Waltzing with virus

Saturday 29th January, 2022

Sri Lankans have earned notoriety for living dangerously. They drive and ride like bats out of hell and keep the Grim Reaper busy on roads; about 200 people have already been killed in road accidents since 01 Jan 2022! They eat, drink and smoke as if they had a death wish, and non-communicable diseases are snuffing out many lives daily. They have already forgotten the pandemic!

The Omicron variant of coronavirus is galloping, as we have reported, quoting public health experts. About 90 percent of the ICU beds allocated for Covid-19 patients are already occupied, and pandemic treatment centres are faced with the prospect of a capacity crunch. At this rate, the day may not be far off when the health system is overwhelmed, again.

Sri Lankans do not seem to care two hoots about the spread of the pandemic, maybe due to the fact that there has been no corresponding increase in the death toll as such, and the widely-held misconception that one is safe after being double-jabbed. Misinformation that anti-vaxxers are relentlessly propagating via the electronic bush telegraph aka social media has also led to the prevailing booster dose hesitancy among some members of the public. One of the false claims being aggressively propagated is that vaccines cause infertility. Medical experts have blown this myth sky-high, but some elements are busy repeating the lie.

Consultant physician Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama, who is at the forefront of the country’s battle against Covid-19, has expressed serious concern about the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. Many health experts have done likewise. They know how the runaway virus behaves and the dangers it poses. When such medical professionals speak, people must listen if disaster is to be averted.

What has been saving lives from the pandemic is science and nothing else, and it is to scientists and health experts that people should listen. All Sri Lankans are vaccinated against various diseases within the first few months of birth, and vaccines are protecting them against deadly bugs; their fear of Covid-19 vaccine booster dose is therefore totally unfounded. After all, they waited in long queues to receive the first two doses of the vaccine, a few moons ago, when they feared for their lives, and there is absolutely no reason why they should not get booster shots as well.

There is no guarantee that the Omicron variant will be less dangerous than Delta, the WHO has warned. There is also the danger of far more dangerous variants of coronavirus emerging with the passage of time. Hence, health experts’ call for urgent measures to curb the spread of the pandemic, which continues to throw up new challenges and surprises. Why the government hesitates to adopt tough measures to ensure public compliance with health regulations defies comprehension.

It looks as if the government itself had been lulled into the mistaken belief that vaccines alone could ward off coronavirus and there is no need to enforce quarantine laws strictly. Health sector trade unions claim that there has been a drop in tests conducted daily to trace new infections. The need for aggressive testing cannot be overemphasised; the virus cannot be contained effectively unless accurate data is made available to health professionals.

Quarantine laws must be strictly enforced, as Public Health Inspectors have pointed out. Blunders that led to a couple of crippling lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 must not be repeated. What we have gained from the country’s successful vaccination drive, for which the government, health workers and the armed forces deserve credit, will be lost in case of a steep rise in the death toll. Pandemic deaths usually come in dribs and drabs first, and then there occurs a geometric increase therein with mortuaries overflowing, crematorium furnaces melting due to overheating, and funeral pyres being lit in parks and other public spaces.