The entirety of 2020 alongwith Christmas season has been affected by Covid pandemic. Families and friends that celebrated Christmas together are stranded in distant lands. There’s been suffering throughout the world and it continues to dampen the Christmas & New Year celebrations the world over.
In any normal year Goa would have been one of the most happening destinations bringing in tourists and nourishing the Goan economy. Sadly our Tourism sector has been the worst hit this year and the hopes of revival that were noticed have been dashed by the detection of a new Covid strain in UK that’s lead to cancellation of charter flights which were our closing hope for this year.
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The elation of vaccine has been subdued by the new mutant strain of Covid in UK and is a clear indicator for humanity to not yet drop our guards. The vaccine news looks promising on media but it’s still going to be some time until we are rid of this deadly virus.
We simply cannot afford carelessness even with the promising vaccination process. Undertaking Mass inoculation has its fair share of impediments especially in a country like India. Logistics being the most difficult alongwith the hindrances of limited storage facilities. Effectiveness of the vaccination depends entirely upon the conditions in which it’s preserved and the timeframe between retrieval from storage and prompt inoculation. Availability of trained personnel to administer the vaccine especially in the hinterlands is another hindrance.
Every country including India will be prioritising medical fraternity, health worker’s, police & allied personnel followed by highly vulnerable segments for inoculation while the regular population will have to precautiously wait it out until then. In a highly populated country like India this could mean a substantial delay and hence we cannot afford to let our guard down. Although one of the smallest states, Goa is but densely populated and the general population will have to stand by cautiously until mass inoculation takes place.
It’s also pertinent to note that even after mass vaccination of the population, the risk of infection will still continue for a some time until the anticipated immunity is evident in majority of the population.
Hence, we must accept the fact that social distancing is here to stay for a longer time and so is masking & sanitisation. These three precautionary measures have helped keep the virus at bay and we should strictly continue to follow these life-saving measures.
Every time we attempt to relax and ignore the Covid restrains, there’s a catastrophic flare up. Goa simply cannot afford to risk any more flareups. It’s the duty of every Goan to continue following the Covid protocols strictly till we’re assured of the expected vaccinated immunity from the Corona virus. Until then we need to keep up the guard for our own safety and that of our fellow citizens.
It’s most unfortunate that a sizeable number of Goans in UK and other countries have been denied the joy of Christmas in Goa. Let’s all appreciate the fact that in these testing times, it’s more prudent to observe the Covid protocols for safety of our brethren and thus imbibe the true spirit of christmas.
