By David Jabati
There was pandemonium in the entire country, particularly the city, when the long awaited but highly loathed stranger came to town yesterday morning.
The fact is that the stranger has been living with us unnoticed. Many have eaten, drank, laughed and hobnobbed with it without physically beholding it but evidently, it has been in our midst all this while.
What many people, particularly Sierra Leoneans, are oblivious of is the fact that Coronavirus is totally different from the Ebola Virus, which we have played host to before.
Unlike Ebola, the incubation period for Coronavirus in human beings lasts for 2 to 14 days. In some patients, according to findings, it lasts 19, 21 to 24 days. The virus, study shows, doubles in size every 7.5 days. It may also interest you to know that the virus, according to scientists, is stable for several hours to days on aerosols/ spray/spray cans, up to 4 hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to three days on plastic and stainless steel. That is COVID-19 for you.
Like the decade long senseless civil war and its attendant consequences that brought untold suffering on the people of this country, the dreadful Ebola outbreak, which devastated the country even more, took us off guard as a nation. We were completely ill-prepared for those two battles that wrecked carnage on our motherland. Yet, though we lost countless number of our compatriots in the wake, as a nation, we remained resilient in all of it to the very end. The rest is but history.
Now, just when we think that there is some considerable amount of inner peace and sanity amidst hardship and economic adversity, we again heard about yet another killer virus – Coronavirus- otherwise referred to as COVID-19, steadily and systematically spreading wings across the globe with wealthier nations still grappling over how to contain it. Yesterday, we reportedly recorded the first case.
As a poor nation, where and how do we stand? How prepared are we? How strong is the political will to face this battle head on? What is the level of awareness on the issue? How many Sierra Leoneans are actually aware of the existence of such a disease? Too many questions without appropriate answers… only God can save us.
As it stands, there are some elements among us who were selfishly and inconsiderately praying night and day for such a plague to hit the country all but for their selfish interests and much to the detriment of the country and people. The ill-gotten wealth amassed by these folks, in the name of fighting the war and Ebola outbreak in this country, cannot be in any way quantified… they were waiting wistfully for another round of action – quarantine, contact tracing, lockdown and the like.
As I write, there are people who are waiting for yet another era of donations, contracts to supply Coronavirus preventive gears, serve as healthcare workers or ambulance drivers, be enrolled in the burial team or at the worse, be grave diggers. May God forgive us! The risks are many… the consequences are far reaching and indeed, it is a do-or-die affair. But do they really care? They just can’t help it as they can only make it during crisis periods.
The Office of National Security (ONS), the Ministry of Health and other health and security stakeholders must go back to the drawing board; learn from past lessons; engage honest experts who played significant roles to save this country during the dreadful Ebola days. Let us also ensure that we put corrective measures in place and in time and work round the clock to save this country from such a horrible plague, else…
It is not just about speaking big jargons on televisions and on radios or making flamboyant speeches on the hazards that go with Coronavirus. It is about facing the reality and marching to the battlefield before the war bells are sounded. Now the bells have sounded.
We must be mindful of the fact that this time around, those lofty donations that we received (but largely squandered) from wealthier nations during the Ebola crisis may not be that forthcoming because they themselves are victims or potential victims of the killer virus.
COVID-19 is an illness that has travelled from Wahun, China, far Asia to Europe to Africa now in Sierra Leone.
For now, if you, or someone you know, is experiencing symptoms such as coughing, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties or in worse case, pneumonia, know that they are Coronavirus symptoms that need urgent attention. Mind you, the viral pneumonia is not just the common one you and I know as the usual antibiotics cannot help.
Watch your back!