Two Weeks is Not Too Much to Ask For - Let's Stay Home For Our Collective Survival

Staying home and doing nothing for two weeks may be troubling and painful, but it is very necessary. It is the "only necessary" we need for our collective survival as a people in the present circumstances where that dangerous imported dangerous (Covid-19) affliction is threatening to eliminate all of us. Our capacity to fight it is not as strong as we would have wished considering that our health system is one that is already facing serious challenges and said to be very fragile.

Even if we had the best of systems in terms of health, it would have still been very difficult. Let's just consider what is happening in the developed world currently. Those countries we have been taught in our studies of international politics to be amongst "first world countries - countries with enough capacity, economically, militarily, scientifically, and all that qualifies a nation to be self-sufficient and self-reliant.

I mean those with revered and feared Armed Forces who are referred to in global politics as Super Powers - those who hold powers to direct affairs at the UN - those with Veto Powers, those with "financial powers and muscles" who make things happen and make the world go round - those who call the shots.

As we speak, all those countries are struggling right with most of them almost literally on their knees begging others to come to their aid. You can mention for example the greatest nation on earth - the United States of America, Spain, Germany, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the rest of them. All of them are currently in what can be described as dire and distressful situations.

Italy for example, has been hit so hard by Covid-19 that it has almost become a dependent nation receiving medical and logistical support/Aid from Cuba, Germany, Russia and others to help them overcome the enormous impact Covid-19 has brought upon them almost to the point of collapse.

Their President recently was seen on television basically throwing up his hands in despair, calling on the God above to come to their aid because whatever they needed to do to calm the voracious spread of the deadly novel coronavirus, they had done it, fought it with all their Might and power, threw everything at it, but yet nothing was changing. In his words, they were looking for answers from the one above all of us (God)

That is how serious it has been elsewhere, where systems were said to be good both on paper and in actual practice. If nations like Italy have been hit this hard , what then will be our faith (Ghana) with the kind of fragile (health) systems we have if we allow the disease (Coronavirus) to run out of control and spread in the same way it is spreading in the developed world?

Your guess is as good as mine.
Here in Ghana, our health system is not anywhere close to what these great nations I have enumerated above that are struggling to deal with Covid-19 and to bring it under control.

In that regard, what we in Ghana should do quickly before things get worse (touch wood) is to sacrifice any and everything including our time, jobs, socialization, freedoms, our happiness and so on for the next two weeks or more depending on what happens later so that we can together help level the curve as the medical people say.

We need that immediately, to stop both the horizontal and vertical spread of the deadly coronavirus (Covid-19), and to contain what has been recorded so far, treat the affected and infected and God willing, we shall overcome this obstacle too soon. And get back to our normal times - to give glory to God.

For me, that's all that we need to do. Two weeks is not too much to ask for. We can do it and we must prove that we can do it for our collective survival as a people.

Let every single Ghanaian who will be staying home throughout these difficult times take this from me. If all of us as Ghanaians -rich or poor, politically connected and less connected, famous and ordinary people can try the best we can to sit with the pain brought upon us by coronavirus, listen to our pain and respect our pain, in due course, we will move through that pain brought upon us by Covid-19.

That's all that matters now. We need to endure now just so we can become free people again tomorrow which I hope will be very soon.

Sgt Mohammed Abdul Hanan EL-Saeed
0244087295
[email protected]
Police HQ
Accra