Since the last two weeks the number of Covid cases have suddenly gone up. The surge is due to several factors, one of which is the entry of the highly infectious Omicron variant of the Coronavirus. While medical experts have said that this variant does not cause serious illness requiring hospitalisation this is no cause for relaxing Covid protocols. Times without number it has been stated that vaccination, especially double vaccination is protective in that while it cannot prevent infection it can reduce the severity of the disease. However, what is troubling about Meghalaya is the resistance to vaccination. As of January 6 only about 26 % of Meghalaya’s population has been doubly vaccinated and about 35% have been vaccinated with a single dose. This still leaves out more than half of the population from the vaccination regimen. Many argue that they still got Covid after being doubly vaccinated. Such arguments are contentious because the person making such a statement might not be alive if he/she had not been doubly vaccinated. In any case there was no claim made that vaccination would prevent infection. Vaccination is only a preventive measure.
With the rise in numbers of Covid infection the Government would be called upon to take some steps to ensure that it does not run out of hospital beds, oxygen-connected beds and ICU beds. But this does not warrant a lock-down. That in fact should be the last resort since lockdowns cause immense economic pressure which affects those at the lowest economic rung. Hence declaring a lockdown without due brainstorming and getting the views of community-run institutions is unwarranted. It has been observed that this time around most Covid positive individuals were not so severely affected and were treated at home but with due precautions, following which they recovered.
These experiences must be used to weigh the containment measures undertaken by the government. It has been reiterated by the World Health Organisation and our own national health missions that masking, social distancing and hand sanitising are hugely preventive measures. If these three important protocols are observed by all across the economic spectrum we can expect to beat the Omicron virus. For that to happen, the community-run institutions, including faith-based ones, must come forward and take it upon themselves to urge the community within their jurisdiction to maintain the protocols strictly. It cannot be left to the government to implement the protocols since there is not enough manpower to do so. Individual and collective responsibility will go a long way in containing the spread of Covid be it the Omicron or any other variant.
