Abdus Salam Khan. March 20th 2020.
Everyone is concerned about the implications of corona Virus. Information is coming from everywhere and it is changing frequently. It is making people very uncomfortable as authenticity of some of that news can not be ascertained. Different organizations put out the information as well as advisory and guidelines to help people stay safe in this difficult times.
Because of the virus being very new to us, there is not a whole lot that doctors or researchers know about it. As the day is going, we are learning more and more. For now the conventional wisdom was utilized and it seemed not to favor us in different places like Italy and UK. It makes us all vulnerable to the illness and acquiring of the virus.
The lack of information and associated potential disaster which can affect all of us causes panic as people don’t know how to make themselves safe. Being the new virus and the speed at which it is infecting people the information regarding it is changing rapidly and thus causes information overload for people.
Following four commonsense statements should be the basic guiding principles for the common public.
- Prevention through individual and community isolation.
- Hand washing.
- Avoid social gathering.
- If anyone gets sick then they should self isolate (Quarantine) to prevent others.
List can go on and on but these are rarely basic, very important and easy to do things that all of us should do. This will also result in breaking the chain of viral spread in the community.
I am working on developing a system to provide update and keep everyone informed. PSEM is also arranging guidelines to to keep emergency staff safe so that they can treat patients coming to the emergency department without themselves getting sick.
We should act collectively and try to defeat the effects of this virus with minimal damage to the human capital of Pakistan