From 21 to now 40 days! Literally quarantined.

PM Modi has extended the lockdown till the 3^rd of May and people are already frustrated. People don’t realise that this is a pandemic. A pandemic is an epidemic of a disease that spreads worldwide i.e. across continents and affects large numbers. Consider yourself lucky that you’re able to read this article without any discomfort during the outbreak of a novel virus. Because of enhancements in medicine, development in technology, society and civilization, you’re fully aware and equipped to fight such a virus. If you look centuries back, due to lack of awareness and insignificant development in medicine, viruses used to spread like wildfire and a state of panic remained for years as creating a vaccine took a lot of time. The COVID-19 outbreak is the only one that outbreak in which we have sufficient resources to remain quarantined until it gets eradicated. The flattening of the epidemic curve could take months or even years. It will be at least a year until the vaccine for COVID-19 becomes commercially available. During this time, the best thing we can do is decrease the spread.

Though, people aren’t taking this seriously. What will make you cautious? If this virus had horrific symptoms, I’m sure people wouldn’t want it to happen to them. There have been viruses in the past which had horrific symptoms like bleeding, swelling, bloating, inflammation, muscle loss, paralysis, etc. Imagine having to see people around you developing such symptoms. The Black Death that occurred in the 14^th century had grotesque symptoms. The fingers of the infected would get black due to worn out skin. It also caused formation of swollen lymph nodes that sometimes popped and caused extreme pain and discomfort. Even the sheer virulence of these plagues is terrifying to think about. The Black Death wiped out half of Europe’s population and around 30% percent of the world population. The Plague of Justinian eradicated almost half of the world population. This plague lasted for two centuries (6^th to 8^th) and that too during the dark ages. The dark ages are referred to the decline of culture, society, science, economy, etc which ranged from the 5^th to the 15^th century.

It was only after Renaissance that there were advancements in science and medicine that helped fight diseases. In the 10^th century, the process of inoculation was introduced to help fight the virus by giving the patient a much diluted form of the virus. The idea was that the immune system learns to fight the virus. Though, this wasn’t a sure process. It wasn’t until the 18^th century, that a physician by the name of Edward Jenner that popularised the process of vaccination with rare chances of failure. We have come a long way from being vulnerable to being immune to a lot of deadly disease. The efforts made by doctors, scientists over the years are much less appreciated. People are careless when it comes to hygiene, regular body checkups; there’s a whole community of anti-vaccine activists for god’s sake! How are we so blind to the dangers of this world? We’re not invincible just because we’re vaccinated sometime after birth. There are possibilities of novel viruses that could be much deadlier than the ones we’ve faced as human race.

Comparatively, COVID-19 is a mild and subtle virus which can give you a sweet death if not treated. And it can be transmitted very easily; therefore it’s your responsibility to be as cautious as possible. The fact that we’re developed enough to be in a proper lockdown is a smart move by governments worldwide to make sure they flatten the curve not by heavy treatment but by heavy quarantine. Yes, it would affect the economy and the functioning of a nation in general, but they’re trying to decrease the amount of patients so that the medical supplies are conserved if this goes on for a while. Currently the focus needs to be on the manufacture of food and medicine as this is a question of survival. We have to come together and sustain ourselves and the resources we have to get through this crisis. This is one of the few epidemics and also one of the very few pandemics that we’re dealing with in which there’s proper awareness and hence people are more composed towards the situation. But it is necessary not to get complacent because we have a long way to go until the vaccine is ready. All you have to do is stay home, maintain hygiene and social distance. Come on, fighting a pandemic be any easier? Stay home, stay safe!

– Anukul Thete