Birds on top of a tree will sing their melodies when the tree is cut, their joy is cut short when the tree finally falls. First, it was all memes, funny video clips and jokes on social media. Many ignored and took it lightly with a lot of sarcasm calling it a ‘Wuhan virus. Little was known that the virus would later shake the world and create so much panic.
Since the first case of COVID -19 in China, the disease has spread like bush fire across the globe. Four months down the line COVID-19 is in more than 147 countries with thousands of people infected and its panic is spreading more than the disease.
Kenya confirmed its first coronavirus case on Friday 13th March 2020 and up to now, the number has risen to seven.
Kenyans should not panic but be courageous and never lose their faith despite the circumstances.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. The Kenyan government has taken several bold steps among them, the lockdown of its borders, self-quarantine for people who jetted into the country in the past two weeks, suspension of learning in all institutions, employees working from home, use of cashless transactions, avoiding congregations and crowds as well as the provision of soap, water, and sanitizers in hospitals, malls and places of worship.
The impact has been felt across the country. The usual traffic jam and congestion of Kenyan people in the cities and towns has decreased tremendously. Our culture of shaking hands and hugging has been buried and most people have kept social distance to avoid contracting the monster COVID-19.
Kenyans are now living like strangers and people in matatus are avoiding each other like plague each person treating their neighbor suspiciously.
The economy is slowly dying and what lies ahead is unbearable as most of the Kenyan population live hand to mouth hence the work from home will render many jobless.
People have resulted in spreading misconceptions about COVID-19 claiming that; there is a vaccine, people can protect themselves by gurgling salty water, it’s a biological weapon created and deliberately released, drinking alcohol helps prevent the contraction, black people are immune and it only old people contract. All these are false, and the following are the facts of COVID-19; It has no vaccine neither can it be prevented by gurgling salty water nor drinking alcohol, all humans are at risk of contracting it regardless of race and age.
The health of citizens is a priority of every nation and the threat of COVID -19 is affecting governments globally. People are living with immense fear uncertain of what might befall them. COVID -19 is an exceptional circumstance for our country, but it also provides us with an exceptional opportunity to demonstrate the strength and resilience of our national co-ordination frameworks, to fine-tune our respective responses to emergencies, and to consider as well how we might share the economic burdens being felt amidst both private and public sectors to ensure that our country is sustained long after COVID-19 has run its course.
It has no vaccine neither can it be prevented by gurgling salty water nor drinking alcohol, all humans are at risk of contracting it regardless of race and age.
Kenyans should not panic but be courageous and never lose their faith despite the circumstances. Nothing is permanent in this world and even COVID-19 will come to pass. Citizens ought to adhere to the directives given by the government and always have hope that just as we defeated colonialism, ignorance polio among other challenges that befell us in the past, even this shall be overcome.