Stay at home

Going over the Live reporting for the coronavirus-day is a bit stressful to say the least. Foreigners being attacked in Ethiopia suspects of carrying the virus; Lagos shutting down schools; Senegal closing its airspace; Chad shutting passenger flights and closing borders with Sudan and the Central African Republic... Did I say this is stressful?

 As the death toll raises in Italy and Spain, and even Boris Johnson is changing the course of action in the UK after listening to the scientists, things are getting tough in Africa too. Burkina Faso has reported the first death for coronavirus, a 62year old diabetic patient (who seems to have been the  former vice-president of the national assembly according to a social media post). A Tanzanian top rapper with 3.3M instagram followers has tested positive. South Africa fears the worst and has proclaimed a National State of Disaster...

 

South Africa's National Disaster regulations and projection of ICU demand under household quarantine and general social distancing in the UK.

All this is to say that what we are doing in Kenya is hard, but necessary. An early close down can minimize the viral load circulating in the country and facilitate contention. Social distancing is not easy. Working from home while the children are also learning from home requires a special set of skills. But we are doing this for the well-being of our parents, our grandparents, and anyone with a pre-existing condition that may aggravate the disease. Without a vaccine there is no herd immunity and we had to find another way of collective protection. As the Italians are saying, our grandparents were asked to go to war; we are only being asked to stay home. #StayAtHome