COVID Second Wave! Why India Worst Hit?
"It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome." - William Jones
The World has barely recovered from the first wave that the second wave arrived and started wreaking havoc in every country. The second strain which was first found in a foreign country also reached India and now the situation is out of control. This strain is mutating and making it difficult for people to get recovered. All the countries are suffering but among all the countries India is worst affected. India records the highest daily cases along with the surge in daily fatalities. India is struggling but fighting strong.
So, what went wrong in the first place? Despite the large population and not so powerful healthcare system, India managed to control the spread of coronavirus in the first wave. So what happened? why suddenly people started dying and how we ran out of resources, let's discuss in detail. The very first reason is that people lowered the guard. It is not wrong to say that India became Troy, the people of Troy thought that the Greeks had left the war and they had won, so they brought the horse build by Greeks inside their fortified city and started celebrating the win. Not even in their wildest dreams, they had imagined what this horse will do to them and how it will become a reason for their devastation. Similarly, when the cases of coronavirus began to fell, patients started recovering fast, vaccination started and the government eased the norms, people thought that coronavirus is gone. People started international travel, getting into social gatherings, stopped using masks and sanitizers, they paid no heed that the virus is mutating and a second wave can hit anytime soon.
People thought they have developed herd immunity and no virus can affect them and they will easily overcome the virus as they did last year but in reality the previous year we were not saved by any herd immunity or any other measure but only by an early Lockdown which helped in curbing the spread of coronavirus. This mistake caused the number of cases to rise rapidly and soon it became a burden on an already stressed healthcare system which causes the overutilization of resources and eventually we ran out of oxygen supply. The government lacked in anticipating the second wave which led us unprepared and under-resourced sooner we fell short on oxygen, the number of beds, medicines, and medical equipment. In addition to this people started black marketing worsening the already worse situation. This caused an increase in the fatality rate as the people who could have recovered started dying due to lack of oxygen support and other medical facilities.
All of this could have been averted if the government and people both have anticipated the situation and taken precautionary measures. The government is supposed to maintain an adequate structure and people are supposed to follow the guidelines laid by the government. We cannot blame anyone alone but we all are to blame. When we faced the pandemic last year we could have stressed installing oxygen plants, stocking of raw materials required for making vaccines and medicine like remdesivir, increasing the production and distribution of medicine, etc. But what we did? we stressed on opening the malls, movie theaters, gym, spa, etc., we were so much in a hurry to get back to the old lifestyle that we forget to maintain the minimum standard required to protect ourselves.
What can we do now? we can do a lot of things starting from staying inside. We all need to stay inside our homes for at least two weeks to break the chain. Whether the government imposes a lockdown or not we need a lockdown on ourselves. We need to get vaccinated, wear double masks all the time, use sanitizers more often, install air purifiers in the home, eat healthy foods, drink a lot of water, use immunity boosters, avoid social gatherings, have oximeters, nebulizers, infrared thermometer and strictly follow social distancing. Help the poor, increase donations, follow guidelines, support the government and each other. We need to take an oath that until and unless this virus is completely gone we won't let our guard down, even after when it is gone we will continue to have a hygienic and healthy lifestyle. Together We Fight and Together We Win.
