THE year 2020 started out like any other, but in the blink of an eye, Covid-19 took the world by storm, rendering governments defenceless and international communities scrambling to beat the contagion.
With the halfway mark for this year some three weeks away, it is a health crisis that the world will not easily forget. The number of deaths is already in the hundreds of thousands, and active cases at more than 6.5 million, and climbing.
But Covid-19 has brought many invaluable lessons, one of which is the importance of a unified community — we need to be united to defeat this global menace. Last week, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said a community empowerment campaign would be the final criterion in the exit plan being formulated, prior to lifting the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO).
Community empowerment? Simply, it means the community playing a proactive role to overcome the crisis. Defeating Covid-19 requires us as a community to implement prevention measures; medical health experts say empowering the community to take action and being responsible can minimise the spread of Covid-19. We have to accept that Covid-19 may never go away, even if there is a vaccine.
Just as how we have learnt to live with dengue, we need to learn to live with Covid-19. The government, since the start of the MCO on March 18, has been issuing standard operating procedures (SOP) according to CMCO protocols, which we have to comply or risk getting infected or hauled up by the authorities. It's all part of the new norm that we have to adapt to.
As more sectors open, isn't it time that members of the community play a role to help keep Covid-19 at bay? The basic requirements are well-known — keeping our hands clean, observing social distancing, avoiding mass gatherings and staying at home if unwell.
A social psychologist says Covid-19 is a time of uncertainly, hence, we should try our best to adjust, and protect ourselves, our families and communities. Community leaders, he says, should be encouraged to empower the society and take responsibility to protect their communities.
Let the government take care of the big picture, like drawing up national policies and such. Communities can play a role by keeping businesses in check, resident associations can organise assistance for members in the community who have lost their jobs, form a neighbourhood watch to check on the elderly who live alone, or mobilise Rukun Tetangga to patrol housing areas to keep the neighbourhood safe.
These things we can do during Covid-19, while we wait for it to be contained and, hopefully, treated and cured. Community empowerment and social discipline are key to living with Covid-19 as it may not go away for the next one year or so. We may want to emulate Canada where its mitigation efforts in confronting the disease are focused on the behaviours of the individual, the family and the community, where prevention is essential and community empowerment is vital.
To fight Covid-19, a new strategy is needed, says Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, where both sides have to be empowered. The government can only do so much. We, the community, will have to do the rest.