All around us, the world is slowing down because of the coronavirus. As at Monday, March 23, 2020, there were worldwide travel restrictions and bans. On that day too, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a strict countrywide lockdown, initially for three weeks, which he said would be enforced by the police. People were told they could only shop for basic necessities, were limited to one form of exercise per day and could only travel for essential work, among other measures.
In the US, many businesses had closed, and people were working from home. As at Monday, the US had not yet announced a lockdown, but many believed that it was not far away. Over in Canada, on that same day, Ontario Premier Doug Ford closed all non-essential businesses and as other provinces began to report cases and deaths, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was himself in self-isolation, urged Canadians to go home and stay home, warning that the government could act to force them to do so.
Furthermore, after Canada and Australia pulled out of this year’s Olympics, the committee opted to postpone the games. Given the thousands of athletes and millions of spectators the Olympics draws, it would have been a petri dish for Covid-19, a virus that hardly needs one as it is thriving and spreading well enough on its own.
It is managing to do this because in nearly every country, more particularly those where the cases appear minimal and the deaths few, while there are warnings from government and health authorities, more people are ignoring rather than adhering to them. In short, people are being reckless and kidding themselves into believing one or more of three things: that they will not contract Covid-19; or will be sure to recover if they do; or that whatever they are out doing is of sufficient importance that they could ignore the warnings and guidelines. None of those three are true, though one hopes the future proves us wrong.
Here at home, Guyanese should be self-isolating, and exercising extreme caution, not only because of what we have heard and seen around the world but because of the facts on the ground. Here is what is known publicly, about the local situation. Guyana’s Patient Zero, the first known person to have tested positive and died of Covid-19 complications, had shortly before arrived in the country from the US. This establishes a few things: (1) she (it was a woman with underlying health conditions) had spent at least three hours in a busy international airport; (2) she had travelled at least five hours on an aircraft with perhaps more than 100 other people; (3) she had contact (shared space) with dozens more at the airport in Guyana; (4) she communed with friends and relatives and possibly shared space with more strangers before and after she fell ill. All of this was done before she was diagnosed with Covid-19.
The worst-case scenario, given the way this virus operates, is that many of those people mentioned above could have contracted it and then interacted with their family, friends, co-workers, clients and even strangers, who have since gone on to interact with others and so on. So even though the Ministry of Public Health gave assurances that they were able to contact 70 people who were on the flight with Patient Zero, they were only able to do so because they had their names and addresses and could not possibly reach everyone she had interacted with.
There is hope that not many people were infected, but hope is not certainty. And because nothing is certain as regards Covid-19 at this point, anyone not taking precautionary measures is being reckless. For example, large gatherings of any kind should cease immediately, including those for religious purposes; social distancing should be rigidly practised. Some businesses have already staggered staff and working hours, more need to do this as well as maintain pay scales; people have to live. Essential services workers should be provided with all that is needed to properly protect themselves and their families when they return home each day. A close eye should be kept on the prisons’ population; it might become necessary to institute a temporary suspension of visitation. It is imperative now that people do not go to the emergency rooms at hospitals for non-emergency services and use village clinics instead.
As at March 19, Guyana’s confirmed cases of Covid-19 were still in single digits; there had been just one death. No one should be waiting to see if those numbers rise before acting, since the virus is not an outside threat; it is already in the country. Given what came to pass in China and Italy, it would be best if Guyana were proactive. As we are wont to say here, ‘better safe than sorry’.