Tough personal choices critical in fight against Covid-19
COMMUNITIES and individuals now need to make tough personal choices on where to go and what to prioritise as the Covid-19 pandemic ravages nations across the globe.
While it might sound brutal and averse to the situation Zimbabwe and other nations find themselves in, surviving or succumbing to Covid-19 in most cases is now a personal decision that people need to make as new Covid-19 deaths and new infections sweep across the land.
People now need to take responsibility of the choices they make on a daily basis and protect their families, loved ones and the communities they live in.
Covid- 19 deaths have been on the rise in the last two weeks, amid a growing concern of a surge in numbers of new infections as the globe battles the third deadly wave.
Africa has recorded a 43 percent week- on- week rise in Covid- 19 deaths, as hospital admissions continue to increase rapidly.
Early this week, President Mnangagwa made a passionate plea to all Zimbabweans to come together to defeat the invisible enemy that has left a trail of destruction across the country and beyond the borders.
To date, 2 750 people have succumbed to Covid-19 in Zimbabwe, while more than 87 000 have tested positive.
The global picture is equally depressing where more than 4,1 million people succumbed to Covid-19, with 191 million having tested positive.
Unlike the previous two waves, the Delta variant is decimating populations at an alarming rate, not only in Zimbabwe, but across the world.
Already, the Delta variant, which is currently the most transmissible of all variants, has been detected in 21 African countries, while the Alpha variant is in 35 countries and the Beta variant in 30.
Countries that seemingly appeared to be out of the woods, after carrying out successful inoculation campaigns and throwing caution to the wind, are now under siege from the Delta variant.
The United Kingdom reported a whopping 48 161 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, more than any other country in the world, just one day before the country was set to pull all of its pandemic restrictions despite rising infections.
Human behaviour has become a critical force in the fight against Covid-19.
Without the change in attitudes, how communities socialise, what they are willing to discard such as huge funeral gatherings, clandestine church meetings and gatherings, millions more will succumb to Covid-19.
At the rate at which Covid- 19 is ravaging the globe, no nation in the world will be able to control it by increasing hospital beds, buying state- of- the- art ventilators and pouring millions into building more health facilities to absorb the numbers.
Although critical in the times that we find ourselves in, such measures are temporary and might not be the solution that the world needs right now.
If indeed well equipped hospitals were a panacea to curb the virulent various strains of Covid- 19 confronting the world today, developed countries would not be recording four-digit figures of fatalities daily.
Such stark reality calls for personal decisions by each one of us top stop the further spread of Covid-19 through adhering to World Health Organisations regulations, if we are to save this generation from catastrophic consequences.
Masking up, sanitising, avoiding gatherings and isolating when sick or having tested positive for Covid19 are some of the regulations that, sadly, some people have not been adhering to.
Community members, therefore, need to be responsible for their safety during the surge of Covid-19. Government can only give support, regulations and protocols to all its citizens and ensure there is enough medication and vaccinations to further protect the nation.
The Government has been doing all it can albeit with limited resources to insulate its citizens against the impact of Covid-19.
It has been running a successful inoculation programme where more than one million people have so far received their second jabs, as the Government moves with haste to attain herd immunity by the end of the year.
It is also making concerted efforts to get more vaccinations to cater for more people that may want to be vaccinated.
Such efforts should be complemented by community and individ
ual decisions to reduce the spread of Covid-19, by adhering to existing lockdown regulations and also making the right personal choices, on associations, living habits and exercising personal hygiene in the process.
It is sad and very disturbing to note that a lot of people are still attending funerals in their numbers, in violation of the current rules that only allows 30 mourners.
As a result funerals have become a super spreaders of the virus, where more people are also succumbing to Covid-19, soon after attending a funeral of a loved one.
Last year, the Government said all deaths would now need to be treated as Covid-19-related deaths, hence the need to be cautious.
While it is considered unAfrican not to attend funerals of relatives and loved ones, that era that we are, requires one to exercise caution, due diligence and vigilance if communities are to survive the consequential effects.
On the other hand, several parents are also sending their children to attend extra lessons in defiance of the Government directive to temporarily halt forthwith any academic exercises.
One’s personal decision to send their child for to extra lessons will
consequential have a collective bearing on the family, community and ultimately the nations.
Where the nation and the globe find itself at now requires collective action and collective solidarity around Covid-19 to ensure that everyone is insulated against its impact.
Modern health policy leans demonstrably towards public health interests over those of individuals, and if the individual’s rights affect everyone else, the Government should call to order people bent on throwing everyone in a health mess, as the nation continues to witness.
Through personal and wrong decisions, several people continue to violate existing Covid-19 rules, and we therefore call on the Government to step in and stop the further spread of the disease by such reckless people.
It has become necessary to clamp down on those who flaunt the law while the rest of the country abides by it, to ensure that principles like justice and equality across the Zimbabwean society do not also succumb to Covid-19.
It is critical to always remember that we are not safe until everyone else is safe.
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