Skip to main content

Corona times: Facts, Fear and Panic!

Image
By

Thanks to our government and the media, with this topic featuring on every single page of our daily newspapers and on prime time of all TV channels, awareness about COVID-19 seems to have penetrated rather well down to almost all sections and regions of the country in the last few weeks.

Information, news, concerns and actions are of course one thing, but reactions of people could be quite another matter altogether. This is what HOPE Initiative (www.hope.org.in) discovered during an interactive awareness session this week with class 7 students of Green Valley School in Kothagiri (Tamil Nadu).
Question 1: have you heard about the recent Corona Virus epidemic?
Answer (universal): Yes. It is called COVID-19
Question 2: What do you know about COVID-19? How dangerous is it?
Answer by students: It is a DEADLY and FATAL Disease. Most who are infected will die.
Our perspective: It is not FATAL in most cases, only 2 of 100 infected people may succumb, while 98 will recover by themselves and be cured. The small proportion of people who are dying are the elderly who are suffering from diseases of the heart, lung, diabetes and who have weak immunity.
Interestingly most children and school students have not fallen ill or died yet.
Question from students: If that be so, then why is everyone so worried?
Answer by us: It is because of four reasons:
(1) This new virus COVID-19 is HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS. That means when an infected person speaks, coughs or sneezes, the virus spreads and infects other people around very quickly. That is why it has become a PANDEMIC, meaning that it has spread from one country to several countries across 5 continents!
(2) The infection also spreads when these viral droplets land on common surfaces such as table tops, door knobs or school bags /tiffin boxes and spread to others when we touch them and then touch our faces, allowing them to enter through our nose, mouth or eyes.
(3) If this virus infects vulnerable people, they may develop severe chest problems and die. Even otherwise, 2% of infected people of say 130 crores could be a huge number.
(4) There are no vaccines yet to prevent this infection, and no drugs to treat it. We need to depend on our body’s immune system to fight it.

Question from Students: What precautions can we take at school or home?
Our answer: These five measures can help:
(1) Avoid crowded places and try to keep a distance between you and others. (The virus spreads by droplets to around 3 feet)
(2) Wash your hands with soap and water several times a day, or use a alcohol hand rub if available.
(3) If you see anyone coughing or sneezing, stay away even if it is your own brother.
(4) Ask him to wear a mask so that droplets do not spread and disperse in the air.

It is better to stay indoors and avoid restaurants, movie halls and markets. Wait for it to die down as the summer approaches!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How do you like your Tea?

By
The way we drink our tea may not only reflect our taste and style, but our health as well. Tea drinking is around 4700 years old and had its origin in China. Leaves of the shrub Camellia sinensis (tea plant) were in use at that time as a remedy for wounds and diseases. With the legendary emperor Shenong brewing and drinking its extracts, tea drinking became a popular habit in this part of the world. The British, impressed with the brew and the customs that go with drinking it in China and Japan, tried to emulate and evolve a tea-drinking custom of their own, and soon “tea-time”became a familiar term across the globe. Every home or cafe seems to have its own flavour. The north Indian variety of “chay” is a glass of hot creamy milk (more cream as it gets more “special”) with lots of sugar and a lacing of  “tea liquor” of strong tea that grows on lower heights (Assam, Nilgiri, Sri Lanka etc). In contrast, the Chinese and Japanese prefer light green or jasmine tea without a drop of mi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Food Fads in Liver Disorders

By
In an attempt at trying to do well to those they love, spouses and parents often enforce diets on patients of liver diseases that often turn out to be detrimental. The commonest food fad is pale insipid boiled cabbage being doled out to nauseous patients suffering from hepatitis that makes them puke even more.  The liver, in a way, is a buzzing manufacturing unit that requires lots of energy to keep its multiple functions going. And it derives all this from the food we eat. During disease, such as during an attack of jaundice, when many of the liver cells get killed, the liver attemptsdamage control by trying to regenerate quickly. For its cells to multiply however, it requires a generous supply of energy that comes from carbohydrates, and protein, the building block for its cells and tissues. Boiled green vegetables unfortunately have neither of these. Hence the situation often progresses to that of a starved liver unable to recuperate due to cut-off food suppl...
2 comments
Read more

Colas have No Class

By
Cola drinks, once a symbol of American upmarket style, is now to be found perched mainly on the shelves of road-side ‘paan walas’ and local grocers. True, there still are Americans who drink more colas than water, and consume an average of 2 bottles per day of the tangy fizzy dark drink, but it has clearly fallen in stature as offering it to visitors or serving it at parties is no longer elegant. Premiere schools in Lucknow such as La Martiniere College for girls have shunned colas from their canteen for the last 4 years. The story started with extensive campaigns by HOPE Initiative (Health Oriented Programs and Education) in 2005 creating awareness among the bright students about the long term harms of cola drinks. A heated debate followed in which the rights of an individual student  was pitched against the hazards of allowing gullible youngsters to be enticed by aggressive marketing to gulp colas and fall sick. The intelligent and alert La Marts students dcided on ...
Post a Comment
Read more