THE SECOND WAVE

When the number of cases started to decline, people found a ray of hope that the pandemic is receding. But, the grey clouds of the second wave obscured their hope. According to BBC \”There can be no doubt the second wave is now well and truly here. What remains to be seen is just how bad it will be.\” There could be various reasons behind this renewed surge such as people travelling extensively, temperature going down, colleges reopening, increasing interactions in closed spaces, etc. Though none of them is conclusive but one thing we\’re sure about is that the virus has not gone anywhere, even when the numbers decline. 

WHAT NEXT?

There is no shred of doubt that nations won\’t been in a lockdown again, after the devastating effects on their economies the previous time around. It would be better if we make peace with the fact that the Coronavirus is here to stay and learn to live with the virus. Look at Australia, it could avoid a major surge during the southern hemisphere winter because of much better compliance with wearing masks. Living with COVID-19 means we\’ve to ensure that everyone complies with current preventive measures including face masks, social distancing, hand washing, testing and self isolation. It also depends on shielding and supporting the most vulnerable in the society.

We have to maintain the social responsibility by building trust between governments and communities. This can be facilitated through community-based organizations, local leaders and social activists. We have to give emphasis on the social sciences, on data collection and on the translation of the findings into practice.

What if Coronavirus is just an alarm and more severe outbreaks may follow?

The conditions that may have led to the development of COVID-19 still persist in many countries. Outbreaks like these will continue to have a devastating impact on people´s health and on national economies unless we invest in strong, effective and well funded public health systems. For now, until science pulls out it\’s big guns and has a vaccine ready, we might as well spend time with our loved ones and most importantly have time for ourselves. Something the virus might be telling us behind all this chaos.