Dear Editor,
Donkeys kill more people each year than Great White Sharks; yet humans harbour little fear of the neighbourhood jackass while we enter every ocean with trepidation and for older persons, the theme song to Jaws humming in our heads, a symphony playing ‘ode to irrational fear’. In my opinion, this is where we are with COVID-19 today, huddled onshore afraid to go into the water for fears placed in our minds by global media. We are suffering from what is called Media Malaise.
Media Malaise Theory holds that the way media cover news or puts it before the public hurts society as a whole. While competing with each other, the news channels only search for sensational news to attract and hold audiences. The way worldwide news is covered there is an instant process of delivering news and constant facts are given barely explaining the details which create a state of confusion. The Coronavirus was/is the perfect example of the damage that media malaise can cause in a world connected by high-speed internet and satellite television. A man dies in China and we panic in Guyana.
During the early days of the pandemic (a word designed to create panic, if there ever was one) COVID-19 was an unknown quantity, conflicting information and uncertainty of what, if any, treatment would/could ‘cure’ or prevent the ‘disease’ were all hyped by an all too willing media. In every corner of the globe, citizens were treated to images of overflowing hospitals and morgues, most governments put their countries into full or partial lockdowns to prevent the spread of the mystery illness. The notable exception among countries in the developed world is Sweden; they had a middle of the table mortality rate, and interruption of normal life was minimal. We now know that COVID-19 is a strain of the flu and there is no avoiding it. According to the State Epidemiologist for Sweden, Dr. Giesecke, “lockdowns are solely a means of delaying the inevitable, you’re pushing your cases and deaths into the future, they are not disappearing”. What lessons lie in all the new information for Guyanese and other citizens of the world is subject to interpretation.
In the nine weeks since Guyana’s first case of COVID-19, ten persons have died and of the thousand-plus persons tested, approximately 120 have tested positive for the virus. Our unique version of a lockdown sees persons mix freely all day and then be restricted by curfew at night. Guyana’s hospitals have not been overwhelmed with cases of COVID-19 and we will not be suffering unduly from the pandemic.
Any rational examination will lead to the conclusion that we cannot avoid COVID-19 infections and deaths and those most vulnerable should take as many precautions as affordable. Ironically, the poor are building up herd-immunity by having to be out while the rich can afford to stay at home. Guyana needs to be reopened immediately and let life (and death) take their course. Shark or jackass; nobody is going to live forever, and hiding-away in caves is not going to make COVID-19 go away.
Yours faithfully,
Robin Singh
