Flattening The Curve

Author: Elsie Danjuma

Stay safe! Stay home! Save lives! These phrases cannot be overemphasized.

Do you realize it is when you are told to do something right that all your
creative juices feel like rebelling? Most people are finding it hard to
understand how just staying at home, can prevent me, you and the whole
world from contracting a mere virus?

Why is it that the simplest instructions are the hardest to abide by? We have
been told that staying home and stopping all non-essential travels can help
mitigate the spread of the virus. Please let's all stay at home to flatten the
curve. It is said that “the virus doesn't move, we move it”. We stop moving, the
virus stops moving, the virus dies. It is that simple. This is not the time to go
‘gyming’ with our colleagues and estate buddies, it is not the time to host big
parties and ceremonies, and it is certainly not the time to congregate in large
numbers.

The curve researchers are talking about, refers to the projected number of
people who will contract Covid-19 over a period of time. To flatten the curve
means to reduce the incidence of infection over a given time.

How best can this curve be flattened when dealing with countries with
underutilized resources, lack of data base, malnutrition, hospitals with
inadequate facilities, manpower and testing? If highly developed countries
are already overwhelmed, how much more developing countries. Drastic
measures need to be put in place, and stringent methods adopted, especially
in Africa, before any lockdown is lifted, so we don't end up with a repeat of
the Spanish flu which infected over 500 million people and claimed over 50
million lives between 1918 and 1920.

Hospitals are said to be a war zone for now and should be avoided as much
as possible. Charles Bergquistic director of the public radio science show
tweeted "Your work place bathroom has only so many stalls. If everyone
decides to go the same time, there are problems. If the same number of people
need to go to the restroom but spread over several hours, it is okay". This is in
an ideal situation, think of it in this scenario, you go to the bathrooms and
there is no water to flush with so many people in line. Your guess is as good
as mine.

Let us stay safe and stay healthy, so we don’t overrun our hospitals. Melinda
Gates said "the more we do to keep ourselves and our neighbours healthy, the
better positioned we will all be to weather this challenge”.

Even as nations begin to gradually ease lockdown measures and gradually
reopen their economies in phases, we must take responsibility to ensure that
there is no major relapse that could lead to a more devastating second wave.
We can beat this together and all come out alive. Therefore, we must do well
to stay home as much as possible if we have no business being out.

Stay Alert! Stay Safe! Stay Alive!

This Love Thing

This WhatsApp status prompted me to share this story.

It was a Friday evening and I had just returned to Enugu from Abuja. The previous weekend was Easter, and I was in Abuja to celebrate with my family. My decision to leave Abuja on Friday as opposed to Sunday that was my favourite travel day, was a rather hasty one. As I arrived Enugu, I made a pit stop at the Mall to pick up a birthday cake and some gifts, before heading back to Campus. It was happening that night, a birthday party I couldn't afford to miss. Friends thought I was blessed to be dating a girl like that. 'A model'. Yes, Bee was a fast rising Enugu based model. Put rightly, Bee was a full time model and a part time student. A part time student who happened to be running 2 programmes in 2 different schools at the same time. Yes, wow! or how? (Story for another day.)

Bee had a clique of really beautiful friends. 'Classy girls' and you'd be right. For some reason, I couldn't go with any of my friends, so they watched me walk down to the other side of the hostel block and into her room (Yes we had both Males and Females in the same Hall, on different floors, with basically no restrictions at the time), where her Male and Female friends alike were already gathered in celebration. It was a surprise, she never knew I was coming back, let alone show up to celebrate her bearing gifts. She was so excited to see me and couldn't hold back herself from basking in the euphoria. It was a really nice party and that singular act cemented my place as 'the boyfriend' and earned me huge acceptance from all her friends.

February, The Next Year.
It's been over 6 months since I last set eyes on Bee. We had only spoken on the phone a few times and she assured me she was okay, and was just busy with project for her Diploma programme at Institute of Management Technology (IMT) Enugu. The only thing outside my thoughts that I was holding on to, was the rechargeable lamp Bee gave me. She had bought it for her personal use, but opted to give it to me, since according to her, I was the 'Ogugwuo' (bookworm). I ended up using that lamp all through Uni. For long I was just hoping I could see her again soon, because I was missing her so much. A few times I would go to her Faculty to check if she was around or ask her course mates if she was in school.

I was in my room one evening after lectures, getting ready to go play basketball with the guys, as was our usual evening activity. Someone knocked, and as I opened the door, it was her, it was my Bee, or maybe not really mine anymore. She was pregnant.

B: Hey Chigo!!
M: Hey Bee!!
B: How have you been na? Been a long time.
M: Yes oh! Been a long time. Wow. Look how you've changed. (Looking at her bump)
B: Yeah Chigo, it's really a long story. We'd talk about it some other time. I was around campus and thought to see you. Awww Chigo, you're not doing bad. Take care! Inugo?!
M: Sure no worries, take care Nne.

There and then, it dawned on me that I was trying so hard to build a relationship, someone else had already roofed.

The next time I saw Bee was during the 6 months long ASUU strike, when U, her best friend, posted pictures of Bee's wedding on BBM. Lol. While I was surprised that she didn't even tell me, I was really happy for her. We talked some weeks after and I wished her all the best in marriage. Their marriage is blessed with 3 beautiful kids. 🥰

This is common practice, no jokes.

I found someone else, but the lesson from the previous experience made me thread carefully, after I learned I was the 'school boyfriend'. (Story not for another day.) Byeee!!!