieving revelation, the public seemed to have retreated to their ‘old normal’ (behaviour before Covid-19) thus abandoning the ‘new normal’ discipline.
The daily thought of regular hand washing, safe distance of two metres and face masking was already fading away. The public already seemed fatigued by Covid-19 talk and wanted to go about their businesses recklessly.
This status quo is being sustained to date despite the Health minister’s appeal to the population to continue following SOPs and get vaccinated.
In my opinion, the minister was telling the public that the pandemic has subsided but it is not over. Yes, the figures are better, but they are no ground for complacency.
According to the Oxford dictionary, complacency is self-satisfaction, especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies. It goes ahead to define a complacent person as one who is very pleased with themselves or feels that they do not need to do anything about a situation, even though the situation may be uncertain or dangerous.
Hypothetically, most Ugandans are now complacent. It’s not yet clear whether they (Ugandans) are aware of the actual dangers and burden of Covid-19 disease.
In my opinion owing to our high susceptibility to, severity of, and benefits of stopping Covid-19, Ugandans would standardise the basic standard procedures of regular hand washing, wearing of face masks, avoiding crowds or at least maintain good coughing etiquettes like using a handkerchief when coughing or sneezing, so that no Ugandan would have to be reminded to conform to these basic rules. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
The situation is made even worse when the very people such as health workers and community leaders, who we expect to rally the public, are not conforming to Covid-19 standard operating procedures.
It’s in my opinion, that with or without law, it should be our collective desire to remain safe and live in the interesting times of this country.
We have been told by scientists that even if you are vaccinated, you need to continue following all other precautions judiciously.
That vaccine alone is not enough for your protection from coronavirus because the virus keeps evolving. We had Delta, then Omicron...who knows, we may end up with a fourth wave of sigma.
I wish to state hypothetically that the current wave of Covid-19 complacency belies the prevailing burden of the disease.
In Arua City, for example, surveillance update of February 18, indicated that 375 active cases of Covid-19 were still under home-based care and three new cases were diagnosed on that day. The situation could be even worse in other settings. What about in schools? I don’t want to divulge into that now. By and large, evidence suggest that, when it comes to safety, complacency is dangerous. It is actually self-destruction.
“A stitch in time saves nine”, goes the old adage.
Neckson Bwambale
The writer is a Public Health Expert.
