@ShivAroor @PenguinIndia @MoHFW_INDIA @IndiaToday #Covid_19 #FlattenTheCurve
Dear Shiv, on your program you asked us what can we do in India. You said it was the billion dollar question. Here’s my answer.
Please help spread the message.
Measures communities need to take now:
Dear Shiv, on your program you asked us what can we do in India. You said it was the billion dollar question. Here’s my answer.
Please help spread the message.
Measures communities need to take now:
1/ Plan of action to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic at the community level in India. Contain infection, mitigate suffering, be kind, be human and help each other. In a pandemic a community is only as safe as its least protected members.
2/ COVID-19 has reached India. Current estimates suggest 20-60% of all adults worldwide will be infected. If we act now we could reduce the number infected. We must prepare for a higher number of infection while trying to reduce them.
3/ Create a COVID-19 action committee in every building/housing complex.
Connect with your building’s management committee to create one. Try to set this up on using the phone or social media. Avoid meeting in person.
Connect with your building’s management committee to create one. Try to set this up on using the phone or social media. Avoid meeting in person.
4/ Create a COVID-19 Facebook or WhatsApp group for you building/society where a designated trusted member can update everyone and prevent panic. Use this channel to stay connected, provide support and maintain a sense of community.
5/ Identify all households with elderly (60yr+) and with patients who have diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, chronic lung disease, cancer.
These are the people at highest risk of death and we need to protect them most.
These are the people at highest risk of death and we need to protect them most.
6/ The action committee should help those who are financially stressed to procure a minimum 2-4 week buffer stock of essential medicines for diabetes, blood pressure, heart problems etc
7/ The action committee should stay up to date of the latest developments and guidance from reputable sources like WHO, CDC, MoHFW. Don’t believe unsourced information on WhatsApp.
8/ The action committee should identify young, fit, healthy, non pregnant, non smoker adults. Find 1 such person per 10-20 people in your society/building. Detailed guidance for structuring will be provided soon.
9/ In the event that a family is sick and needs to self isolate, a team of healthy fit adults needs to be ready to help get food, medicines, medical supplies, essential items, assist in shifting to hospital if required and in daily disinfection to prevent infection spread.
10/ In India it maybe difficult to protect the elderly and diabetics from getting infected if one of their family members is infected. Protecting them from infection is going to be crucial. Details below.
11/ Designate safe green zone apartments/houses for seniors and diabetics etc in the event that COVID-19 hits your society/building. The idea is to segregate those most at risk into a green zone where they can be isolated from potentially infected people.
12/ Designate red zone apartments/houses for confirmed cases of COVID-19. If there are many cases in your building/society try to keep the confirmed cases together safely in designated red zone apartments. If you use common toilets, designate red and green zone toilets.
13/ Keeping confirmed cases in the red zone will make it easier for designated healthy fit action committee members to look after and monitor the sick through recovery while minimizing infection spreading to the green zone
14/ Set clear protocols to prevent spread of infection from the red zone to the green zone. Minimize the people who can go from the red zone to the green zone. The same people should not go to both zones. One team will look after green zone, another will look after red zone.
15/ Action committee members need to learn about identifying COVID-19, caring for confirmed cases and the precautions required to prevent getting infected themselves and spreading infection.
16/ This is also applicable to poverty stricken tenements/chawls. Set up an action committee, designate healthy action teams and create a green zone and red zone. It may prove key to prevent infection from spreading in your community.
17/ We all need to be kind and help each other. One of the greatest challenges in India is that our strong sense of community makes social distancing hard. A strong sense of community can be our greatest asset if used correctly.
18/ the action committee and all community members should be sensitive, kind and compassionate. Don’t stigmitize the sick. It makes them hide their illness. Anyone can get infected, anyone can get sick, it could be you or your loved ones.
19/ identify a trusted medical worker to reach out to when someone is sick. Keep a line of communication open with the medical worker. Red zone team should check up on all confirmed cases and report daily telephonically to the designated medical worker.
20/ Medical workers will be a scare resource. Keep maximum info ready before contacting them to save time. Details about information to keep ready will be provided soon.
21/ In the next few weeks my colleagues and I will be launching a free telemedicine service to assist as many Indians as we can during the COVID-19 pandemic. Follow my Twitter for details. Medical workers in India, please join us, we can’t do it without you.
22/ I humbly call on young and technology friendly doctors, nurses, psychologists, project managers, community leaders and translators to join our effort. Please spread the word and join us. It’s time to serve our communities.
23/ If not us, then who? If not now, then when? This our time to act and serve. What we do now will determine if it is our greatest hour or our darkest. No one is coming to save us, we have the power and responsibility to save ourselves.
24/ Please take COVID-19 seriously but don’t spread panic. When your house is on fire, if you panic, you burn. But if your neighbors and friends act quickly and together they can save your house and prevent fire spreading to their houses.
25/ Action committee should organize cleaning supplies, basic medicines, thermometer, pulse oxymeter, automatic blood pressure device, glucose monitor. Someone in the building will have one, avoid buying, there are shortages. Only one each per society.
26/ In the coming weeks my colleagues and I will put out detailed action plans that can be customized to your building/society. They will simplify this process and will be available in multiple languages.
27/ Please act now. If nothing happens, so what? We will jot look foolish for being prepared. If we’re not prepared and something happens it will be too late to act. Let’s act aggressively, compassionately, collectively, and decisively. Together we can fight back!
@threadreaderapp unroll
