As Covid-19 rages . . .

Many are suffering from paranoia out of fear of Covid19. They feel symptoms of the disease — real or imagined — largely out of their fear of the virus.

They may actually have the virus and these feelings should make them careful about their behavior and efforts to prevent the spread of the disease.

When these feelings or symptoms happen, we should immediately act like we have the virus.

President Mnangagwa is on record as saying “act like you have the virus”.

In short, let us stick to the basics as the country is experiencing hundreds of new cases every day and over 50 deaths per day if last week’s figures are anything to go by.

But for these numbers to come down, we need to go back to the basics of how to avoid preading and contracting the coronavirus.

This means you are covering your mouth and nose with a mask to prevent coughing or sneezing it into nearby people or surfaces. This means you are avoiding touching your face because your hands are the easiest way to spread or catch the virus through.

This means you are washing your hands regularly and you are not getting too close to people and are maintaining social distancing. You are leaving a space of two meters between you and the next person.

You are avoiding visiting people — be they close friends and or relatives.

You shall stay at home with your family but even with them, you are keeping a distance out of care that the virus may spread to the people you love the most.

These are precautions everyone — Covid-19 positive or negative — is expected to take to prevent the spread of the virus.

These precautions are not a preserve of the families with a Covid-19 victim or of people going to work, they are measures that the whole world has to take to prevent the spread of this coronavirus. So whether you have been tested of Covid-19 or not, whether you have tested negative or positive — the things we all have to do are the same.

And they can be summarized by, #StayAtHome, #WashYourHands and #StayAwayFromPeople.

You can even contract Covid19 and recover without going to a hospital within a week.

The problem comes if you were reckless during the time your body was fighting the virus.

It is possible you can pass it to your 80-year-old father or your sister with an underlying condition and they may not be able to recover from the effects of the virus the same way you did.

So act like you have the virus because the measures to avoid spreading the virus are exactly the same as the measures to avoid contracting it.