Corona Wants to Hang Around

Op-ed

The problem is purely medical, but the treatment is behavioral. Corona keeps attacking us, equipped with a natural means of assault, using all its destructive power without fear of being defeated any time soon. And what makes us seem so amusing is that we are trying to cope with it only with a socially organized set of measures, this being our maximum at this stage of the war.

The world is at a complete loss, but keeps going. The term Green Zone has become a real ear-pleaser, and Georgia has managed to maintain itself within that haven of safety as yet. Interestingly, this is a case when the people and government have worked in unison to save the day, with exceptionally elevated standards of performance on both sides. Thanks, but we’re not even half way done: the infection lingers on, the vaccine is not even on the horizon, business has faltered, people are getting tired, and spirits are drooping with little chance of being revived in the near future.

So, what is the best step to take in these circumstances? Rumor has it that the killer bug has manifested the ability of reinventing its lethal power instead of dwindling away. We are literally inundated with corona stories and recommendations, some of them giving us an unlikely perspective of its further development. Meanwhile, people continue getting sick, some facing death with dreaded certainty. The number of cases has been growing in this country, too, and so an additional piece of advice even on an amateurish level can surely do no harm? It could at least serve as a reminder of the danger still lurking around the corner.

One of the greatest frustrations that would kill the joy of recovery from the virus is that the immunity from the illness survives only for a brief while, a little over a month. Another disappointment is that the harm done by the pest to the human organism is greater than we thought: heart, blood vessels, brain, lungs, kidneys, intestines can be injured to the point of fatality.

The direst among the resulting pictures is that this whole scene is taking place against a deteriorating social background where the mindboggling question persists: economics or health? We certainly need to make money to survive, but without health, it is doubtful we are unlikely to achieve wellbeing.

Saying we’re proud that we’re in control of the virus would be an exaggeration. It would be much better to say we’re ceaselessly aware of its damaging presence and are behaving accordingly until medicinal science finds a serious say to curb it. I know God will help too, but He will only help those who are ready to help themselves. The medical and the administrative teams working to alleviate the situation are doing their best to thwart the epidemic: statistics are accurate, available tests are enough in number, effective contact-tracing is in place, hospital capacity is adequate, and tightening measures are ready to go into action.

There is practically nothing else one can do, but additional precaution wouldn’t hurt. For instance: approach only folks that are certain to have no infection; learn to avoid social get-togethers, even the most attractive ones; stay away from each other at a non-kissing distance; forget activities that can wait a while; say no to out-of-town visitors; don’t make monsters out of masks; don’t spread pessimism about our economic future, because negativity never helps; preventive self-isolation is always good, especially for self-education. There are official standards of safety, well-publicized, but such self-imposed measures might also be good: don’t think that it is only others that catch the virus and die!

By Nugzar B. Ruhadze