Experts: Embrace new social order after pandemic

With the government mulling whether to ease restrictions imposed on Kenyans to control the spread of coronavirus, experts are now warning that Kenyans will have to make drastic behavioural change to survive in the post Covid-19 period.

Medical experts now believe that the world will never be the same again, and Kenyans must be ready to adopt a “new social order”.

Medics and sociologists believe that the transformation coronavirus has made to lives could become a permanent reality.

The warning comes in the backdrop of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s assurance that he is likely to ease some of the restrictions, such as the curfew and the lockdown on June 6, when the current containment measures expire.

Addressing the nation on Saturday morning, President Uhuru said Kenya will not be left behind in the global trend where various countries are now opening up.

“We will not continue with the lockdown and the curfew. I have told health officials and my ministers that they should start telling Kenyans we cannot be under a curfew or lockdown forever,” the President said then.

Enhance awareness

The government is considering opening up the country at a time statistics indicate that up to 500,000 people may have lost their jobs due to the pandemic and hundreds of companies are on their knees as a result of its effects.

Yesterday, medical practitioners and disaster management experts warned that the country could witness a major spike in new cases of coronavirus unless the lifting of the measures is accompanied by a drastic behavioural change by Kenyans.

“Kenyans will have to play a major role by making a paradigm shift in the way they behave. But the decision to ease up the measures should be determined by factors such as information from the laboratory, medical intelligence and the number of areas posting high numbers of new cases,” Dr Moses Masika, a virologist and a lecturer at the University of Nairobi told the People Daily.

In the new social order, Masika warns that communities will have to be forced to change some of their traditional lifestyle such as the way they dispose of the dead and accompanying rituals.

Very soon, Kenyans may also find themselves being restricted on access to their respective churches as the government remains vigilant to contain the situation.

“It will solely depend on how people will adopt to the new lifestyle and change. Otherwise, continuing with some of the old habits would be quite suicidal,” Dr Masika warned.

In the absence of a vaccine, the congestion in hospitals, diminishing businesses, restriction of access to public spaces, intensifying health challenges and forcing people to remain indoors could become permanent features.

Other sources in the Office of the President intimated to the People Daily that the government may consider easing the containment measures in phases.

Once the country witnesses a decline of reported new cases, then the government will lift the lockdown in carefully considered stages.

“The government might start by unlocking transport in low transmission areas and asking the vulnerable people such as the elderly and those with low or weak immune systems to continue staying at home. 

If we end the lockdown abruptly, we may undo the benefit we have  achieved,” said the source at Harambee House, who declined to be mentioned due to the sensitivity of the issue.

According to Willis Akhwale, a World Health Organisation (WHO) consultant, Kenyans should brace themselves for a new world order where they would have to wear masks throughout, keep social distancing and avoid the traditional handshaking characteristic.

“I can see the difficult position in which the government has found itself in, balancing between public health measures and socioeconomic effects.

But the government must come up with clear parameters that would not see the gains made through the containment measures being wiped,” Dr Akhwale argue.

Akhwale wants testing at community levels and targeted testing of individuals considered to be at risk enhanced once the containment measures have been lifted.

Nicholas Nyandiko, a lecturer in disaster management studies at the Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology fully concurs with  Akhwale.

“I am not satisfied that the government has carried out enough public awareness. This needs to be enhanced so every Kenyan is fully aware of the dangers posed if they don’t change in their behaviour,” Nyandiko says.

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