Coronavirus: It will get worse but let us not give up hope yet

Brenda Cherotich and Brian Orindi were known to Kenyans only as ‘Patient 1’ and ‘Patient 2’, respectively, until Wednesday morning when the government revealed the youngsters as the two patients who have fully recovered from the novel coronavirus.

As of Friday evening, the government had confirmed 122 cases of coronavirus, over 2,000 people had been tested, and four patients had died.

The grim truth is that these numbers will increase. More people will test positive, and this new month of April will be the month most of us know if we contracted the disease in the past couple of weeks.

It is going to be a tough couple of weeks ahead — not my words — but according to doctors, scientists, experts, journalists and authorities at the frontline of fighting the disease.

It will get a lot worse before it gets better. But even as times look tough ahead of us, we must not forget one thing, there is hope.

If we are to learn anything from the story of Brenda and Brian, it is that the coronavirus beatable.

STAY HOPEFUL

We now know that with testing, meticulous contact tracing, quarantine and proper healthcare, you can beat coronavirus and get back to your normal life.

So I will say this here, that a positive coronavirus test is not a death sentence.

As more Kenyans get tested this coming week, I would like them to know this, do not panic if you test positive because the chance of you getting better are higher than your chances of dying.

This is in no way downplaying the seriousness of the coronavirus, and I certainly do not belong to the school of thought that dismisses coronavirus as ‘just a flu’.

This is also not to mean that the situation is not as bad as presented by the authorities. Like most of you, I am well aware of the global impact of the coronavirus.

I have watched in horror as military trucks line up in Italy to transport coffins of victims of coronavirus.

I am also aware there are more than one million cases globally, and so far more than 50,000 people have died from the coronavirus.

PATIENTS RECOVER

The situation is dire, but there is hope. There is the other side of the story that many are not talking about, which is surprising at a time like this when we need all the hope we can get.

People are recovering. People are leaving the ICU beds and returning home to their families. People are testing positive with mild symptoms or no symptoms at all and are getting better after self-quarantining.

In the midst of all this darkness and a sense of hopelessness, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and that light is definitely not an oncoming train.

In China, for example, a research conducted by experts from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention analysed data from 72,314 coronavirus patients and found that more than 80 per cent of the patients experienced mild symptoms.

About 13.8 per cent of the cases were declared as severe and 4.7 per cent were found to be critical.

This means that only one in five cases experienced severe symptoms and a vast majority of patients recovered from Covid-19.

WINNABLE BATTLE

I know this is very preliminary data, and scientists will need the coronavirus to completely clear in order to verify this from complete data sets from Italy, China, US, Spain, France, Germany, Iran and other countries direly affected, but it still does show something; that even as more people die, many more people are recovering.

And if it is any consolation for those who test positive, I hope you realise that you are in great company.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently confirmed that he had tested positive and he is not only faring well in self-quarantine, working from home, but also running a country.

Tom Hanks, a famous Hollywood actor, was among the first celebrities to test positive, and he recently announced that he was discharged from hospital and is now home recovering.

Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, is out of isolation after testing positive. CNN anchor Chris Cuomo tested positive and is working from home as he continues to recover.

My point, fellow Kenyans, is that this fight against coronavirus is winnable.

The writer is the director of the Innovation Centre at Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communications. The views expressed in this column are the writer’s own; [email protected]