Immense pressure on the health-care system and staff, exhaustion of the medications and precautionary material and mass panic can have wider psycho-social implications. Let’s not turn these concerns into hysteria urges Dr. Debanjan.

When the world welcomed 2020 this time like any other new year, we knew little of what awaited us in the next few months. Originating in the Wuhan province of China towards the end of last year, the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) causing Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) gripped human life by its reigns during the first few months of this year. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected near two million globally, claiming the lives of almost 145,705 so far with numbers rising as we speak.

Besides public health and health infrastructure, the virus ripped through the global economy, travel, national and international policies. Starting from various cities locking down their borders to small-scale set-ups crashing down and thousands losing their livelihood, the agitation has been soaring over the need for testing and treatment. Masks and sanitizers have become the rarest commodities and various fake products are on the rise. Besides the infection, people are also falling prey to faulty treatments, false assurances and a plethora of misinformation.

COVID-19 in that sense is a ‘digital pandemic’ in which the ‘tension and chaos’ spread faster through social media rather than the virus itself. And just when we started getting bizarre forwards of why India is resistant to the virus, the outbreak began here on 30th January 2020 and cases crossed 2,000 in two months. The administration has been taking several strict steps to contain the spread and prevent the stage of community transmission, including the initial Janata Curfew and the subsequent 21 days nation-wide lockdown. With the best of intentions, is this helping reduce mass hysteria and fear-mongering? Probably Not.

Not one day has passed for the last one month that I have not answered queries, contested debates and fiercely stood for my arguments on COVID-19. The factual load going viral in every form of media contributes to ‘information pollution’, that is an epidemic more worrisome than this pandemic itself. The concept of ‘misinfodemics’ given by the World Health Organization (WHO) refers to ‘any degree of misinformation contributing to the spread of an epidemic’. Popularized early during the SARS and MERS outbreak and recently during the Swine flu, Ebola and Nipah epidemics, misinfodemics has contributed significantly to wrong treatments and neglected precautions, both being detrimental to public health.

It has stigmatized HIV/AIDS, marginalized mental illness like depression and recently delivered a heavy blow to the food industry due to a wrong belief that COVID-19 gets transmitted by meat consumption. Imagine all throughout every single day, be it printed or digital media or your phone and social networks: all that you hear is how threatening the situation is, how unsafe you are and the grave statistics in bold justifying them! The virus has hijacked the very basis of our living, emotional peace and security: not just the body. Stocking up rations, masks and, sanitizers, antivirals and any other medicines showcased on the media leads to crowding in every single store This is much more ominous for a viral spread, especially when every single source is repeatedly recommending social distancing and self-isolation as key measures to fight the disease.

Our hospitals are flooded with requests for tests, demands of medications and queries about the viral transmission. In spite of a Government circular instructing public not to attend hospital for any non-emergency reasons, our out-patient departments still have crowds, though reduced.

Well, the threat is true: we do have a pandemic that has affected the whole of world! I find it redundant to suggest my patients not to worry, as there are well-enough reasons to do so. If we are not distressed during such a global crisis, when else is the time for it! Stress is but, just normal and it’s time we accept it. My only point is to let that worry be a concern for ourselves and other people around us, enabling us to take the correct precautions for the greater good. Ironically, I keep receiving messages comparing death rates of COVID-19 with various other illnesses to establish the over-estimation of the current threat.

Sadly, this results from a very poor understanding of public health and the social implications of a pandemic. COVID-19 is not fatal. It has 2% death rate (meaning 2 in 100 people might succumb to the illness), compared to 10% in SARS (also caused by a different strain of CORONA virus). The elderly, ill and immunocompromised are at increased risk.

However, in a country like ours, with limited health resources, finances and, dysregulated population: once the situation worsens in terms of numbers the community transmission will snowball leading to extensive mayhem. This is not due to the virus, but due to immense pressure on the health-care system and staff, exhaustion of the medications and precautionary material and mass panic which can have wider psycho-social implications. Public safety, mental well-being and, domestic life will be at stake. That is the fear of a pandemic, not the statistics depicted around it. It might have affected millions, but there is still a chance of containment should we all be serious about it.

As the researchers world-wide struggle to find an effective antivirals and vaccine, it is our collective responsibility to protect ourselves and those around us. Let our worry not turn into panic, let our concern not turn into hysteria. WHO and CDC have credible and updated sources of information that can be referred to. As people might have many different queries, pumping them with information without trying to know their doubts or perspectives might be counterproductive. It is time we refrain from excessive use of social media and prevent senseless forwards, which can generate further fear in the wrong hands.

The three simple steps of social distancing, hand and respiratory hygiene are the best strategies against COVID-19. An important lesson from China is their internal struggle that hundreds of quarantined people faced in various districts to contain the spread. Sacrificing social needs for a few days for the greater good will have beneficial results. It is a collective responsibility at all levels. More so in our country where overcrowding is the norm and public hygiene is largely neglected. Pandemics are just not medical illnesses, they are ‘social evils’ too. If the microscopic virus has taught us a lesson, it is the ‘need for unity to fight it’.

At the end of the day, life is much beyond COVID-19!

(The author Dr. Debanjan Banerjee is a Geriatric Psychiatrist at NIMHANS, Bengaluru and also a member of First Check, an award-winning fact-checking initiative of Health Analytics Asia. )