A lot of theories have been propounded to explain this covid-19 situation. While some people believe it is one of those natural disasters that occur by happenstance, others believe that it was actually masterly planned, designed, fabricated and released with an underlying mission. While I don’t have enough evidence to argue in favor of any of these opinions, I also don’t have enough evidence to refute the other.
What seems clear though is that there is something that doesn’t add up, which means that something is not being told, either by the people who claim to know better or those who should know better. The more questions we ask the more questions we raise. There is something that doesn’t fly with the way we are going about this virus, which has given certain persons the impetus to call it a plandemic. I didn’t know there was a word like that until this global lockdown. Webster dictionary needs to add it when next they update.
Epidemiological events are defined in terms of person, place and time. Usually we want to know ‘who is affected?’, ‘where?’ and ‘when?’; leading to what could be described as outbreaks, epidemics, endemics or pandemics. They differ in magnitude, severity, spread and duration.
An outbreak is the sudden increase in the number of cases of a disease in a place or area; when the disease spreads within an area over a short time period or the number of cases is higher than expected and gets out of control so to speak in that locality or region we now have an epidemic. An epidemic can become a pandemic when it gets a passport and travels abroad (global). So it is geographical spread that turns an epidemic (local) into a pandemic (global). When the disease gets permanent residence (green card) and now domiciled in a place or the new place it has traveled to, we have endemic. Outbreak can as well happen from endemic situations, when the number of cases exceed what would otherwise be expected. So an epidemic ( and a pandemic) can become endemic if it stays perpetually, so to speak. The question is, ‘how do we measure perpetuity? After how long do we now consider a disease endemic vs epidemic? How long does it take an illegal immigrant to get green card? You get my drift?
When you have a new disease emerge in the society like corona did, it is like when armed robbers show up in your house unannounced. What do you do? The initial rush of adrenaline means you ‘fight or flight’. Sometimes you take off running and then decide that it is better to fight. I think that is the best way to describe what we have done with corona virus. Because we were not prepared, we didn’t know how to respond. Even the medical experts still don’t agree on the best way to tackle this enemy. The clinicians seem to have done more of experimentation than actually treating patients because they didn’t quite know what would work in every situation. Chances are that certain persons actually died of the wrong treatment regimen than from the corona virus itself.
By this time I believe that the rush of adrenaline is no longer at its peak. The medics now have some idea of what does not work especially those at the front lines that have seen people die even when they did what they thought would work. In emergency situation we don’t have time to wait for the results of clinical trials next year before we can save a life right now. Do you see chaos at its peak here? Some people said Azithromycin and Hydroxychloroquine work while others who have the microphone said the claim is anecdotal. The man who is sick said give me the anecdotal drug anyways. When you have the disease, even bitter leaf water will taste like beer in your mouth…you do anything to get some relief. Prayer also goes a long way too.
Whether this is plandemic or pandemic is not our concern now, but we need to plan for the next ‘whateverdemic’. Preparedness is key. Did you see how corona destabilized even the organized and advanced health systems? Can you now imagine the situation in Nigeria where budget for health is a joke and where leaders would steal all the money that should have been budgeted for health. How much did Nigeria spend in London to treat Buhari for 104 days? How many hospitals would that have built and equipped in Nigeria? If you calculate all the money spent in medical tourism by Nigerian politicians in one year, then you wonder if we actually live in 2020 or we are aliens that came from some wild zoo. How could we spend so much more money on individuals than we spend on the entire country. How do we not know that health and education take priority over other sectors? In Nigeria, those are the most neglected sectors because we let people that have no clue rig themselves into public offices. What a shame!
If corona becomes endemic what is our plan going forward? If we could hardly survive one month of lockdown, what is the plan going forward? What if Toyota virus hits harder than corona? Do we have a plan for the next ‘demic’ (sounds like demonic)?
Have we evaluated how the economy will survive a protracted lockdown? Those of us who are one paycheck away from bankruptcy, how are we going to survive the dual jeopardy of corona virus and hunger virus? What is happening to our body immune system while we hide and eat without getting out and about our usual activities? What is the impact of all these on mental health of the community? What about obesity, stress level, anxiety and depression?
We need the health economists to do cost-benefit analysis for us on this corona lockdown and see if they agree with me that we need to open back the economy and deal with corona as it comes. We need to take immune boosting supplements, eat healthy, exercise regularly, practice basic hygiene but go back to work. If corona is like any other virus, it will kill some people but the vast majority of people will beat it. If you have symptoms you quarantine and get help. We cannot let corona destroy us out of fear. We know a few places that did not lockdown and they have not all died of corona either. While the lockdown was one approach to it as it came upon us like a thief in the night, it is time to review the lockdown order in the light of the experiences of the last few months and the impact on other aspects of life and human existence. What is your opinion on this?
Hopefully we will all survive the coronavirus onslaught even though it will change our approach to a lot of things going forward. Be safe and have a blessed weekend.
Mezie Okolo is an Analyst, Epidemiologist and Pharmacist at www.mezieokolo.com