Health first should mean health first

Like many areas in the world, Qatar is facing an increase in Covid-19 cases. Over the last year, the focus on public health first has made many people aware – for the first time ever – about the importance of health across the community.

Health authorities have been continuously warning the public to follow precautionary measures like wearing masks, following social distancing, and restricting the number of people in any one area in order to fight the Covid-19 pandemic and prevent further spread.

If countries have learnt anything over the last year, it’s the importance of health first. Health must always come first – we know what happens when it doesn’t.

With measures in place that the majority here in Qatar continue to respect and adhere to, and with a second wave of the virus outbreak now very much on the horizon, I wonder why we are still not fully ensuring public health is always put first? Many people are exempt from quarantining, allowed to walk and enter the country despite the fact that they could be incubating the virus. It’s not sensible, this is not putting public health first, and it’s without any justification because it only takes one individual to set off a cluster and rupture the public health of the community. Health first should mean health first. No exemptions. No favours. As a country, we have been lucky this far to enjoy relatively normal life this winter while the rest of the world battled with exploding Covid cases, an overwhelming number of hospitalisations, and tragically, mass fatalities. Just look at countries like the UK – they are still in a lockdown, have a shattered economy, and over 100,000 lives have been lost.

We should not be cutting corners. We should not be taking chances. Health first — with stability on the horizon as the worldwide vaccine rollout continues.