The second wave of covid is ravaging India. In the total number and daily new cases Mumbai
and Delhi are competing and Kerala is just behind. A few things I think, is worth considering.
The first thing is that the symptomatology is different. Instead of the fever and cough last time
now we have headache and body ache and intestinal symptom smore.
Spread is much faster.
Vaccinated people also can get the disease, but usually it is milder and fatality is near zero, but
not totally absent.
We have more information about the disease now but wrong information also is more. Mutated
strains form a significant proportion of cases now.
Mutation occurs in genetic material frequently. We humans also have it but some are not able to
progress and die off, others are corrected by the repair mechanism of our cells. There is more
double mutated Indian variant about 30% in Kerala but estimate by health experts is around 70%.
With a virus or any pathogen (disease causing organism) the problem is when major changes
occur, the antigen property can vary. So far we are lucky and no such thing has been noticed. But
that is to be anticipated and it will then need a new vaccine.
With the first wave, we could effectively control the spread and unfortunately, we lost that
tempo. Health experts were saying this is buying time to prepare, because we will be able to
mange small numbers but if the number becomes large, our system will be overwhelmed. That is
ignored and happened now.
Sad thing is that disease control has become a thing for political play. During election time, so
many yatras by every party ignoring covid protocols. Now also rules with relaxation for political
and religious needs. The virus does not look the colour of flag or religion.
About vaccination the main thing is there was a strong anti vaccine lobby playing and poor
public got confuse and did not go for taking it. Now many of the go and cause crowding and
cause a relative shortage in addition to the real shortage (I personally know a person who didn’t
take it then and complaining of que and long waiting now. A colleague of mine got the vaccine
as the last one – 8 th , in a booth for 200 people)
About oxygen we are hearing more now as our media make a big fuss about it. Oxygen is not a
panacea for everything and is not to be used irresponsibly. It is to be used judiciously as any
other medicine. Overdose and improper use can be dangerous. They were saying in big mouth
about oxygen parlours which can have the effect of a spreading place also. (started one in
Manarcad)
Another thing our media cries about is the non availability of life saving drug Remdesivir.
Actually that is one of the least useful drug in this setting. Probably it may be life saving to
popularize it.
What we conveniently ignore is the manpower. Doctors, nurses, paramedics, cleaning staff etc:
will be essential. Oxygen or ventilators will not go and work. And for covid care people wearing
PPE for 6 hours continuously and running to pass urine once it is removed is a frequent sight.
People complain of wearing a mask a few minutes, then think of these poor human souls. Now in
the hottest month of May, even the fittest person will get exhausted in 4 hours and we will need
more people. In any educated set up, people know that an exhausted person is more prone to
make mistakes. Here we will demand overwork and punish that scapegoat if anything goes
wrong.
Instead of doing something in anticipation, there is no point in buying time.
The pandemic is to be seen with relation to our limited resources, otherwise it is much less than
any other country but we cannot ignore our reality. Self care and good hygienic practices we do
are the mainstay.
It is a view after going through so many bombarding information. People can differ.
Dr. G. Gangaprasad.
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