Imlisanen Jamir
Our hope for normalcy might potentially be put on hold with another wave of COVID-19 hitting several parts of the country and the increasing number of Omicron variant cases.
With ample warning, it might seem a given that State and society will be able to manage any upcoming wave with more efficiency and empathy. However, there is also the case of a pandemic fatigue which had already set in by the middle of last year; and has now turned into indifference.
The very low number of recorded cases and deaths due to the virus in recent times along with lackadaisical implementation of prevention protocols has all contributed to this present predicament.
Along with social distancing, vaccination remains the key to stave off serious illness caused by the virus. Nagaland, on January 3 launched the COVID-19 vaccination drive for 15-18 years age group. As per reports from the first day, turnout for the latest drive was relatively poor. While hoping that this drive sees good response, the adult population yet to be vaccinated needs to get the jabs themselves too.
Meanwhile, the government needs to develop ways to confirm Omicron cases faster and provide information more swiftly about close contacts to local administrations. This will enhance our ability to detect Omicron cases and trace contacts.
It is vital to ensure that both the mindsets and systems involved are configured so that hospital beds and staff numbers can be redistributed swiftly and flexibly in a crunch.
Effective policy efforts are crucial to combating Omicron and determining key questions, such as whether the variant leads to faster transmission of the virus and causes more severe illness among infected people. How effective are current vaccines and treatments against the new strain? Governments have been trying to share all the latest relevant information to develop effective responses to the challenges posed by the variant.
A bit of good news is that the combination of mass vaccination and mass infection, the latter by a variant that so far isn’t producing severe symptoms in most people, may be the thing that finally ends the pandemic, by making COVID-19 endemic.
We’re all tired of being forced to go through yet another sequel to pandemic Groundhog Day. But we have learnt a lot since the first go around. We have the tools, if we will just use them. We are still the masters of our fate.
Comments can be sent to imlisanenjamir@gmail.com
