The first wave is done. What’s unfolding before us is the second round of the Covid-19 pandemic. The media will not let us forget this. We are informed of the number of new
infections. Every single day. We are told how many died. Every single day. It’s like updates of a cricket match score.
‘Corona’ is a good way for the Opposition to get through each day. As for the JVP, it sees Kerala and not Sri Lanka. It’s as though they are waiting, salivating actually, anticipating the government failing to control things.
For the whiners in and out of social media Corona is a godsend. We have debates over PCR tests and Rapid Antigen Tests.
This is what’s on the surface. Beneath goes unseen or if known, ignored. Let’s go there.
There are those who spare no pains, for whom there is no night that’s separate from day, those who fight the virus 24/7. They face the threat directly. They engage knowing all the risks. They were not dissuaded by the negligence of the people. And few if at all applauded them. If they erred in the slightest they were unreservedly condemned. That didn’t stop them either. When people complained about facilities in quarantine centers, they continued to work.
Who are these people? Let’s talk about them.
Those in the health sector are working tirelessly. Theirs is an immense burden. They bear it. They don’t complain. Among them are doctors. Nurses. Attendants. Well, all of them and also each and every member of each and every healthcare facility in the country run by the state be it a physician or someone delivering janitorial services. All of them.
We have the Public Health Inspectors, better known as PHIs. Ambulance drivers. Those who handle the dead, those in the hospital morgues right down to those who work in the cemeteries.
From the Army Commander down to the most recently recruited soldier, indeed every members of the three-forces, are involved in this battle. The Police have been at it from Day One, going way beyond the call of duty.
In addition to all this, very few people know or are willing to acknowledge the fact that the Government does have a comprehensive and cogent plan to deal with the pandemic despite all constraints.
PCR rests, identifying the infected, medical attention, policies regarding treatment and quarantine procedures, observing the infected and their contacts, isolation, curfews, containment etc., etc., all happen according to a well-formulated plan. There are probably hundreds of public servants whose names we don’t know and whose faces we haven’t seen involved in this massive operation to protect the citizenry.
We see none of it. We ‘see’ instead darkness. We hear ‘bad news’. And yet, none of it deters the aforementioned people. They don’t talk. They don’t whine. They put their lives on line instead.
They are not human. They are gods and goddesses who walk among us.
This is a word, a salutation to each and every one of them.
‘ඇටමැස්සා'
