Guyana has become a cold and uncaring society

May 25, 2021 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – Nothing better exemplifies the cold and uncaring nature of our society than the indifference which is being shown to the large number of elderly who are succumbing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those whose immune systems are weak or compromised are dying and yet there has been no massive outcry over the deaths; it is almost as if these persons are being treated as collateral damage.
So far, 359 persons have died locally from COVID-19 related causes. The majority of these have been persons above the age of 55 years. And perhaps, it is because the majority of those dying are senior citizens which accounts for the care-free attitude of the younger generation towards the pandemic.
The Ministry of Health has indicated that the uptake of vaccinations among the younger population has been disappointing. The fact that the elderly are succumbing more easily has led to a situation in which many young persons are not exercising the safety practices which are needed because they feel, quite wrongly, that they are invincible and will not die.
But what they fail to acknowledge is that many of them are indirectly responsible for the deaths of their elderly members of their households. Most of the elderly who are contracting and succumbing to the virus are not gallivanting around the streets without masks. Many of them are housebound, some hardly leave their homes. But they are being infected by other household members who bring the virus into the home.
Despite this, every day you can see hundreds of citizens moving around without masks. Even if these persons do not wish to take precautions for themselves, they should consider the health of the elderly members of their household.
But why blame them alone, when the government is also acting callously. The government is refusing to tighten the social restrictions. One person has gone as far as absurdly claiming that curfews do not work. In that case, one has to ask why it is then there is still a curfew in place from 10pm to 4am. Why not remove this if it does not work!
But the government is able to get away with this sort of approach to the pandemic because the vast majority of the people of this country have not been lending their voices to calls for social restrictions such as the closure of non-essential businesses, work-from-home and rotation and the extending of the curfew hours.
There has been no massive public outcry over the large numbers of deaths which are taking place and which will get worst. Almost 1,000 cases have been recorded over the past week alone and 16 persons have died during that period. Given the death rate per infections, it is expected that of these 1,000 cases over the past week, more than 20 are likely to die. The probability is that four of the 19 persons in the COVID-19 ICU are also likely to die within the next two weeks. And each day, more and more persons are being infected and adding to the numbers in the COVID-19 ICU.
By the time the pandemic abates, Guyana is likely to see 600 deaths or more. For a small country like Guyana, this is a calamity. Yet, the public appears more preoccupied with political quarrels than with protecting the elderly.
But the elderly is also not without fault. It was shocking to learn that only 60 percent of the elderly population, the most high-risk age group, has thus far been vaccinated. While vaccination does not offer an absolute guarantee that you will not be infected or become severely sick, it has been pointed out that there is only very minute risk of serious infections for fully vaccinated persons and fairly high efficacy levels for those who have had their first vaccination.
Guyana will incur a serious curse because of its attitude towards the deaths of the elderly. No country can hope to progress when it adopts such an uncaring and selfish attitude towards the spate of COVID-19 deaths.
It is time for a serious rethink of social restrictions in Guyana. It is time for more stringent social restrictions. But who will champion these calls when it appears that the majority of the population are quite prepared to tolerate the present high levels of infections and deaths rather than further restrict their activities.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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Guyana has become a cold and uncaring society

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