As monsoon fast approaching near us and the sword of pandemic hanging precariously on all of our head the chances that this sword may fall on the governments in this monsoon season are very high, at first the mutation of this particular virus is alarmingly high but the WHO reluctant to agree on this front, as monsoon fast approaching in India there will be a condition that will make all Indians busy in dealing the downpour of water in many areas, and since we know that the virus is airborne now what makes us think that the virus won’t be able to propagate in the water? Even for the sake of argument if we consider that social distancing is possible in monsoon then how do we convince ourselves that in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata where we have excellent and exemplary water management system, the virus won't travel to unwanted places along with the water flow using it as a vehicle? These are just the initial problems that we might think of, but they are merely the tip of the iceberg. The problem is particularly significant this time; let's address it one by one.
Excellent water management
We all are well aware of the water management system prevalent in India, and how exemplary it is, with such a case well established and well know and also the problem is there is no social responsibility people eat pan, gutka, khaini, tambaaku and what not and spit everywhere, what makes us think that the person who eats all this “nutritious” stuff is not infected? On the contrary, there are high chances that this person gets affected, as he has already compromised his immune system with all these nutritious diets he has been following for who knows how long. So, when this particular person who spits on the road due to the water management system, there are high chances that the infection reaches the houses of many poor and road dwellers.
Immunity level and diseases in monsoon
The second thing which is more obvious to the administration and they have indeed trying to be prepared every monsoon for this is the number of ill patients in monsoons, the most common illness in monsoon is fever, cold and flu, which indeed decreases the immunity of the body as the body is already trying to fight with one illness and for people with comorbidities it would be more than two as the immunity further decreases with some or more percentage, in such condition if the person is affected with coronavirus then there are nigh chances that this person will be severely affected with this virus irrespective of his age group or physical conditions (though old agers are more prone, younger ones are also not spared).
Special social groups
We often talk about general terms and use the most popular opinions but seldom discuss the special social groups and communities who often ignore even by the government in many cases, these are the LGBTQAI+ community, kids with special needs, people with less social recognised like the lower cast communities, sex workers and of course the much talked migrant workers.
Let us just talk about them and unearth some uncommon, unconventional, and uncomfortable questions and facts about these less talked-about social groups.
The LGBTQAI+ and sex workers
We often forget that these groups are also an integral part of our society and we pretty much take them for granted many a times, I remember a dialogue from an interview or a movies I don’t quite remember the source but the dialogue just stick with me as it was true to the core, “we can write essays on them (sex workers and LGBT community), make films and create songs and artworks but we cannot accept them in our own lives” this was said when I was in my school days and this powerful dialogue changed the way I think and see things, but sadly this is the way our society still is, it has improved a lot but still there is a lot more to me done, these groups are often indulged in sexual activities and many of them develop sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) like HIV, Syphilis, HPA, gonorrhoea, chlamydia etc, now all these diseases in one way or other have a profound impact on the immune system and naturally makes them more prone to COVID, in these times they are battling on two fronts, one is seasonal unemployment and they are also struggling with their treatments as state seldom ignore their health causes, it seems like their lives don’t matter at all.
Kids with special needs
Tough there are umpteen examples of how heroically the administration and officers have tried to help kids and people with special needs like this incident where Railways Gets 20 Litres of Camel Milk from Rajasthan for Special Child in Mumbai (12 April 2020 NEWS 18), despite these examples we get to hear painful news where a special child or a man dies home alone, in India many such events aren’t even reported, they are termed trivial and just brushed under the carpet, we need to address these issues too. These kids are more prone to such infections; they may have high immunity, but their inability to move makes them unable to access basic facilities if there is no caretaker, and in many cases, due to this insufficiency, there may be a huge fatality.
People of low social hierarchy (lower caste)
How fantastic is it that, despite these humans being healthy and immune to many diseases, we don’t take care of them? I am of course talking about both lower caste and daily wage workers in India (a daily wage worker can also be from higher caste), well we are to an extend aware of the situation of the migrant nay daily wage workers as India faces yet another great migration during the lockdown, but we aren’t aware of the conditions they will have to go through in this monsoon season when their homes will be immersed in floodwaters or in the water which leaks out of the “exemplary” water management system that India has, how will they be saved, they do not have good immunity for the reason they do not get properly nourished and we expect them to observe social distancing and washing hands with soap now and then, when we know that its either soap or food for them, in such a case their health will be ignored.
The grotesque face
I might have included all the sections of society in this article. This virus is so virulent that even a single infected person can infect thousands in a day. In such a case, can we afford to be lethargic? During this monsoon season, the virus may take a larger toll, thus fulfilling the prediction of the virus becoming worse and worse in a few days, as far as India is concerned… it will show its macabre face
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