Watch out! Don’t stand up at death’s door! This message is being conveyed following what this writer encountered once during a journey to Ayer Tenna, Addis Ababa. One Saturday Morning, a person who didn’t wear face mask got into a taxi in which I was traveling for visiting my aunt. He was seated by my side.
Contemplating for a while to whom my words can be appropriately thrown, I spoke to the driver or the broker simultaneously perhaps, why do you permit unmasked persons to enjoy travelling by taxi?
Both of them didn’t dare reply to my request as I was absolutely right to entreaty so. Instead the man himself answered back me and said, “Are you paid for this?” I simply, kept quiet and continued traveling thinking that a person didn’t have a facemask, probably. Look! How blunt some of us are! Is there any association with my being paid and curiousness to protect myself and my fellow citizens in that taxi?
Fortunately, the taxi landed two persons at the vicinity of a place where few boys were selling face masks. I then tipped the man to buy one, if he didn’t have money even I was ready to provide him with some money, and he bought and made his face masked.
It is not a matter of preaching about a certain religion or introducing the manifesto of a given political party; rather mine was a precaution siren to save and get others saved. This might be the case of many, too, I think.
No one knows when they can be infected and get bed ridden and booked for good. All people must at least understand the ugly feature of the disease. If we take the case of HIV/AIDS, it is well known that where people contract it. I don’t think there is a single person who can tell me where the virus specifically is situated. No! It’s unknown where it is concealed, be it in the air or in the soil or on trees or materials for different purposes.
Be that as it may, if on one knows where the virus is housed, and it is an air carried one, one can easily guess where the virus can hibernate. It is simply in congested places, cluttered aspects, and gatherings. In simple terms, places where more than three or four people are available are potentially presumed to be hub of the virus. These areas include: bus stations with long queues or public transport centers, health facilities such as clinics, stations and hospitals, market places, hotels and restaurants, banks be they’re public-owned or private ones, though the latter is a bit better, elderly centers, prisons, areas with shanty houses accommodating crowded population and the likes.
Are tying a piece of rag to properly conceal mouth and nose and washing hands before and after taking meal difficult tasks? I am always worried about reckless individuals and groups who consider themselves as peculiar creatures not to be swallowed by the unseen tiger.
Being reckless is not being modernized. It is not clear for me in what language and how many times people have to be told to take care of themselves and their family members. Precautions are not properly taken at present as they received due attention at the very day of the outbreak of the pandemic.
Has a family member to die to take all the possible precautions to prevent from an air borne lung bandit? No Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a highly transmittable virus that indiscriminately continues to disrupt livelihoods of the society.
In Ethiopia, more specifically in the capital—Addis Ababa—a sudden increase in the number of confirmed positive cases in high-risk groups of the community has been observed. Therefore, everyone has to be well aware of and purely know, practice and associate factors that can contribute to the prevention of the pandemic.
Unless people are being reckless and turn a deaf ear to the pandemic, the majority of the population has developed moderate knowledge about transmission modes and prevention mechanisms. Especially these days, there is an urgent need to fill the knowledge gap in terms of transmission mode and prevention methods of COVID-19 to improve prevention practices and control the spread of the epidemic.
Most importantly, it should be well comprehended that coronavirus is a group of bugs that cause illnesses ranging from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus to the most recent novel coronavirus, currently known as COVID-19 virus. It has indiscriminately been claiming a number of lives.
Fever, dry cough, fatigue, and multiple systemic illnesses including respiratory one are reportedly its very symptoms. On the other hand, poor hand hygiene practices; overcrowding and close physical contacts like handshaking contribute to the fast spread of the virus within a very short period.
The global community is struggling to slow down and eventually halt the spread of COVID-19 that has claimed thousands of lives and sickened tens of thousands through improving the knowledge and practice of COVID-19 prevention methods, testing and screening. Implementing personal hygiene and public health interventions especially in priority high-risk groups is necessary to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Therefore, enhancing the community’s knowledge and practice of COVID-19 symptoms and prevention methods will have a significant contribution to reduce the spread of the outbreak. Hand washing with soap and water followed by avoiding touching your nose, mouth and eyes with unwashed hands, the use of face mask/tissue when coughing or sneezing and wearing a clean surgical mask during their respiratory illness as the prevention methods for COVID-19.
Ethiopia has showed a high commitment to prevent and slow down the COVID-19 pandemic before it causes significant health damages and an economic crisis in the community. Controlling the spread of infection in high-risk groups must be the target in the containment strategy of COVID-19 responses.
BY MENGESHA AMARE
The Ethiopian Herald May 18/2021
