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Corona times: Facts, Fear and Panic!

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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!

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