Although strict lockdown measures have mostly been lifted, the pandemic is still far from over. As people gradually begin trying to resume their regular lives once more, it is more important now than ever before to remember that life cannot go back to what it used to be.
The current pandemic is such that everyone’s personal habits have direct consequences on the community transmission of Covid-19. As such, it is imperative that people adopt new habits to adapt to the “new normal” that we are living in.
On an individual level, people must be encouraged to take up habits such as wearing three-layer cloth masks, washing hands often, and maintaining social distancing to the best of one’s abilities -- although it is true that it can be difficult to maintain physical distancing because of the country’s high population density.
People can contract the disease even if they do not leave their homes. Measures such as sanitizing and wiping down home-delivered products with rubbing alcohol and maintaining a distance while speaking to someone at the door can help prevent this.
Additionally, it is essential that these preventive practices be encouraged by concerned authorities as well. It is unlikely that herd immunity can be achieved without a vaccine, and if attempted, will very possibly cause significant damage to public health and the economy. As Dr Nusrat Homaira said in a recent conversation with Dhaka Tribune: “Herd immunity should be achieved through vaccines, not by natural infections.”
This pandemic is a health crisis that must be handled holistically. Both preventive public health policies and individual habits hold enough weight to turn the tide of the virus, and neither measure should be treated lightly. This is a crisis that we must work through together.
