COVID-19 has been the hot topic in Sri Lanka, India and the rest of the world during the past few weeks. COVID-19 is the litmus test now being used by Mother Nature to test human beings’ mindfulness. Vaccination has successfully reduced the death rate of COVID-19 in the world but vaccination has not stopped the virus spreading from one person to another. Human beings have been facing this ‘litmus test’ of Mother Nature since December 2019. The people who are mindful pass the test and continue to live while the people who are not being mindful end up in ashes.
The pathetic situation is that even after very clearly seeing this fact, still many people choose not to be mindful. The entire world sees this from India and some other countries in the world where people totally ignored the danger of COVID-19 and gathered without following any health guidelines issued to protect people from COVID-19. The situation is the same to a certain extent here in Sri Lanka. That is why the Government needed to impose travel restrictions.
Being mindful will save anyone from COVID-19. Some will survive while some others will end up in ashes. But no one is concerned about being mindful. Some are a little bit concerned but they get distracted very easily and put themselves in danger whenever something distracts them. It can be a call from a person, accidently meeting a longtime friend or a relative, getting an itching sensation somewhere in the upper part of the body, especially above the neck. Some others can be distracted by a simple thing such as a conversation with another. But any strongly trained person can be mindful no matter where he or she is and what he or she does.
It is interesting to check the incredible connection between COVID-19 and mindfulness. The Government and the health authorities have been announcing about health guidelines and the importance of preventing COVID-19 since March 2019. But still people get infected with the virus and die while some survive. The main problem is not communicating to the people the real chain of the virus and the danger of the virus. Unfortunately, only one advertisement appeared on television in March 2019 on the danger of COVID-19 and after being telecast once, the advertisement literally vanished into thin air.
Without telling people exactly what happens, no one will follow health guidelines and it will be impossible to control COVID-19. We have to accept the fact that the population of Sri Lanka is not that educated as people in New Zealand, UK or some other countries to check in the Internet and grab the missing information. The computer literacy rate here in Sri Lanka is still not that adequate.
According to the official data collected in the first half (1H) of last year (2020), Sri Lanka’s digital literacy among five to 69 year olds increased to 49.5 percent, a 3.5 percentage point (7.61 percent) increase over the end 2019 figure of 46 percent. As at 1H 2020 end, digital literacy among those between the ages of five to 69 was highest among the urban sector at 65 percent, followed by rural (47.6 percent) and estate (23.1 percent), respectively. Digital literacy among males was 53 percent, a rise of 3.7 percentage points (7.44 percent) over its end 2019 figure of 49.7 percent.
 A COVID patient being taken to a waiting ambulance in India |
This is why the health authorities need to educate the public on health guidelines and the importance of following them using all available and easily accessible media. But nothing has been said so far on the chain that exists between following health guidelines and the COVID-19 virus. The gravity of getting infected with COVID-19 is never communicated to the public in a serious manner which will directly impact the minds of the majority of the people. There are various arguments and accusations in connection with COVID-19 official statistics in Sri Lanka which is handled by the Epidemiology Unit.
We have to tell the people loudly and very clearly what happens when they do not maintain mindfulness while following health guidelines. What was told so far since March 2019 was what happens when they do not follow health guidelines. But by now it is very clear that this strategy has had very little impact on people. The other crucial fact is not loudly and clearly telling people that they can die from COVID-19 and especially what type of death they will receive. This latter part was not communicated to the people at all and it seems the health authorities were apparently scared to receive the blame for making people panic.
Wear a mask. A mask should be worn in order to protect oneself and others. Wearing a mask is a social responsibility. Ordinary surgical mask or a N95 mask is adequate to protect the society and oneself without any health complications. But a superior mask such as N95 or KN95 is required to protect an aged or sick person, pregnant mother or a person who underwent surgery recently. Masks protect droplets and aerosols from getting added to the air. But the process of getting droplets and aerosol added to the air should be clearly shown to the people over the television often as an advertisement because the ordinary people do not understand it. This is a very simple step but not done so far here in Sri Lanka. Only one or two television channels showed it during news telecast only once using a foreign visual.
If the behaviour of droplets and aerosols can be shown on television often to the ordinary people they will very easily understand why they need to wear masks and why they need to maintain at least two metres of distance from another person. It is useless telling people to maintain distance without explaining them why it should be done. Ordinary people cannot understand scientific jargon.
It is obvious that ordinary people do not understand scientific jargon but even some educated heads of state and private institutions do not understand the behaviour of droplets and aerosols. That is why all over Sri Lanka all doors and windows of almost all state and private institutions are tightly closed and if anyone demands to open them, this demand is totally ignored. The right to live and being protected from a deadly virus is a human right. But almost all institutions still deny this right of the people.
There is no use of washing hands even 1,000 times per day if someone touches his or her face with contaminated hands. What people often do is going into the public washroom located inside an office or a similar place, wash hands with soap for one minute, touch the washroom door and close it, then touch the door to enter into the department and then they touch the face freely thinking that there is no COVID-19 virus in their hands which were thoroughly washed just one minute ago. But they can get infected with COVID-19 as soon as their hands touch the washroom door or the door to enter into the department.
They do not understand this because health authorities or doctors never tell people that they should not touch anything else in between washing hands and touching their face. The people should be told that they should not touch anything else after washing their hands and before touching their face. It is a simple fact but it can cost someone’s life.
The other fact is we need to tell people why they need to use a standard hand sanitizer. We need to use a standard (alcohol content should be 75 percent) hand sanitizer because we accidentally touch our face with contaminated hands. Only the people who are mindful all the time do this and all the others do it unintentionally. This is why we need to use a hand sanitizer whenever we cannot find soap and water to wash our hands. Even one touch with hands contaminated with the COVID-19 virus can be deadly for a person.
We have to tell people that they get a lonely last breath and a lonely funeral if they die from COVID-19. Telling this bitter truth to the people will not make them panic and they will be more vigilant about preventing COVID-19. This bitter truth should be told to them in order to make them realize that money, a big crowd, power or anything else will not save them from COVID-19.
If any person is about to die from COVID-19 he or she will be left alone only with a few members from health staff. No family member, close friend or anyone else will be allowed to go close to him or her and hold his or her hands while he or she is dying. Once he or she dies, there will be no funeral with flowers and crowds and the body will be cremated as soon as possible.
Only telling the people the bitter truth in a language and signs they understand will make them follow all health guidelines all the time and prevent further COVID-19 infections. Only then will everyone including pregnant mothers maintain mindfulness and protect themselves from COVID-19.
