Keeping our guard up

Imlisanen Jamir

Rising COVID-19 transmission among the young in Nagaland is threatening to provide the disease with a gateway into the wider population.

Since lockdown restrictions were relaxed in the State, the remaining guidelines are being openly flaunted by the people and enforcement has been lax.

Its effects have been visible with the Health and Family Welfare Department repeatedly expressing concern about the young population spreading COVID-19 to the vulnerable (older) age group. Majority of the total confirmed cases in the State are young with a median age not surpassing the 30s (presently at 32 years mean).

The increasing percentage of traced contacts contributing to the COVID caseload in the State is also a cause of concern.

According to the department, among the traced contacts, the most affected age group is 21-40 years at 53%. It has been observed in other countries that infection among the young leads to community transmission and infection of high-risk groups.

Young people generally suffer milder COVID-19 symptoms and are more likely to be asymptomatic. In the torrid early months of spring, when testing was largely limited to the more seriously ill, such cases would not have shown up in the figures.

The new demographic spread in infections may also be a result of older age groups exercising greater vigilance, given what is now known about the differential impact of the disease. And having been cooped up for months, some young people are evidently taking the easing of lockdown restrictions in the summer as a licence to more or less return to normal.

There is a risk that the less serious impact of COVID-19 on young people, and low current levels of Covid-related hospital admissions, generates a lethal sense of complacency. The natural inclination of young people to socialise and the potential for asymptomatic spread will bring us back to square one.

Meanwhile, it is not the young alone that need to mend their ways. One look at our towns today and there does not seem to be a care in the world. Even sudden spikes in daily cases now fail to evoke any call for people, businesses and institutions to stringently follow the COVID safety guidelines.

In light of the evidence and latest instructions, we all have no responsible choice but to continue to socially distance, wear masks when among others, and avoid large indoor or outdoor gatherings.

Yes, it is important to revive economic activity and work towards bringing in normality in our lives. But with the world surpassing a million deaths from the resilient virus, people must keep their guard up at all times.

Comments can be sent to imlisanenjamir@gmail.com