Many dramas but deadly Delta here for sure
Too many dramas have and are unfolding around us criss-crossing our lives from Accra to Achimota to Ejura to Wa and to some other communities.
In the midst of all that, one seems to be forgetting that the deadly Delta variant of COVID-19 is reported to be in town and actually at our doorstep!
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With the drama that has unfolded over the last few weeks, various acts and scenes have been enacted in different parts of the country. We have had the military and the police in full gear coming out in acts one and two.
The Vice-President and the Chief Imam have also been on stage, playing their parts in the acts and scenes of the drama.
Various ministers have been on the stage and taken their parts and so are some politicians, demonstrators, firemen and market women who have lost their properties to fire outbreak.
While all the drama was unfolding on stage and people were out and about, Delta strain, the deadly variant by far, was being reported in Achimota School community.
This was aside from the initial four travellers who reportedly tested positive to Delta as they entered the country through the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).
One thought the initial four cases were not a threat, especially with their early containment and as the health authorities who have done a fantastic job since March 2020 to manage the outbreak of Coronavirus assured us they were on top of the cases.
Achimota School
And so people have been about their businesses as if Coronavirus has vanished from our midst. Then the never to be forgotten case of over 100 students of the Achimota School were reported to be infected with the deadly Delta variant.
We all asked questions as to why the Achimota School.The questions piled up with parents, teachers and communities in and around the Achimota School all curious to know. As citizens, we asked more questions but not enough answers have been forthcoming.
One wonders how parents of the students are feeling. The initial gaping silence must have been cause for worry, bearing in mind the fast spread and deadly nature of this new strain. Silence can be golden but not in this critical case.
Unfortunately, the dramas have rather taken away every shine from a needed focus on the deadly COVID-19 Delta variant reported in the Achimota School and the Covid-19 situation in general.
Ghana Health Service
The last official report from the Ghana Health Service shows some marginal increase in Ghana’s case count with new cases still being recorded.
Our active cases, earlier this week, stood at 1,602 with new cases at 118 and regrettably, deaths at 796.
Irrespective, daily lives are going on in full force as if COVID-19 and its new variants have passed us over. Think of any gathering pre-COVID 19 and you wouldn’t be far from wrong in saying that active life is back as before.
Think about church services. Schools are back in full force. Funerals are in full swing,
especially out of Accra with very little COVID-19 protocol. We are beginning to see gatherings at weddings and also at many other social events, all a semblance of a normal life.
Sadly,Veronica buckets and hand washing procedures in public places and some banks have vanished. A little spray or drop of hand sanitiser is all one gets to enter a public building. The Achimota School case seems to me that one is not doing enough in terms of protection.
The Delta variant in our midst should trigger another wave of public education and media awareness.
The experts tell us that this new variant is deadlier and it spreads very fast, then, the public education is inadequate in the light of the Delta strain in our midst.
Delta should tower every drama that should make its way. The education and information should overtake all headlines and breaking news stories. The ball is in the court of the Ghana Health Service to feed the media and the public with the needed information.
May we not shy away from any education and information on this new third wave. We need all public institutions, markets included to get back in line and provide Veronica buckets as necessary.All COVID-19 protocol should be strictly enforced as was from the start.
The dramas may unfold and the acts and scenes livened.However, we cannot afford to neglect the protocol, information and education that will help us stay counted among the healthy and the living.
If we have been counted since March 2020, we should remain counted come third, fourth and whatever new wave Coronavirus springs on us.
Writer’s E-mail: [email protected]