Toolchain “Over-take-over” to fight Covid-19

It is very important to anticipate the onset of a tsunami or a clear and imminent danger. Covid-19 second wave has proved to be a tsunami that too of unforeseen and magnanimous proportion. It has ravaged thousands of houses as well as households.

To put it succinctly, it has overtaken the comfort factor and the breathing space of many people world over, with India becoming the latest nation that is seeing dance of death on a daily basis.

It has shuffled the mindset and questioned the thought process of the most rational people.

There are so many theories being propounded about the origin of this coronavirus.

It is imperative that we understand the pain, the suffering and the shock being borne by countless Indians, yet formulate a resolve and collectively leverage all other tools that we have got to fight against this deadly devastating disastrous disease. We should prepare a diverse dashboard which mentions the benefits due to all the tools in the armoury that we have devised to tackle this virus.

We should look beyond finding the count of at risk and Covid-19 infected people in our near vicinity starting from five hundred meters in India’s famous Aarogya Setu app and augment it with the following:

Finding the count of at risk and Covid infected people in our near vicinity starting from ten meters.

How many people were able to heed the advice of someone whom they trust, and had got saved by that advice.

 The number of people who got cured due to the help provided by their neighbours. This is important to do because currently the Aarogya Setu app only works to frighten us by alerting us in Orange colour even if we are living directly above or below someone who is Covid-19 positive. Whereas the need of the hour is to combine forces and together fight this pandemic.

 The proportion of people who are vaccinated in the society where you live.

The number of masks that you have been wearing consistently since the last seven days.

 The number of people who you have succeeded in wearing a mask in your neighbourhood or society.

 Social distancing norms.

 Yoga and other exercises meant to increase the capacity of your lungs and to keep you from being mentally anxious or distressed.

 Not panicking no matter what the situation is.

Building knowledge about the pandemic.

Getting keenly involved in home bound activities such as reading, cooking, etc.

Hand wash using soap.

Keeping an empathetic attitude towards others at all times.

Watching news only for a few minutes in the morning.

Whilst each of the above-mentioned ideas may have contributed to saving precious lives, it is now vital to unite all these ideas to create a collected benefits due to these tools and to create a “halo” effect on the troubled infected patients.

Once we prepare such a variegated dashboard, only then can we be enarmed enough to wage a battle with this invisible beast called coronavirus.

Flow-chart

Life is like a flow-chart. It begins with how to start it when we are running to crawl then walk. Once we know the magic formula, then we assume that we will go with the flow and escape unhurt. However, if we start getting hurt or punished due to deviating from the predetermined steps, then panic, fear and other problems can quickly seep into our system. This can in turn result in a few people trying to exploit our situation by pitying,  bullying or fleecing us. When fear, greed and other challenges hit us together, only then we realize the importance of preparing a dashboard or a chart of real time updates about the challenges being faced and the possible solutions for dealing with those challenges. When we come out of a torrid trouble by often a hit-and-trial manner, then we reflect upon how we had learnt from our past mistakes or how those wounds continue to inflict on us. Having said that, Covid-19 is not any normal disease because it has the potential to spiral into an invisible tsunami from which not even any combination of human beings or their intelligence can truly define the new normal.

Now I want to make a chart to depict how well we cope with the following new unknowns: 1) how likely are we to contract Covid-19 virus when waiting patiently for our turn to get vaccinated at the long queues in the vaccination centre, 2) whether we can ever find merit in finding the degree of infection in patients who get vaccinated twice, 3) whether we can ever devise a technology to detect a person wearing a handkerchief or wrapping a sari dupatta on his or her mouth masquerading a mask, 4) the number of non-stop numbing hours being put by doctors and health workers who have been treating the Covid-19 infected patients, 5) will the Covid-19 news of patients painfully testing positive finally yield to the balancing act of “negative” upon the tsunami of patients staging full recovery. Even if 300 such patients get recovered on any given day, I can resonate that news with the 300 Spartacans who had successfully kept thousands of Xerxes army at bay in one of the most famous wars.

What the numbers fail to report in a dashboard like Worldometer is the varying degrees of fight put up in a ferocious level as if to deny Covid-19 from breaching their defense. Other features such as the colors of joy, relief, faith or the attritional approach taken during the long quarantine period in their tears does not get captured in those dashboards for Indians. There should be a case for launching such a beautiful and inspiring dashboard.

Finally, with this blog, I pledge the support of everyone to recognize the importance of staying strictly confined to their homes and to believe in scientific research and innovation to pull our way out of the powerful willy-wobbly web that we have created for ourselves. This is a wonderful opportunity to recognize the beauty of diversity among us and to help each other in a selfless way as though we all belong to some part of a communion.