WE HAVE OPENED PANDORA’S BOX – AND ARE NOW FLIRTING WITH DEATH

I REALLY don’t know where to start with this article just as much as I don’t know where to end with it because it’s clear we have crossed the red line, opened the forbidden Pandora’s box and are now just at the mercy of its deadly contents. I have been working with Covid-19 patients since last year in April, 2020, have worked in all the major Covid centres within Lusaka – Levy Mwanawasa, The University Teaching Hospital, Maina Soko Military Hospital (MSMH) and now the New Heart Hospital (NHH). I have been actively involved during the peaks of the first and second waves were I witnessed the loss of so many precious souls. However, nothing is like what we are experiencing this time around, it’s like it’s the first time to be in a Covid centre, like the first time we are facing the pandemic and yet it is the third wave. Honestly, it’s like hell has just broken loose on us unleashing its evil forces while claiming so many precious lives so fast. The situation is overwhelming The situation is really overwhelming, the patients just keep flooding the centres nonstop and most are very sick needing higher oxygen support. Some even have to drive themselves to the centres while struggling to breathe in the hope of finding space to be connected to an Oxygen source. The space which is now becoming scarce and might soon become as common as a unicorn. Fellow Zambians what have we done or maybe what haven’t we done? How did we get here, how did Zambia become one of the worst Covid-hit countries not just in Africa but the world at large? And the daily Covid-19 statistics are not fake as some people think claiming that they are being inflated for political reasons. No, they are real   and I believe the figures are even less than the actual picture on the ground. Recently, most countries have banned flights from Zambia, making us even more landlocked which further affects our aspect of doing business especially that we depend mainly on imports. It is sad despite all this; most people don’t realise or just don’t want to accept the gravity of the situation. For many are still casual about the whole issue, many are insensitive, many just don’t care, many just don’t take personal responsibility to observe the preventive measures. This attitude and behaviour is just making the volatile situation even worse. And it favours no one but SARSCOV2 the virus that causes Covid-19. The Delta variant is different from the previous ones we have had in that it is a double mutant on the same virus, this means It’s so easy to transmit and even more deadly. What is so clear now, is that the young are not spared. Just two nights ago I was attending to a very young nurse whose temperatures were above 40 degrees Celsius, she and her colleagues and the sister had initially thought it was Malaria. She had also headache, joint pains, loss of smell and was nauseated. She had almost started taking Coaterm but when we finally did the Malaria test it was negative while the Covid-19 test came out positive. Someone so young and very healthy but was grounded because of Covid-19.  And this is now a common sight in our centres, young people battling for their lives on Oxygen machines. The worrisome part is not just that the disease is causing agony to these patients now but that the lasting effects are really unknown and may be for a lifetime. We shall never know the real cost If Covid could paralyse nations that are more developed than us, countries like India, Brazil, just how much more are we going to be affected? We may not lose as many people, we may not see burning bodies on the streets like in India, yes, we may not run out of burial space like in Brazil, or maybe we may, just time will tell. But one thing we will feel is the impact of this current situation sooner or later. We will definitely feel it at every level. We will feel it economically, will feel it in terms of education, will feel it in terms of hospitality, tourism, health sector, we will feel in terms of training. For we are losing very experienced and good teachers and mentors in all sectors, individuals who took years and experience to make. Where shall we get the replacement for that good professor we lost, that surgeon we lost, that good nurse, that very experienced engineer. Or for that lecturer, that banker, that contractor, that businessman, that pastor, that sheikh, that guru, that politician, that soldier, that police officer, that firefighter, that judge, that lawyer, that mother, that father, that brother, that sister etc? All these irreplaceable precious souls gone for good with all their expertise. Indeed, we shall never know the real cost of having opened this Pandora’s box. We are the ones to close this evil box and fast or else… We need to close this Pandora’s box as soon as possible before we see how far its destructive contents can go. Please those of you who are still going clubbing, kindly think twice, imagine that every dance you make risks putting one person on oxygen, and yet every dance you avoid helps to stop one person from being on oxygen. We need the people in markets to realise that they are not invisible, that they may not get sick themselves but they will clearly pass the virus to other people who will end up getting sicker and some may succumb. We need the students and the pupils and the teacher and lecturers in schools, colleges and universities to be more vigilant and take the responsibility of masking up and observing hand hygiene as a matter of life and death. As at the end of it all, this is a personal battle that affects everyone. May our political leaders and their sympathisers realise that we have one common enemy that is going to wipe us all if we don’t unite and fight it. We may have no people to vote or we may have no people to rule after August 12 if we lose them now to Covid-19, for this pandemic has a potential to wipe us all out. At this rapid downward pace, we are falling and oblivious to what more content is awaiting us, please no one really wants to know what next is in the box. Shall we hold hands together and close it. Please remember as long as the Pandora’s box remains open, we are all dancing with its diabolic contents and definitely flirting with eminent death. For indeed where shall we find the Oxygen to cater for all? 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 NO TIME FOR CLUBS AND PARTIES.AND BECAUSE YOU CARE, PLEASE KINDLY SHARE.