Be the lowered matchstick

Dear students,

In my online classes that I took in March and April, I used to often caution- things will get much worse before they get better. Or you may have read my fb post on this about over a month ago https://www.facebook.com/lokeshrisky/posts/10157660551507496

That worse is here NOW!

Understand that the number of cases in India, and especially in Delhi, will now explode in the next 1-2 months! You might well see a situation of 10k+ cases in Delhi every day! Also, this is the worst time to be looking for a hospital beds because there aren't any. All the tall claims by Delhi government are fallacious- trust me, I have seen the reality of it first-hand. Even if you find one, imagine spending 25k+ per day (yes you got it right 25k). The patient might have a medical insurance for 4-5 Lakhs, but how long do you calculate it would last? Especially with 1 injection of Tocilizumab costing over 40k (just one injection, not a pack, mind you). Add to all this, the possibility of eventually losing your loved one.

Are you at risk? Absolutely not! Almost all of you are young and strong people with healthy immunity. Even if you contract Corona virus, at worst you would have just mild fever with cough and maybe some diarrhea and general weakness for a few days…maybe a week. So what’s the big fuss then? The problem is if you live with your parents, worse still with your grandparents or small children, all of whom have fragile immune systems and existing medical ailments. THEY are the ones at risk, and YOU are at risk of bringing this virus home with you. One it gets inside one house, it is almost certain that it will infect everyone in the house, usually in a matter of hours.

So what if they fall sick? I have a doctor in my family and my family member wouldn’t even need to go to the hospital. Wrong. You parent/grandparent would need a ventilator and continuous monitoring, and for that he would need a hospital bed. Also, there is no cure for Covid 19 as yet. The three medicines used in its treatment Tocilizumab, Remdesivir and Dexamethasone have very limited success and are as hard to get as getting Sanjivani Booti was in Ramayan, that if you can afford these expensive medicines in the first place. Fun exercise- Do call around the chemists and pharmacists you know to see how easily you are able to arrange these…try it. Also, the Plasma therapy that you would have heard of in news and which too has variable success rate is available in only 3 hospitals in Delhi- AIIMS, Max Saket and Apollo. You would need some serious pull to get a bed in one of these.

What’s the gist of this all? PLEASE STAY INSIDE and follow best practices to sanitise whatever comes into the house. This video teaches how - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjDuwc9KBps&app=desktop   

If you cannot, then rent a room or shift somewhere you do not come in contact with anyone else. A couple of friends of mine have moved to Chandigarh; that too might be an option for some of you, especially those who have another house or extended family elsewhere which is not as affected as Delhi and Mumbai are. Remember, you must remain Corona-free to protect the ones who would otherwise pay the price for it. You must be the matchstick that pulls away so that the ones behind it do not burn.