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COPING WITH COVID-19

07/10/2020 23:15:00 BY CHRIS MORGAN

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If, as recently as nine months ago, you were to drop into conversation the words social distancing or new normal, those listening might have wondered if you were normal. In fact, nothing seems normal today, and coping with COVID-19 is proving far more of a personal challenge than was originally envisaged.

Coping is toughest for patients seriously ill with COVID-19, those who have lost loved ones from it, and those under real threat on a daily basis - the elderly, the medically challenged and the weak and malnourished, all with diminished immune systems. Worrying about an invisible enemy is no joke. For the rest of Eswatini society the risk of death is very low, barely two per cent of all recorded infections. In many highly developed European countries that figure is as high as 15 per cent, owing mainly to a far larger proportion of elderly people. And in Eswatini, the real mortality rate may be as low as two per 1 000, allowing broadly for unreported COVID-19 infections. In the very young category the risk appears to be virtually nil, in the absence of existing medical complications. But every individual is a potential carrier and every death a tragedy. So, in the area of prevention, the rules must apply to all.

That’s past and present. What about the future? As far as expectations are concerned, the only thing certain about COVID-19 is the uncertainty. World leaders have pontificated on assessment and predictions, some in retrospect looking pretty foolish, though not confessing to it. Even medical experts have varied in their predictions. The bottom line is that you don’t quite know who to believe.

One step that seems absolutely vital for future prevention programmes is to identify how COVID-19 actually emerged. There are theories, but nothing yet independently and indisputably validated. The coming WHO-led investigation in China is not without some political sensitivity. But it’s a step in the right direction, hopefully leading to a global partnership for reducing future risks.

Support

In the critical area of prevention, our coping has identified the need for masks and social distancing as mandatory. All the statistics and medical facts support it. Add the sanitising process in shops and offices and our performance appears to be encouraging. Perhaps more reminding is needed about hand-washing to avoid importing traces of the coronavirus into your home from a door handle or desktop outside.

Apart from the unfathomable failure to reverse the alcohol ban, despite the mind-blowing reports of illegal liquor pouring into Eswatini, this government appears to be pursuing as practical and professional an approach to the medical, humanitarian and economic crisis as any other country. But jobs have been lost and that’s hurting families.

The private sector has to grow the economy to replace those jobs and government must facilitate private sector growth far better than it has ever done before. Most youngsters are out of school. Get them back fast, with tight prevention measures in place. They, our future society, are losing a disciplined and socially interactive education.

Coping with COVID-19 from a psychological perspective can be a daunting task. If you are in the vulnerable category you have to deal with fear. In the less vulnerable groups, psychological responses vary. You are frustrated by the personal-physical restrictions, and miss the social and sporting occasions. You see others paid in full relaxing at home, while you have been laid-off, probably unpaid. You worry about the possibility of future waves of infection nationally. Masked throughout the day, you wonder if you will ever shake hands again or greet your good friends with a loving hug. You will, but you won’t feel comfortable about it until long after the risk of COVID-19 has gone.

Vaccine

And when will that risk be gone? That’s tricky. Regardless of what you see or hear, there won’t be a fully-tested and approved vaccine until early 2021. And you think you’ll just pop down the road for the vaccination? Forget it. Tackling a demand from billions, the manufacture, distribution and storage logistics will be truly formidable. Only the healthcare workers, and other prioritised groups will get the vaccine quickly. For many it could be 2022. Even then there may not be reliable evidence of the strength and durability of the vaccine.

The word uncertainty reappears ominously. That’s the downside. Let’s go upbeat. Almost exactly 100 years ago the Spanish Flu killed many millions more than COVID-19 will ever take. And it had a special appetite for young adults. Furthermore, it followed four years of World War I when millions died on the battlefield, and a similar number of young women left alone, many childless, because the war had taken the men. The human race came through it all, and grew back to where it had been, and beyond. If our courageous ancestors could tackle far more severe circumstances, we can cope with our challenge and be stronger at the new dawn, distant though that may be.