Pandemic Response: Taking Precaution Is Not Out Of Fear Or Negativity!
Apart from the still
fluctuating or increasing number of people testing COVID-19 positive across the
Indian states, primarily Delhi and a few others, there has also been a growth
of a sense of ‘false positivity’ in the response of the people to the pandemic.
We had seen in an earlier piece about that surge of defiance in citizens to
celebrate Diwali the usual normal way. This ‘surge of defiance’ is somewhat
related to what we have said about that sense of false positivity. After more
than eight months of paying subservience to the sticky virus people now seem to
say and act accordingly, ‘No, enough is enough! No more slavery to the goddamned
virus! We’ll do now whatever we feel like. We are least likely to be infected
as we are positive about it, and if we do get infected, let it be!’
If fellow citizens
around them insist on observing the norms like at least wearing masks they rule
it out scornfully, ‘Don’t be scared, guys! Be positive, nothing will happen to
you!’ If an elderly person feels hesitant to go the markets because of
overcrowding members of his/her family would scoff, ‘Don’t continue living in
fear! It’s been nearly a year now! Please go fearlessly out and please, don’t
give us that negativity again! Nothing is going to happen to you, and if
something does happen, we’ll take perfect care of you!’
Therefore,
unfortunately, if you insist on taking precautions or refuse to go to the
public places without any urgent necessity or decide to continue sitting at
home you’d be labeled as someone in the throes of a numbing fear or transmitting
waves of negative energy all around. This sense of false positivity is an
extremely dangerous sentiment, because if this gets fully translated at the macro
level the fight against the pandemic would be compromised and weakened. Sitting
at home without having any urgent reason of going out or wearing masks and maintaining
physical distance or refusing to have food out etc. are all genuine and
righteous precautions, taken with a positive frame of mind. Going to a restaurant
without any necessity is foolhardiness, and walking out in a hurry leaving a
half-eaten plate there is fear. Be positive in the right way to prevent being tested
COVID-19 positive.
The necessity of having
a positive frame of mind is all the more important at this delicate juncture of
the fight against the Coronavirus, because fluctuations in numbers are still continuing
that may indicate a turn for the worse again. Delhi has been suffering from the
so-called third wave perhaps entirely due to this sense of false positivity
which may have prompted the Delhi government take unlocking measures in a hurry.
Delhi’s COVID-19 positivity rate is currently the highest at over 12%. Except for
Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the consistency of falling numbers is lacking in
most other states. Maharashtra, the worse affected state, had recorded
wonderfully low numbers of daily infections at around 2500 in recent days, but
the numbers have again surged to over 5000 as of today. Daily infections are
still very high in Kerala and West Bengal while the situation continues to be
volatile in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Haryana.
As observed in USA
and Europe a second wave is also being anticipated in India, and states like
Maharashtra are preparing well for any such occurrence. The scenario in India
is more vulnerable because of the festive season violations, increasing pollution
levels, reducing numbers of testing across the states, the ensuing winter and
of course, the sense of defiance or false positivity in the minds of the people.
As per the latest indications a safe vaccine is almost within reach now with at
least one vaccine getting ready for mass distribution by early next year. People
must not lose their patience till that golden hour. To finally conquer the
pandemic combined will is of utmost necessity.
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