The end to this epidemic is not in sight yet, not with the growing number of confirmed cases every other sunrise, the attendant extension of the dawn to dusk curfew and the closure of more counties. It is now heading into three months since Kenya confirmed its first case and subsequently engaged the gear of containment that included a raft of measures, among them, closure of schooling and all other essential service provision with high risk of transmission, the notable curfew and the subsequent closure of Nairobi and other high risk counties. These measures suffice to say, as everywhere else in the world, have threatened to bring Kenya’s economy down to its knees even as they have largely helped restrain the growth of the curve of infections. Just how, however, has the Government faired on in its efforts to deal with the health pandemic that has every potential of crippling the economy?
First, the Government failed big time in delaying to close down Kenya’s air space to refrain spread from China, the origin and epicenter of the pandemic from December 2019 to early March. Had the Government heeded calls in mid February to close her airspace to China and put up well equipped testing measures at JKIA and all other entry points, and a well coordinated, government- sponsored quarantine programmes for those jetting in, we wouldn’t, probably, be where we are today. It, however, closed the stable long after the horse had bolted.
The Government however moved with speed after confirmation of the first case and did whatever it had to do to protect her population and the economy, of course with attendant flaws here and there. It immediately closed down schools, and all other services that would have spiraled the spread of the virus. It then embarked on bit-by-bit closure of the service industry, which mitigated the shock that would have come with abrupt closure. Bars and hotels, for instance, were restricted to only operating until 7:00pm before they were eventually closed down. The biggest plus for the government however, was to go slow on the total lockdown despite piling pressure from various quarters. In so doing, the Government averted the biggest crisis that would have been borne from the Covid-19 pandemic and which had the real capability of ruining the economy. An abrupt total lockdown would have brewed anarchy.
The Government, however, needs to refrain from criminalizing this pandemic moving forward. You cannot, with a beaten economy, quarantine people at their own cost. They will not come out to test even where they suspect symptoms of the virus. You cannot as well quarantine people for merely breaking common rules and laws and in the end raise the probability of their exposure to the virus. You cannot turn quarantine centres into confinement cells. In fact, this being a global pandemic with neither cure nor a vaccine in sight, Government should, through an established fund, bear all the cost attendant to the treatment of the virus until such a time as either of the two will have been found.
