Goa, which was sitting pretty until the end of May with a few isolated cases, all among travellers, saw a sudden spurt in COVID-19 cases arising from the Mangor Hill area in Vasco, which continues to be the hotspot of the pandemic in Goa with 294 cases and another 172 linked to the locality. Besides, the area has given COVID-19 to frontline workers of the Health Department, as almost 30 cases of health workers being infected by the virus have come to the fore, besides several of their family members residing elsewhere in the State, mostly in rural areas.
The Chief Minister, the Health Minister and the Health Secretary have been categorical in their replies that there has been no community transmission in the State despite cases reaching the 600 mark. Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant has repeatedly said Goa is still in the second stage, which is of local transmission. While the people have been keeping faith in the government over the local transmission status, questions are raised when the daily health bulletin indicates that there are isolated cases in many parts of the State. Take for instance the health bulletin of June 17 wherein it stated that there are four isolated cases at Margao and Betim, four isolated cases in Quepem, eight isolated cases in Curtorim, two in Raia, one in Sada and one in Porvorim.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) categorises the spread of a pathogen according to stages, as a way of indicating the severity of its permeation among the population of a country. Stage 1 refers to ‘imported cases’, where an individual picks up the virus while travelling to infected countries. Stage 2 is ‘local transmission’ that occurs when infected individuals can trace the person they were infected by. The third stage of community transmission is when there is no clear source of origin of the infection in a new community. It happens when you can no longer identify who became infected after being exposed to someone who interacted with people from the originally infected communities.
Interestingly, the Health Secretary has been on record stating that the isolated cases mean that the contact with the infected person is not being traced. Now does that mean community transmission has already begun in the Goa? As of date, the government is firm that there is no evidence of community transmission in Goa. Communicating clearly is a core part of public health because public health isn’t just about building surveillance systems and infrastructure but also about enabling people to change their behaviour in the right ways.
In the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a lot depends on how responsibly Goans practice containment strategies such as social distancing, washing of hands, quarantine and reporting to designated hospitals when they develop COVID-19 symptoms. All these are voluntary actions that the government doesn’t have the resources to enforce. For people to perform these actions on their own accord, they must first trust that the government is holding up its end. They must trust that the government’s strategy to control an outbreak is coherent and logical. But how easy is it to believe this if decision makers are not transparent about their decisions?
Of course there will be panic if there is community transmission, which the government is trying to avoid, but it would be for the people’s own benefit. These questions aren’t just theoretical. To claim unequivocally that there is no community transmission in Goa, requires clear reasoning. If people know there are isolated cases of community transmission, their alertness levels would be higher. The unnecessary roaming around the streets will stop. But for this to happen the government has to come clear so that people begin to trust the authorities.
