Ever since the first cases of COVID-19 came to the attention of the world late in 2019, the general tendency was to dismiss it as a ‘Chinese affair’ to which they would respond adequately. When the virus was discovered to have inherent characteristics of easy expansion, there was still not the right attitude towards such virus.
The world got all the guesses wrong we were later to discover. And every country had to swallow this bitter pill. Today we are all immersed in this global crisis, the worst since World War II, struggling to cope with it in a desperate attempt to avoid preventable devastation, not only in human life but also in economic terms.
So the case with our continent as well. It would now be a waste of time to regret the moves the world took as a whole not heeding properly the alarm raised by the very first doctor who later on expired as a candle having given all the light it could. Today, we can only pay the right tribute to this and other heroes in the medical profession who have sacrificed their precious and irreplaceable lives to honour their Hippocratic Oath. The initial wishful estimates that the virus might be confined somewhere in China or that it would any way be controlled without incurring big losses resulted to be only ‘wishful thinking’. Indeed, this invisible enemy had the characteristic of traveling fast and long across the globe; and it is now difficult to find a place where it has not landed. ‘How are we doing with this crisis in our country’ should be the focus of our thoughts.
Are we responding with the necessary steadfastness and wisdom to halt this virus? By now, we have realized that there are no cures against this ailment and what we need to focus on is prevention and mitigation of the consequences taking care of all those with the potential of contracting the virus in isolation. Experts advise us that this would at least stop the spread. ‘How much are we exposed to the virus’ is the other query we need to address.
This is frightening because the answer is that our way of life, by its very nature, exposes us defenselessly unless we are well disciplined and follow strictly the directives and guidelines issued by our medical authorities. Today, we may be priding to talk about less than a hundred cases of COVID-19 in Ethiopia. But, there are no guarantees that such number would not grow exponentially and embark in the thousands.
After all this is what we have repeatedly experienced in other nations and with better and more sophisticated medical facilities. It happened in a matter of weeks! If the rich could not cope with all the resources they have, how can we do it unless some sort of miracle prevents the repeating of the pattern we saw in the West.
That is why we must make full use of every minute, every second we have before we drift to a point of no return! Many people may be fond of hoping that this virus will go away ‘on its own’ by some sort of ‘divine miracle’. We did witness such wishful thinking even in the leaders of some great economic powers later on proved not only ill timed and ill-advised but also damaging. This is a grim lesson that politics should not interfere in the way of medicine or science and word should have been given to the epidemiologists and experts in the matter! Today, we have the chance not to repeat the same mistakes.
This is not a joke and there are no prearranged formulae that can defeat it when we want to. We know that there are a plethora of scientific researches on how to prepare a vaccine to defeat the virus. But we are advised not to hope to have it before at least a year. In the meantime, there is no doubt that it would reach too late for uncountable number of people! The nearly one hundred thousand fatalities of this virus will not see that day! And the number is bound to increase! What we should do now is insist on testing as per the recommendation of WHO authorities and persist on isolating the confirmed cases while preparing for the worst scenario. And to do that we need the full commitment and collaboration of each and every citizen.
The prime minister’s recent recommendation could not have come at a better juncture in our crusade against the virus. He warned we are in a war footing and we can win this only if we stand together and face the threat with disciplined behaviour. Everyone must feel and behave as a precious soldier in this battle and fight to save the country from this faceless and intangible enemy. It is here that we need the courage and resolve of Adwa, adopting the indomitable spirit experienced in that famous battle. At the same time, we need to up our support to those who may be threatened by the measures adopted to tackle the spread. We have millions of people who do not know where they will have their next meal and it is for these that we should stretch our hands and save the ship from drowning. We are their safety nets. Up to now, we have seen encouraging signs of commitment on the part of those who are well of. Their generosity is precious and irreplaceable and we will always be grateful to them. In time of need, they shall have done their duty.
Their response to the country’s call has been great and we admire their magnanimity. Indeed even foreign philanthropists such as Bill Gates and Jack Ma have expressed their solidarity with us with their generous donations. We do appreciate that wholeheartedly! Let us however all do our part in terms of limiting our exposure to the virus and limit its spread from contracting it to others. Every move we make must be calculated because there can be no one government body that can guarantee the right behaviour of each and every individual.
It is up to each one of us to be faithful to ourselves and our moral and ethical beliefs to save lives through our day to day responsible conduct. As we encourage and support the guidelines of the government in line with state of emergency rules, we should also respond by committing to solidarity with our compatriots. We must never underestimate the role of each person in this battle to defeat the virus. We need more and more solidarity in every effort we are advised to exert because we must all converge under one command, in strict discipline just as what the Chinese managed to do when the crisis first traumatized their life.
In a sense, in this time of difficulty, we must take full advantage of what we already know about the virus and we have the opportunity to use this information to the best of our benefits. In this process, we will have the support of many partners but without our discipline and consciousness the efforts will be vain. If we do not heed what the government tells us to do, if we do not follow what the health officials advise us to do, there will not be positive results and all the efforts will have been squandered and we will hardly find the way out of this vicious circle.
Health authorities recommend that at a time of such crisis only concerted moves in unison will help us out from the woods. Only the combined efforts of all of us will have some tangible results. As the coming days and weeks may not be the best of times, we must however be ready to face them without resorting to despair. Rather we should nourish hope that better days will come provided we act responsibly: keeping clean and social distancing and of course pray for the mercy of the Creator! His mercy could lead us to brighter days.
This we can do from the bottom of our hearts as we settle at home in solitude because such is the nature of the virus that our gathering serves it as breeding ground and fuel to the fire. In supporting one another we rescue the millions needing it in this historic and consequential time. This is the time that we are required to share what we have to save others as millions risk their lives even with the threats of famine. Each one of us has the golden opportunity to feel gratified by our action and be worthy citizens in the process of saving our country from uncalled for and tragic days. With discipline and commitment we can overcome COVID-19.
The Ethiopian Herald April 12/2020
BY FITSUM GETACHEW
