The applause is so loud that we cannot hear how loud people are crying now. We started applauding for ourselves from single digits, all through to an alarming 5,638 as of May 15th, 2020 and possibly still counting. 

On testing: Amazing how aggressive our testing has been. Very enviable testing capacity. Resilient contact tracing and attempted isolation. 

On public education: We have not done much in this space. Woefully inadequate.   

Infact, one of the main weapons we have is education but we forget that attitudinal change from proper education is not only for those on social media and with Television/radio sets.

The majority of people require a completely mode of communication. The gong gong beater, the ISD and NCCE have been forced into redundancy and possibly retirement 

On interventions: Initially very tactical, easy for all to appreciate. Difficult to accept initially but just like all humans 'grieving', we finally accepted the new reality.

Interestingly, just when we were getting used to the new normal, we are greeted with the sudden news of a lift on the lockdown.

The same people who did not want to be locked down started agitating for an extension because its importance was now being appreciated.

People were now scared and fully appreciative of the reality of COVID 19. But once announced, staying home was no longer mandatory but optional. An option many gladly ignored. 

Every Ghanaian was reminded to stay religious to the already laid down safety protocols as practiced all over the world. The unfortunate oversight is that we did not remember that our brothers, sisters, parents and grandparents in the villages had no idea there was a disease called corona, so there is no way they could understand what social distancing is or why they should go through the discomfort of wearing a facemask.

What next?

Unfortunately again this is going to be a very difficult question to answer.

Simply because even our data reporting is not good enough to even make any informed decision on the next step.

My best guess now, HERD IMMUNITY. 

Stay safe, stay home, wear a mask and stay calm.

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The author Dr Hamza Asumah is the Founder & Managing Director of Halo Medical Services

www.hmsghana.com
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