COVID-19: Fear as fuel

I have been in a running battle with some very influential members of the Duke Summit. Not only them but it seems a large swath of those who should know better.

The argument is that for Nigerians to better fight this pandemic, we should keep pushing the narrative of fear. Scare people into submission. Push fear into their systems with the hope that it would reverse the general collective lethargy towards the virus and the measurements needed to flatten the curve.

So for them, it is better to throw out the number of people dying and infected and majorly keep mute the numbers that are being discharged because according to their lame arguments, if you throw out the huge numbers being discharged it would downplay the severity of the virus and the pandemic.

I say bunkum with all the strength I can muster. The fear narrative is doing worse than can be imagined. It is driving more and more people into lethargy and denial. It drums up the fear of stigmatization and self-denial.

Worse, it drives the commercialization of the whole thing with some medical mercenaries now charging some very expensive therapy for an illness that would not kill 80% of its victims if properly managed.

Read also: Pfizer vaccine for the elite, but China vaccine for the rest of us?

The official stats lay credence to this position. As at the time of writing – 1,270 new cases have been reported while 1,000 have been discharged. Total number of confirmed cases so far is 102,000 with 81,574 persons discharged and active cases only 19,654. Less than 2,000 have died so far.

We can only fight this pandemic if we stay positive, adhere to the strict protocols and seek credible care and management upon infection. Pushing fear is so wrong as it kills hope and removes the need to fight.

It is in this regard, that I will be convening a session of survivors, those still in the trenches and frontline healthcare workers to engage, exchange their views in a bid to strengthen our resolve to fight this malaise and conquer it.

Enough of the gory stories but more of the preventive and heroic struggles to fight and conquer.

But wait, how do we reconcile an active 19,654 cases and a claim that we may no longer have beds in acountry of 200 million people? Then the issue is not Coronavirus, something else is killing us. Not Coronavirus!

By Joseph Edgar…

Articles published in our Graffiti section are strictly the opinion of the writers and do not represent the views of Ripples Nigeria or its editorial stand.

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