Reining in the galloping virus

By Captain Mahmood Al Mahmood

What? A week gone already in the New Year? I bet most of us are picking our way through the debris of resolutions broken and already the year is beginning to look much like the past year.

As things stand, 2022 is hopping forward with all the lop-sided grace of a one-legged rabbit. But we are armed with the knowledge of 2020 and 2021, so we should be able to deflect many of the more severe blows.

Already Bahrain has shown that it could put to use the lessons of managing the pandemic and just last Thursday, the Taskforce for managing COVID-19 announced that a whopping 94% target for vaccinations has been reached in the kingdom.

This, at a time when many countries have not even fully completed vaccinations for their medical frontliners, is indeed worth applauding.

Bahrain has also rationalized the care of patients with the virus so that the Kingdom’s healthcare delivery system stays in top gear. After all, despite the dire consequences, other medical needs continue unabated too and must be attended to. People are reaching the dangerous point of ‘care burnout’ though.

I read that 173 passengers on a chartered flight from Italy to Punjab in India tested positive recently; we have reached a point where we slyly monitor our guests’ health for a week after throwing a party and in Bahrain, stories keep popping up of how one guest spread the virus to many households at weddings and other gatherings.

But before we start a blame game, let us remember what Crown Prince and PM, HRH Prince Salman told us at the start of this terrible pandemic, way back in 2020.

He said this was a common enemy and we must all gather our collective strength to fight the virus. Each one of us contributes by following sensible protocol and every person kept from catching the virus, sets off a chain reaction of recovery that touches our social life, our economy and our Kingdom’s health.

So this year, alongside your fancy resolutions remember to make a promise to continue to mask up, stay socially distanced and soap up those hands!