Written by Dumebi Kachikwu
I was on a call with a friend a few days ago when she received a message that made her scream. A mutual friend of ours had just lost her husband to Covid. This triggered the memory of a similar devastating call I had received several years ago. The caller on the other end of the line said your father had a cardiac arrest in the middle of a prayer meeting and didn’t make it. What I had never imagined, had thought almost impossible had happened. A dearly loved family member, in this case, my most beloved Dad, had passed.
Tens of thousands are getting similar calls daily because of Covid. A wife has just lost her husband, a husband his wife, a child has lost a father or mother, someone has lost a sibling or family member. This pain, agony, and grief is someone’s reality as we speak, and while we may try and console them with sorry and other soothing phrases, the separation and loss are forever and permanently etched in their hearts.
Some continue approaching this pandemic with intellectualism saying that malaria, poverty, heart attacks, etc kill more people but they forget Covid 19 is called a pandemic because of the alarming rate of spread. The truth is that the numbers of deaths and infections are underreported because many are quietly managing the infections and deaths at home. These go unreported.
Our Government like Governments all over the world have been caught flat-footed and beyond conveying instructions from the WHO there is not much they can do. Governments alone can’t baby hundreds of millions of people.
This is a collective fight. Your choices affect me and mine affect you. I want to survive this. I want my family and world to survive this but I can’t do it without you and you can’t do it without me. The right choices and decisions have never mattered to us more than at a time like this.
As annoying and inconvenient as masks and social distancing are they work but they only work if we all do them. There are those who did right, obeyed every instruction from Government, stayed at home and yet they are no longer with us because others didn’t do the right thing.
Some erroneously let their guard down thinking a vaccine is around the corner, my immunity is strong, Ivermectin will help me, or steam inhalation and agbonikin will fight off Covid and as such take unnecessary risks that kill them or others.
Many became complacent this last December and the world is now paying a huge price with the increase in infection rates and deaths, mutations, and new strains of this virus. Many took this virus home to their aged parents and relatives. We are now counting bodies.
You are the solution to Covid. I am the solution to Covid. No more irresponsible partying or clubbing. No more unnecessary gatherings. Quit saying COVID is not real. Wear your mask at all times. Wash your hands as many times as possible. Stay at home if you have no reason to be out.
Here is some food for thought. If the vaccines are all they are touted to be, why are most developed nations still building emergency hospitals and intensive care units? Why are they aggressively hiring medical professionals from less developed nations like Nigeria? They speak short term to calm the markets but plan long term for the battle ahead. We should all do the same.
Plan to stay alive. That’s what I owe you and that’s what you owe me. Stay alive. May God bless and keep you all safe.
