A Fox, swimming across a river, was barely able to reach the bank, where he lay bruised and exhausted from his struggle with the swift current. Soon a swarm of blood-sucking flies settled on him; but he lay quietly, still too weak to run away from them.
A Hedgehog happened by. “Let me drive the flies away,” he said kindly. “No, no!” exclaimed the Fox, “do not disturb them! They have taken all they can hold. If you drive them away, another greedy swarm will come and take the little blood I have left.”
The meaning of this fable is that a known danger is often less harmful than the unknown.
It is now slightly just above two weeks since President Uhuru Kenyatta removed the restrictions imposed in March following a spike in Covid-19 cases. Since then new Covid cases have remained below 10 per cent, which is encouraging.
During his address on May 1, the President noted, “If public responsiveness to the health protocols goes up, then the possibility of further de-escalating the containment measures is within reach. Sadly, a surge of infections will necessitate an escalation of the containment measures, a possibility we all dread.”
We must therefore take these words seriously and ensure that there is no surge in infections again. The Ministry of Health has warned that Kenya may witness the fourth wave in July if Kenyans disregard the Covid-19 protocols.
Since last year, we have witnessed how devastating the pandemic has been across the world - disrupting economies as well as leading to deaths. We can therefore conclude that we are all aware of the dangers of the pandemic and must therefore do all we can to ensure that we stay safe.
And staying safe and alive is not the only thing that matters in this pandemic. We also have to ensure that we protect our livelihoods. Millions of Kenyans have lost their livelihoods every time the President institutes stricter measures.
The hospitality industry has suffered the most, with hundreds of thousands of workers being put out of work. And when hotels, bars and restaurants close down, other sectors of the economy such as transport and food growers are equally affected.
It is, therefore, important that we wear our masks properly while in public and maintain the highest level of hygiene. In addition, we must maintain social distance and avoid crowded places when we can.
As we have seen over the last 15 months, Covid-19 is not a respecter of persons or stature. We all, therefore, know the danger we face if we were to contract the virus.
Scientists have warned us that there will be a fourth wave if we let our guard down. We must therefore focus on ensuring that we are do not get there by urging those around us to follow the protocols put in place.
The other thing that we must do is ensure that we go get vaccinated against Covid-19. We have seen a slow uptake in the first phase of the vaccination, this should not be the case when the new doses arrive in the coming weeks.
When you get your first dose, it protects you from getting severe symptoms by 60 per cent when you get exposed to the virus. We must ensure that as many people are vaccinated as the government has assured us that the new doses are coming soon.
This pandemic has hurt all of us and for Kenya to ensure that lives and livelihoods are not lost, each of us has a role to play. We cannot afford the cycle of ‘lockdowns’ that we have experienced in the last 15 months.
Political and communications consultant. @MachelWaikenda)
