APA: WE ARE BACK TO SQUARE ONE AND BEYOND

 I HATE to be right on something so wrong. I really hoped we would have not gotten here, but we did.  And clearly we are in for a very busy, very serious, very bumpy and deadlier ride. It was for this exact same reason that I had a series entitled “APA HOW TO ANNIHILATE THE THIRD WAVE.”  The aim was to warn so we could not get here, but we did just that. The acronym APA, A stood for Anticipate, P for  Prepare and the last A for Avoid the third wave. Under anticipation I had cited some “inevitables” among them super spreader events like the August 12 campaign rallies which have since been called off owing to the current overwhelming Covid-19 situation. Despite what one’s political affiliation is, I think for the benefit of the greater good, this is the best way to go for now. Secondly, the cold was also anticipated as it always comes and it is here registering its force of nature. This is just the beginning of June wonder what the rest of our winter holds. The cold is a good environment for the spread of respiratory infections, the common cold and flus are very common during this period and so is  the probability of the spread of SARSCOV2 ,the virus that causes Covid-19 high. To prepare we had to do it from the global level to continental, to regional, to national and finally at individual level. How well prepared you are as an individual is personal ,keeping fit and staying health  including  vaccination were advised as  part of  preparation. Then finally if we had done well with the first A, anticipate and P, prepare we were going to achieve the last A, avoid, which means we could have avoided the third wave  but unfortunately we did everything else not to avoid it. We have sailed the ship right into the trough of the third wave.ANOTHER TROJAN HORSE We have become so relaxed, and up to now most people still don’t take things seriously, people still don’t mask up, most are still drinking and partying as usual and yet others are dying.  Cleary the virus SARSCOV2 did another modern dayTrojan horse on us. Whether or not the story is just a mere myth or it really happened as some believe, whatever the case, the lesson is very relevant in our situation and we got a lot to learn from it. Though somehow the lesson may be a bit too late for us. The Trojan horse was a wooden horse used by the Greeks, during the Trojan war, to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The story is told that after a fruitless 10-year siege, the Greeks at the behest of Odysseus constructed a huge wooden horse and hid a select force of men inside, including Odysseus himself. The Greeks pretended to sail away, and the Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy. That night the Greek force crept out of the horse and opened the gates for the rest of the Greek army, which had sailed back under cover of night. The Greeks entered and destroyed the city of Troy, ending the war. Metaphorically, a “Trojan horse” has come to mean any trick or stratagem that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected bastion or place. A malicious computer programme that tricks users into willingly running it is also called a “Trojan horse” or simply a “Trojan.” Similarly, just like before the deadly second wave we just recovered from, Covid-19 again seemed to have had faded away giving a false sense of victory to many who then just loosened up their guard. There was no more masking, no more social distancing, no more news about Covid-19.  It was considered gone, in spite some of us always blowing the warning sirens, all just fell on deaf ears. Like the Trojans we had premature celebrations in the process allowing our enemy in our fortress and now we are dancing to his tune within our own territories. Indeed we are back to ambulances flying with sirens in all directions rushing to Covid centres that are now filled up with very sick patients with most on oxygen. Surely, those in the centres are way more than those outside. We are back to many crying “I can’t breathe,” back to wearing full PPEs, we are back to having no social life, we are back to restrictions which may even get tight as cases keep soaring. We are back to losing many. We are back to regular updates and daily news on Covid-19.  We are back to the time we were when Covid-19 had just begun but just this time around it is worse. SITUATION COULD STILL GET WORSE Currently, the number of infections are  increasing rapidly and so are the mortalities .In just a few weeks we have seen so many patients  bringing the cumulative total over 100, 000.  If we don’t make amends in the way we conduct ourselves, we are going to lose a lot more precious souls. We will lose our friends, our relatives, our workmates, our enemies, our loved ones and indeed even ourselves. Yes, we may not know everything about the virus but one thing we know is how it spreads and we also know how to prevent it. Please let us act now. We can do this, please share the information and warning to the person next to you. Kindly ask them to maintain a reasonable physical distance, kindly show them how to mask up properly, making sure the nose is fully covered. Please kindly encourage them to observe hand hygiene, to wash their hands with soap or an alcohol-based sanitiser at least for 20 seconds. Please let us fight together. The situation is critical at the moment, Covid centres are slowly getting overstretched with new ones being opened. But we can only go so far. We may be stretched to our limit and then can’t stretch no more. I wonder what would happen when we can’t open any extra centres to nurse the critical ones, when numbers shall seriously overwhelm us, when the “frontliners” would become fatigued and  burned out.  We are really going in a dangerous valley and very fast.  It could surely could get worse unless we all team up and fight back as a united front. The best way to win this fight is to look beyond our differences of sex, gender, race, politics, status, religious beliefs etcetera. Remember we got only one country to really call home. One Zambia One Nation One love. UNTIL THEN, ALUTA CONTINUA, THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES. PLEASE MASK UP PROPERLY. IF YOUR MASK IS NOT COVERING YOUR NOSE, PLEASE THROW IT AWAY. (DR. MASUWA 2021). *OBSERVE HAND HYGIENE. *OBSERVE REASONABLE PHYSICAL DISTANCE, PLEASE THIS IS NO TIME FOR CLUBS AND PARTIES. AND BECAUSE YOU CARE, PLEASE KINDLY SHARE.