The year 2020 held big plans for a lot of people, prior to that time, many persons had several plans to mark the beginning of the new decade; “Vision 2020” was a slogan commonly used by the government and her people alike. However, most of these visions and aspirations never saw the light of day, some were still at the break of dawn when Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic on the 11th of March, 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Before this, numerous videos and news of human beings dropping dead on the streets of China emerged all over the internet. It was a mysterious sight to behold as these images seemed like they were from a movie, even people from the older generation attested to the fact that they had never seen anything like it.
As early as the 9th of January, Wuhan, China recorded the first victim of the virus. We all hoped and prayed that the deadly virus would not get out of control as news of a global lockdown began to speculate.
In little or no time, the pandemic began to spread vastly, and it was quite unfortunate that the lockdown was implemented after the disease had spread through commuters and travelers all over the globe. All religious and social gatherings were suspended, there was a total lockdown on airports, schools, markets, banks and every public and private parastatal. Hunger kicked in with limited means of livelihood, many households experienced famine all over the world.
Health workers however were the front liners in the battle with the virus, while most families tried to stay indoors and avoid crowded places; they were constantly at risk of contracting the virus; either through taking care of infected people or in the quest to produce the right vaccine. Amidst the safety procedures outlined by the WHO, new cases of the dreaded disease sprung up daily. Being that the disease was airborne and contagious through the tiniest droplets of fluid from an effected person, even some very careful people got infected. The use of face masks and alcohol-based hand sanitizers became the norm of the day, who would have thought that the entire world would be moving around 3 feet apart with half their faces covered in 2020?
Millions of lives have been claimed in the space of one year, with families left in jeopardy and mourning as members of their household were lost to the deadly struggle. Children and adults alike are prone to this disease even in 2021. We all hoped that this virus would not accompany us into the new year, but it did. However, all hope is not lost as a Vaccine to aid the prevention of contracting the corona virus has been finally produced.
The World Health Organization played a vital role in all of this, they raised an alarm on January 30, 2020 calling the attention of the world on an emerging pandemic, and finally put their foot down when they alerted the world that it was indeed a pandemic. As they also have mentioned that there is presently a second wave of the virus.
365 days later today, there are vaccines in circulation around the globe to aid the eradication of this virus, although some countries have not received this development warmly, as there are doubts and complaints of possible negative reactions to this vaccine. We can only continue to hope that there would be light at the end of this tunnel.
To every family that has lost a soul to this pandemic we pray for light to shine upon you even as you hold on to the memories of your beloved; and until this pandemic is finally over, it is wise however, that we do not put down our face masks nor ignore the hand sanitizers; and of course, the need for social distancing is still of the essence. Stay Safe out there.
BY: OGBE COURTNEY
WILDFLOWER PR
1 comment
Embracing social distancing and sanitizing as the new normal. Post covid hangover means emphasis should be placed more on human safety and providing alternative working habits such as WFH, ensuring strict compliance to safety guidelines and investing more in cloud based systems. That is the only way we can ensure that the second wave as forecasted wouldn’t be as devastating as the first to individuals and businesses.