Staying COVID-safe

WHEN the permanent secretary for Health and Medical Services Dr James Fong announced 404 cases of COVID-19 yesterday, it effectively kept our daily numbers over the 400 mark.

The new cases, he said, were mainly from the Central and Western divisions. There are two cases that have been identified at the Malau Quarantine Facility.

The two cases, he said, were noted to be repatriates from the Central Division and are in quarantine.

There were also five deaths of COVID-19 positive patients in the 24-hour reporting period that ended at 8am yesterday.

One death was classified as a COVID-19 death, one death was classified as a death from other medical causes and three deaths were being investigated.

The new death from COVID-19 was that of a 72-yearold woman who presented to the FEMAT field hospital in severe respiratory distress. She had been sick at home with cough, fever and shortness of breath for at least five days before going to the hospital. She died at the hospital that same day.

There can be no doubts about the fact that the number of cases will cause great concern.

Again, it appears the numbers are spiralling out of control.

Yesterday, at 9.25am, two youths stood along the road to Newtown in Nasinu. A young woman walked past them and another man walked by in the opposite direction.

Further up the road, another young man walked by. There were kids on the road as well.

The common factor among all these youths was the absence of masks. They were all not wearing masks.

It seemed as if they were oblivious to the danger posed by the virus.

Again, much like the youths who stood at the corner store at the Kinoya traffic lights on Thursday afternoon, sharing a cigarette, without masks, these youths were playing with fire.

The concern is whether they realised the danger they were throwing themselves into.

It is difficult to comprehend just what some of our youths are thinking about in the face of this pandemic.

Could it be that they are oblivious to safety advice? Or do they really care? Or could it be that they are just not aware of the implications of their actions?

It is unfortunate that this is the scenario we are forced to live with.

The challenge is on the powers that be to create the level of awareness that touches as many Fijians as possible.

That will mean focusing on how information is disseminated via every available platform, at times that strategically target the masses.

In the meantime, let’s stay on course. Let’s continue to adhere to COVID-19 safety advice.

Again we acknowledge all our frontliners. Thank you for the work that you do daily, and for your sacrifices. Let’s do the right thing, for ourselves, our loved ones and for our nation!