RESPONSIBILIZING COVID-19 SAFETY PROTOCOLS.

Fighting the biological enemy called COVID-19, is a collaborative effort. Each and everyone within institutions (private and/or public), religious bodies, communities, states and the world at large, has a responsibility in the fight of COVID-19 Pandemic.

As the late Legend musician, Michael Jackson (May the soul Rest in peace), said in one of his songs that “LET MAKE THE WORLD, A BETTER PLACE FOR ME AND YOU”. Government’s or state’s responsibility is to create and provide safety environment for citizenries, in terms of policies, laws and their enforcement , availability of personal protective equipment (PPEs) like face mask, face shield in the country and others. State institutions like Ghana Health Service/Ministry of Health, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Communication, Ministry of Interior, and others have responsibility to communicate risk and its mitigating measures, engage the publics in the risk communication process, and ensure the citizens are protected from external and internal factors that may risk the public Health.

Nevertheless, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has one of its functions as “formulate, implement and oversee programmes intended to inculcate in the citizens of Ghana awareness of their civic responsibilities……….” It is therefore the responsibility of NCCE to collaborate with other agencies mentioned above and the media to inform and educate “we” the affected population our responsibilities in the fight against corona virus pandemic. Anyway, I have seen a program to be organised virtually, using multimedia platforms on NCCE’s instagram wall, which is great but more can be done to sensitize the public to sanitize ( Bob Wine, a musician politician, Uganda).

The media ( both public and private) have the responsibility to inform and educate the publics accurately on COVID-19 and its safety protocols, using the experts. As spelt out that the media is the fourth arm of government, let together help build a wonderful nation free from COVID-19.

All celebrities, religious leaders, opinion leaders, and other influential leaders should learn that the fight against the COVID-19 is everyone’s responsibility. If you don’t speak , and with help of the health experts so that your followers will adhere to the safety protocols, you might be directly or indirectly affected by this dangerous biological enemy. This is because you are likely to loose most followers through COVID-19 if the situation continues like this. Also, You or I or we can be infected, and might not survive or will survive with complications. And/ or Through COVID-19, you or I or we might loose a very dear one.

We as citizens, our responsibility is to adhere to the safety protocols put in place by the government, our institutions ( public and private) and others. Let continue to wash our hands regularly with soap under running water, cough or sneeze into your elbow or tissue and discard immediate into bin, and wash hands or sanitize hands, eat more fruits and vegetables, and exercise.

The biggest challenge now is that we the citizens are not obeying the wearing of the face mask and observance of social distancing. A little social media and broad cast media survey showed that most people said they feel uncomfortable when they wear the face mask, others too said they cannot breath well. Yes, these concerns are genuine but we are not in normal time. Wearing of face mask is not for fun but a necessity. Those who complain that they cannot breath must either get the FDA approved mask or speak to a health expert on that to find solution to that.

Social distancing together with the wearing of face mask protects you double from being infected by the virus as well as your loved ones and the community at large. With the new emerging evidence sent to World Health Organization (WHO) at Geneva recently by more than 200 scientists, that COVID-19 can be transmitted in a tiny airborne particles, it can be deduced that “we” the citizens have the responsibility to wear the face mask to cover the mouth and nostril, but not wear the face mask into our pocket or under the chin, because it is now airborne which is very worrying and serious like Tuberculosis (TB). Hence, face shield can never be substituted with face mask because it only protects you from the droplets, but not the airborne particles. If you wear the face mask in addition to the face shield, that’s awesome!

Lastly, there are perceptions that “he or she” is my relative so no wearing of face mask, “ we” are friends or colleagues ( working or school) so no wearing of face mask, please as said by Bob Wine that everyone is a potential victim, so kindly treat everyone as such and do the needful. Never risk your life and health even if you have two spare lives. Let us all be responsible citizens to fight this biological enemy called Coronavirus together. Don’t let anyone arrest you because you didn’t wear a face mask but put in mind that “my life is on my nostril and mouth” of which I may or may not survive when I am infected.

Always remember to wear your face mask in public spaces and wash your hands with soap under running/ use hand sanitizer, and this too shall pass! Kindly share this article to your friends, colleagues and everyone to help spread the message to sensitise to sanitise. Thanks for reading and sharing.

Sources .

1. https://www.nccegh.org

2. https://Uk.reuters.com

3.https://www.who.int