COVID-19: Fact denials, the blame game and a plea for a total lockdown in Ghana

The consequences of loss of control – blame game here, conspiracy theories there.

The novel corona virus originated from Wuhan in the Chinese province of Hubei – that is fact.

The Chinese government downplayed early reports of infections including an unusual pneumonia accompanied by fever, headache, and dry, strenuous, repeated coughs without mucus.
That is also a fact.

The first reported death due to covid 19 also called Sars-Cov-2 by its scientific name occurred on the 11 of Jan. 2020.

That is also widely known.

That the Chinese first notified the World Health Organisation by 31 Dec is also true.

And above all, that, the Chinese adopted rigorous approaches, and took draconian measures vis à vis the novel corona virus is also undeniable.

On the flip side, the rest of the world began to relativize the outbreak in China.

Many Europeans with the usual reticence stood aloof, with some claiming that – “What has a virus from a faraway sea food and bush meat market in China got to do with us(?)

But the real culprit is a leader of the free world who denied the realities faced by his country.

President D. Trump even called it the “Chinese virus”.

He even wanted to lift the partial lockdown and open businesses for the Easter holidays.

The Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo also said that any attempt by the Federal Government to close the New York Stock Exchange Market will be tantamount to a declaration of war. Where in the world?

Others such as Britain made false starts in their response plans as they naively waited for people to build immunity.

But the sixty-four thousand dollar question is at what cost?

How many people must die before others become immune?

Britain was more focused on the politics of Brexit, and by the signing of the exit treaty on 1 Feb 2020 from the EU there was only one case of Covid 19 infection in Yorkshire.

The US was also occupied with impeachment of the president.

Africans banked their hope on what they have in abundance – the scourge of the sun to stave off the spread of the virus with some going to the extent of claiming that “it is a whitemans’ disease, and thus blacks are immune.

And as the blame game turned sour and awkward, the Chinese authorities also began to blame Africans, especially those resident in Wuhan as the key vectors of transmission of the novel corona virus.

From the point of view of the psychologist, that is how people behave when they begin to lose control, and therefore look elsewhere for cause and effect.

In brief, the situation is out of control because the US in particular has arrogantly placed economic interests, civil rights, and liberties above human lives.

The Chinese people have paid the price of submission to autocratic regime, and that is what helped curb the spread of the virus.

Chinese army officers stormed multi-storey buildings by night measuring temperature, they used mobile phones to track the movement of people, including CCTV cameras to identify people at risk.

The West, however, is still debating how to curb the spread of the virus without jeopardising prevailing civil rights, liberties, and collapsing economic and wealth systems at the same time.

In Germany some states are pushing for gradual lifting of the lockdown, and want to go it alone.

Frau Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, has warned against untimely actions that may cause relapse of the outbreak.

The defence Minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer also warned against any unilateral actions.

Sweden is also changing course and has tightened existing measures as the number of infections rises. France has extended partial lockdown to 11 May while Switzerland, Austria, Spain are considering lifting restrictions gradually.

The WHO has warned against early return to normal life as patients treated and discharged in South Korea have been reinfected though an insignificant number.

The common sense is that the cost of upholding value systems and economic interests amidst the corona crisis is far higher than the cost of submission to an autocratic regime to mitigate the lethargy of a virus – just compare the number of fatalities between China and the West.

Let us all “learn how to be dictators”, and when the storm is over, democracy and all of its undergirding values, normative, and integrity systems, and moral orders will remain intact while China cannot become a democracy; not overnight….

With weaker healthcare and supply chain systems, structural bottlenecks, weak sanction regimes, and indiscipline wheeled by ignorance many African countries can’t afford the luxurious, incremental approach of the West.

To the government of Ghana, my solemn plea is that lockdown the country and learn how to live and deal with the unintended consequences of a total lockdown on daily basis.

A stitch in time saves nine.

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