In a video from China, a Pakistani PhD student, Farhan, has dispelled some myths about the disease e.g., it doesn’t spread in hot weather, saying that it can slow down but doesn’t cancel the possibility; secondly, mortality rate of 2-2.5% is a myth which was achieved by China alone with unprecedented efforts and investment which every country can’t afford.
WRITER: Shazia Aziz
In a video from China, a Pakistani PhD student, Farhan, has dispelled some myths about the disease e.g., it doesn’t spread in hot weather, saying that it can slow down but doesn’t cancel the possibility; secondly, mortality rate of 2-2.5% is a myth which was achieved by China alone with unprecedented efforts and investment which every country can’t afford.
The spread is caused in three ways: being in contact with the infected; the infected person sneezing or coughing and another person touching the droplets caused by that present on any surface; the droplets can also stay in the air and others can catch them and be infected, hence the suggestion of blocking the mouth with sleeve while sneezing or coughing. In this scenario, wearing a mask is the most important thing.
Moreover, washing hands repeatedly; drinking warm water or drinks frequently in little quantities as a dry mouth can help the virus make a habitat in the throat; and the most essential is social distancing. Home is the safest place, and how you keep it safe is up to you. He further says if there are 5 people in the house, only one person needs to go out for grocery, etc. And once you are back, keep clothes and shoes separate for going out, wear a mask and change that dress outside home, discard the mask wasting it in a way it can’t be used again, wash clothes as soon as possible or hang them in the sun, leave the shoes on the gate; don’t meet family members before washing up and changing; don’t touch the door knob and the door.
Disinfect your car; don’t let strangers sit in your car. Instead of using public transport, walk to the shop or work place. When out, maintain six feet distance from other people. Breaking the chain is a must, try not to be part of the chain for the health of yourself, your family and the society.
He further says that the society can play the role that any governments can’t. One needs to cooperate with the government and also do whatever they can to prevent it in their surroundings. People aged 50 plus or those having another problem already need to be extra careful. Data from around the world shows the number of affected persons reaching from100 to thousands within a short span.
COVID-19 outbreak is a common global problem calling for social responsibility on the part of individuals, media personnel, institutions, states and statesmen alike. In fact, everyone whose actions can impact society has an obligation. Social responsibility entails entities to a duty to act for the good and welfare of society or community at large. It aims to ensure safe healthcare for the people and remove all barriers on the way to its achievement.
Social responsibility can take two forms: active and passive. An actively responsible individual performs activities that directly advance social goals and a passively responsible individual avoids engaging in socially harmful acts. It must also be intergenerational because one generation’s actions have consequences on the following generation(s) .
The first and foremost duty of all individuals is towards themselves and their family members, their domestic help and neighbours because this is also a step towards the common societal welfare in turn in these times of pandemic. Since the world is still struggling with the development of a vaccine and discovering a treatment for the disease which are not known yet, prevention is the most advisable strategy to combat the situation.
Along with acting upon these strategies, one needs to spread awareness among one’s dependents, domestic help and neighbors for common good. It is best to relieve the domestic help, drivers, and gardeners, etc. of their duties with pay so they can also act upon the social distancing without having to worry about going out for earning a living. This will help protecting at least two families by limiting contact. Those who can afford need to look for any poor family nearby or some daily wage earner(s) whose living is likely to suffer due to social distancing, and help them with necessary utility items and cash that can last for at least 3-4 weeks.
Confirmed patients need to be extra careful not only for themselves but their surroundings, too, because CVID-19 multiplies very rapidly, one carrier affecting an average of 2.6 persons according to the Chinese experts. Patient No. 31 in Korea is an example known to all whose carelessness caused thousands of cases declared positive. Unfortunately, Pakistan has also such cases of carelessness in different cities already. The moment one is detected positive, one needs to go in complete isolation for in it lies his own safety and the safety of those around him. This realization needs constant nudging through people having a voice on the mainstream media and social media, NGOs, educators, medical practitioners and politicians.
Spreading the right form of information among the general public and the uneducated is the responsibility of everyone having access to the resources of authentic knowledge and means of transferring it e.g., mainstream media can dedicate some hour for some awareness raising programs in which they telecast interviews of doctors, health care practitioners, and scientists who can inform the public regarding all sorts of preventive measures in an easy-to- understand language and also in indigenous languages as around 70% of our population is not literate.
The NGOs can come forward to develop content to be circulated among those having no access to the electronic media of any kind. PEMRA can make it mandatory for all private channels, too, to disseminate authentic information related to prevention strategies.
It is surprising that some daily morning shows on many channels have not made an iota of change in their content and are talking of the same makeup tips, dressing, style, fashion, etc. and not thinking of dedicating a few minutes of their air time to have a brief interview with a doctor or expert. This can be a good source of awareness for house wives whose day starts with these shows and who don’t have the time to read the newspaper or watch the tv at other times of the day. These housewives can in turn change the life style of their families and kids in a healthier way. Moreover, these morning shows have people coming from different backgrounds getting together for at least 2-3 hours for the shows which is also against the protective strategy of self-isolation and social distancing.
Doctors can record voice notes in indigenous languages for dissemination through WhatsApp. Newspapers can dedicate a small corner for easy to understand public service messages on the topic. Businesses need to keep masks and medicines available instead of hoarding them for profiteering later.
The Governments need to vigilantly watch over to prevent any misleading information from propagating. Social media users need to avoid spreading inauthentic news, non-serious memes and irrelevant stuff. Instead, they can also use this tool for spreading awareness.
Teachers and educators teaching from home need to spread awareness among their students. To this day, three individual cases and more than one hundred fleeing from the Sukhar quarantine in either a state of mass hysteria and paranoia or out of carelessness have been in circulation. One of the cases arriving from Spain bribed the airport staff and fled home causing his family members to be affected too; one lady in DHA Lahore is known to have been enjoying parties and gatherings despite being declared a positive case.
Perhaps it needs to be made clear to the public that staying in a quarantine does not mean a sure death but it is to ensure proper health care and to avoid the spread of the disease. This hysteria seems to be due to the fact that the number of deaths caused by the disease worldwide are more in circulation and the number of recovered cases is not being reported as widely. Awareness regarding all these facts and the purpose of keeping someone in a quarantine needs to be circulated widely among the masses in indigenous languages. The government needs to ensure the public that once in a quarantine, a patient will be taken good care of, so that the cases of run-away patients are curtailed at the earliest.
Learning lessons from China’s success story of combatting the disease within weeks, a complete lock down and breaking the cycle by human intervention is a must since Pakistan has entered Stage 3 seeing the number rising from 1 to around 700 in 4 to 5 weeks which can multiply to thousands (God forbid) if immediate caution is not practised.
The author is an Assistant Professor at COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus and can be reached at [email protected]
