Covid & Communication in India - Right expectations set??

Our country is suffering a very tough time in the hands of the virus Covid 19, and the fact remains that it continues to spread havoc across the nation, almost in all the major cities and towns across. It's a matter of time before things ease out, and it now depends on fortitude and providence to see how much time and damage to the country's psyche before the deadly virus dies down - as they would now call it in technical parlance, the curve gets flattened, and they steeps downward, and dies. That would mean that we are at a point that there are no new covid cases reported in the country, and post that there remains a fairly long and quiet period in which no form of the said virus resurfaces to hit people's health and lives. 

It's now common knowledge that when the pandemic first surfaced in the country sometime in late february this year (or early March), there was a fair sense of confidence in the nation's leadership and its people, that thanks to our common sense, preparedness, and the good state of our healthcare compared to many countries including the USA (where universal access to healthcare is a huge challenge). The sad truth in all this is that, most of these perceived strengths have been a myth, and have been blown to smithereens in the face of the unknown virus unstoppable march, taking a big toll on the psyche of this country.

Leaving alone an in depth dive into our capabilities as a nation in facing such a challenge, there is one factor that could have made people be prepared for the worst, sit tight for the long haul, and may be reduce the dissonance with the governments at the centre and state - the manner in which expectations were set, at the initial outbreak of the powerful yet unknown covid virus, that had by the time it arrived in the country, done a fair amount of damage to even more developed and economically powerful nations across the globe. 

The fact now remains that our leadership deceived us into believing that we will sail through the covid pandemic, with a fair amount of ease, and with relatively less damage, compared to many other nations in the world. The kind of communications that came through right at the level of the Prime Minister, the leader and voice of the nation, made the common man believe that, we as a country are well prepared to handle the pandemic, and if we adhered to what the government instructed - basics like social distancing, constantly wearing masks outdoors, and washing hands once home from any work outside, we will be able to protect us, and the nation with remarkable ease.

Thanks to the nature of this discourse at the top leadership, most state leaders also kept their communication in the same lines, building the wrong expectations in people - that we as a country are much more powerful and well placed to handle the covid pandemic.

Nowhere in the initial speeches were brutal facts like these highlighted - we are vulnerable as we are a country with a large and dense population, we are more vulnerable as most of our urban places are infested with kutcha houses, with no scope for social distancing, proper toilets, and may be as a nation we need more literacy to impose upon people the basic discipline of using masks, washing hands, and social distancing when moving in public places. 

Instead of highlighting the possible challenges and vulnerabilities, the leadership dwelt more into the immense strength of us as a country, and stuff like the steely resolve by which we have seen many challenges in the past, and successfully overcome them. 

One key component of the covid pandemic management, was locking down parts of the country, so that the spread can be prevented, and also simultaneously, the medicare capabilities are scaled up at various locations in the country, that are proximate to places where there is a preponderance of cases. Even in this case, in different phases of the lockdown, there was more talk, and less walk. But for may be a couple of states in the country, in most states and cities, there was a clear lack of will by the administration in imposing the lockdown in letter and spirit. Clearly, there was only too much noise for the consumption of the media, and very little adherence to the rule of law on the ground. 

Everytime the media highlighted flagrant violations of the lockdown, and people gathering in 1000s with no social distancing followed, or masks worn, the local executive would respond saying that penal action would be taken. It is as though the officials and police on the ground dont have a view for themself, when lives are at stake by the behavior of a motley crowd of people. 

This again is owing to a lack of any serious commitment from the leadership right from the district level and upto the top echelons of the central government. And it is such a lack, which has brought us to the stage we are in, besides a host of other reasons. 

Also, there was no talk anywhere on how, in a worst case scenario of the pandemic spreading fast, our healthcare system could come under tremendous stress, with even the doctors, and a host of frontline workers handling the pandemic themself falling prey, in the process of treating people of our country. This is precisely what has come to today in the country. 

Instead of a kind of empty bravado, the need of the hour, then, was in telling people that if they chose not to be cautious, and cooperate with the authorities, and the heavy price all of us could pay, including the loss of a horde of lives, which was completely avoidable with a sense of caution and care. Not just that, people must have been told in clear terms, that though we have the best of healthcare facilities, the nature of this covid pandemic was that it could claim lots of people, and with such large scale possible patients, even the best of nations, which excel in healthcare could be put to test.

Now, when we broach on these, we are all told that as a country with a population of a billion plus people, it is but natural that we will have scores of deaths and there will be much more before the pandemic comes to and end, or say a vaccine is found to build immunity from the covid kinds of virus. 

As a nation, the first thing our leadership ought to have done is to factor in our large and dense population, and fathom why we will be probably more vulnerable than most other similar countries. And it's even easier to figure out what kinds of pressures would come on the medical infrastructure, even if a miniscule part of the vast population is affected by the deadly virus. But none of this was factored in the initial discourse to the nation. The resort was more onto empty rhetoric and optics, that was of no consequence to what would happen on the ground, once the virus began its spread. 

Sadly, our leadership missed most of these, pushing people into a false sense of hope and unfound optimism.

Clearly, as a nation, we have had a bad precedent in how not to communicate in times of a pandemic like Covid.