Working from home, I intuitively decided to pay my homage to those gallant health professionals, the police and the armed forces, security personnel, media reporters, vehicle drivers who are laboring from dawn to dusk to grab lives out of the jaws of COID-19 virus selflessly risking their lives.
Under normal circumstances, these professionals work on the schedule allotted to each one of them as part of their routine duties. Under the circumstances created by the virus however, they work with no time framework spending a huge amount of time at the bedsides of their patients leaving behind their families, following up on their status while providing them with standard treatments.
While the police in urban and rural areas of the country are busy enforcing the proclamation on the state of emergency and tracking down on criminals to bring them to the courts of law, our armed forces stationed in outback and border areas monitoring our borders which are mostly porous and vulnerable to the encroachments of non-respondent carriers of the COVID-19 virus clandestinely entering the country.
Journalists from various media outlets in the country reporting from spots where the rules
of social distancing are consistently violated are definitely taking risks while providing information to the public.
Drivers in public transport systems are also taking risks associated with the tricky nature of the virus. Frontline service providers in telecommunications and those engaged in postal delivery services are also vulnerable to the COVID-19 as they an accidentally catch the virus in their accidental close contact with clients.
Our volunteers, donors in the private sector, Ethiopians and citizens of Ethiopian origin in the diaspora and our international development partners who have continued to support the country in fighting the virus need to be accorded with the highest level of praise and honor.
Heroes in our national health service are also fighting against some unfounded myths surrounding the spread of COVID-19 which stipulate that the virus cured by use of some types of food spices and additives adding that the virus cannot exist in areas with hot climatic conditions. In addition, the NHS professionals also warn against the catastrophic disaster that can result from negligence and care free life style that could result in unprecedented health hazards.
The public needs to draw lessons from the selflessness of our frontline heroes and their
dedication to fight the spread of the virus right up to the end. They have already set a standard upon which all those involved in other sectors should act not only to ensure the victory against the virus but also on the pace of fulfilling the planned development programs of the country.
The NHS personnel are indeed active in the top most priority area for the country and I think everyone should follow suit in their footsteps by exhibiting the highest level of tenacity in the nation’s development programs.
It is very difficult to foretell the exact period of time when the effects of COVID-19 virus would eventually subside but it is now clear that no section of the Ethiopian society and no part of our daily livelihood would remain untouched. It is therefore necessary to expect the worst case scenario before the spread of the virus will hit the plateau and gradually take a downward direction before it would level up.
The current reversal in politicizing on the effects of the virus is a dangerous reversal in focus from the urgent tasks of fighting the virus and striving to complete the GERD as two urgent national priorities. This is the time in which the national commitment of each political party is put to test. If these parties do not play their historical role in helping to
resolve the nation’s multi-faceted problems today, what miracle are they expected to preform if they happen to win political power in the forthcoming election? How can they get public trust and confidence to ascertain the sovereignty of the peoples of Ethiopia if they do not act in unison today? I think the interest of the peoples of Ethiopia and their constitutional rights would prevail over the desires of the political parties in this country.
Our economists who are expected to play a vanguard role in drawing out the implications of the proliferation of the virus need to come up with recommendations that are sector oriented and chart out viable solutions to be applied in the context of the economics of disaster mitigation.
I salute our educators in the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science and Higher Education for the efforts they are making to fill the gap created by social distancing in the fight against COVID-19 virus by promoting online education because the future begins today.
As a citizen, I appeal to all concerned citizens to cool down their rhetoric and polemics and focus on actions demanded to effectively fight against COVID-19 virus.
The Ethiopian Herald May 6/2020
BY SOLOMON DIBABA
