Days – not weeks and months – into the Christmas and New Year festivities, our focus as a nation and people, workers and families as well as institutions appear more engrossed in issues of stability brought upon us by a lawless segment of the political class, when we have the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic still assailing us.
It appears that we have all of a sudden forgotten our safety protocols, including wearing of masks, social distancing, the regular use of sanitizers and vigorous washing of hands under running water in conducting private, public and social affairs.
The sanitizers, which used to flood our markets and street pavements, have given way to only nose masks – with public transport as well as private mini-buses relaxing the laws for both drivers and passengers.
Except for the last elections held about a week and half ago, which reminded us of the imperative to apply the World Health Organisation and Ministry of Health’s safety protocols, we have returned to our careless old ways of conducting business.
Second wave
That is regardless of the prevalence of a second wave of the pandemic in other parts of the world, particularly Europe and the US, South America and some parts of Asia.
We are also ignoring the safety measures, even though reports from world aviation industries, including our own Kotoka International Airport, is turning out incidents of passengers not being too safe traveling out or coming in.
Though the relevant actors on our public health space, including the media, are still doing their bit educating us, the success we enjoyed fighting the pandemic appear to have eaten into our heads and sent us into bouts of complacency.
That sense of responsibility and awareness that characterised our initial fight is giving way to recklessness in which bars and restaurants, markets and some other public places are lowering their guard in the application of the safety protocols.
President’s brief
Over the weekend, the President had to remind us that we need to rediscover ourselves in sustaining the fight against the pandemic and sustaining, as a consequence, our economic fortunes and exploits which have become the envy of Africa and the world.
Thankfully, according to the President, we are about accessing the COVID-19 vaccine in taking the fight against the pandemic to the next level.
Appeal
As we would admit, Christmas is a period of massive socialization that involves picnicking, church attendance, parties, festivals and music performances. While we engage in refreshing and nourishing ourselves by these festivities around this period, we must also remind ourselves that protecting ourselves is a key ingredient in ensuring that fun does not breed pain and anguish to us individually and collectively.
Thankfully, the churches are leading in maintaining the application of the protocols. Our checks have established that social distancing and the rest of the protocols are still under strict application. It is the same story with the banking and finance sector, among other such organisations.
Unfortunately, it is still our turbulent informal economy actors who are reneging on observance of the protocols.
So that we are not overtaken by events and slack to misfortune, we would add our voices to the call by the President for a sustaining of the safety protocols in our own interests.
Again, thankfully, the agencies responsible for sanitation are doing their modest bit in keeping our markets and streets and pavements tidy. What we need therefore is to return to the use of nose masks and sanitizers while we continue to strive to keep our distance while we have fun.
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