Covid-19 ……misinformation
Covid-19 has come at a time when anyone with an electronic gadget can become an expert. The amount of information out there is vast and a lot of it full of falsehoods.
The worst falsehoods are brought on by the fact that Africa seems to have been spared the worst of this disease. (The face of Covid-19 is changing by the minute and I have to say what holds true for today, 30th March 2020, may not hold true in next weeks).
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
It had been expected that because of its fragile health systems, Africa would be badly hit by this new coronavirus. In fact, African countries were so terrified that schools were closed and people asked to work from home in many countries once a single imported case was reported. The biggest fear was also the probability that Covid-19 would interact with other infectious diseases – making them worse, especially the risk to HIV-infected people.
However, what has unfolded has been rather unexpected. The situation in Africa has remained stable. As a result, a lot of theories have sprung up. One of the main theories is that Coronavirus cannot spread in warmth or heat of any kind. The many ‘experts’ out there have come up with solutions to get us hot enough to keep the virus at bay:
-drink plenty of hot water
-eat red hot chillies
-drink hot water with garlic
-eat more ginger or put ginger in hot water
-ginger and honey in hot water
-lemon in hot water
Water is good for you – but there is no evidence to show that water kills this virus. And ss long as you are not burning your mouth, there is really no harm in drinking plenty of water.
More dangerous is the idea that since hand sanitisers are killing the virus, it’s a good idea to drink them. As hand sanitisers have high levels of alcohol, some have taken it a step further and are drinking methanol
This is extremely dangerous and already, many hundreds in Iran have died as a result.https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/03/27/world/middleeast/ap-ml-virus-outbreak-iran-a-deadly-drink.html
The loss of several hundred people to alcohol poisoning is tragic and also extremely demoralising for hospital staff who are dealing with thousands of deaths as a result of Covid-19 and now have to deal with thousands of cases of alcohol poisoning.
No one can give reason why Covid-19 is not, at the moment, killing many people in Africa but one perhaps much simpler explanation is staring us in the face.
If you look at the United Nations Population fund website and look at the age structure of African countries, you will find a familiar picture, this is for East and South African combined….
https://www.unfpa.org/data/world-population-dashboard
Taking together all of Sub-Saharan Africa:-
About 42% is under 14 years of age
About 55% is between 15-64 years of age.
This means that in sub-Saharan Africa, only 3% of the population is 65 years and above.
Therefore in Africa, only 3 out of every 100 people will be 65 years old. Compare that to Italy where 25 out of every 100 people is over 65 years or England where 20 out of every 100 people is over 65 years old.
In the early stage of the outbreak in Italy, the average age of those who died was 81 years old. Of all the deaths, over 84% of all deaths were in people over 60 years old.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30627-9/fulltext
People with underlying conditions like diabetes and heart disease are also at increased risk. These conditions are mainly among our older populations too.
Of course, no one can claim to know for sure how Covid-19 will behave in Africa. Whether the lid will stay down – whether it will flare. All these are unknown.
It does not auger well for us if we come up with so called ‘treatments’ that make things worse. If we go out to drink hand sanitizers or high level alcohol products in the name of protecting ourselves from Covid-19, then we shall burden our hospitals with cases of poisoning. A severe disease associated with coronavirus may pass you if you remain healthy. However, if you are recovering from poisoning, and then become infected, the risk that you may become severely ill is probably higher.
Please listen to the real experts.
Comments
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Tabs
Thank you Ann
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Debraj Banerjee
Yes, your observation is absolutely correct along with justified interpretations. I wish the population-at-risk could have read this article and understand it thoroughly. Best regards, Debraj.
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Tabs
thank you for reading Debraj
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Carol
Thanks Tabs for the information well written. It is true that everyone has become an expert with the wrong information. Corona is spreading like wild fire where people are silent and no action. The information from our health officials is to now wear a mask every time you go out. The masks now will become a business opportunity for some people. What this means is that people will start to wear inappropriate masks and go on with their business as usual oblivious of the dangers of disease acquisition out there. It is very sad that people do not follow simple guidelines and now the government has sort to introduce draconian measures
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Tabs
I agree with you Carol, staying at home is the only way to beat this – but is it hard for some people. Some who live hand to mouth have no option as the government is not providing food aid for those in need – they have to go out and work otherwise their children will starve. But, there are those who are not taking this thing seriously. In the UK, its been 3 days in a row where more than 500 people are dying PER DAY of this disease. It is better to follow the guidelines no matter how unnatural – until this thing passes
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Tuda
Nice article!
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Gokul Prem Kumar
Thank you for the article. Gone are the days when Africa was battling communicable diseases and curtailing the tide of preventable deaths. However, with a growing urban middle-class and rising incidence of chronic diseases, Africa is gearing up for a plethora of new healthcare challenges. Policy-makers and the governments are playing a key role in providing better healthcare facilities and increased access to medicine. I strongly believe that the current situation across the world can be conquered as well.
Comments are closed.
Ann Edmondson
This is the most sensible comment I have read. Also, health professionals are doing a lot to educate the public in personal hygiene and steps to take to avoid spread of infection. I enjoy reading your observations, well done for this one.