Coronavirus and Politics Prt 2

In Europe, the script was rather different, a case in reference, Sweden, which decided not to embark on lock-downs that were a feature in every country as a first measure for mitigating the spread of the virus. Herd immunity is what the government opted for, hoping to flatten the curve and build resistance amongst its populace.

All European countries cast doubt on this expecting a staggering death toll as Sweden was presumed to favor the stability of its economy over its citizen's lives. Comparisons done with Britain who gravitated towards enforcing a lock-down revealed more or less the same number of infections and deaths. This was interesting and put to rest the argument of lock-downs being one of the most effective ways of managing its spread. 

In Britain, the virus hit the core of the administration when Prime Minister Boris Johnson got infected and his life was seriously threatened. As he battled for his life in the ICU via oxygen ventilators, the country was facing a prospect of another change in 10 Downing Street, having recently gone through one courtesy of Brexit which forced Theresa May out. This was the closest the world came to losing a prominent leader and would have left an indelible mark in the trail of the vicious virus.

Italy was the hardest-hit country in Europe; at one point Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte shed tears on public television as he appealed for help from other countries because of how overwhelmed his administration was, as the virus relentlessly wiped out lives. In his speech, you could feel his exasperation to the point of relinquishing leadership under the weight of the citizen’s expectations as the country was slowly grinding to a halt.

Conversely, there were countries like South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan who expertly handled the virus due to their well-calculated approach and scored highly among their citizens in terms of preparedness. Taiwan was observed as one of the leading lights in handling the virus and set a benchmark for other nations to emulate. Countries whose governments looked prepared had a favourable rating from their citizens who felt confident of the leadership at that moment irrespective of the supposed politicking at the time.

In the third world countries, the virus made general populations shudder at first but after information about its characteristics filtered through; the nonchalant way it was handled, never ceased to amaze. In some African countries information about Covid almost seemed legendary. Observing the studies of the virus and how its rate of spreading is heavily impeded by high temperature, made a lot of Kenyans believe it will not cause deaths. Statements like, “the virus is just like flu and will be greatly weakened by the high temperatures in the country” were common.

Apparently, that was partly true, as research revealed the virus to a great degree loses its fatal potency in temperatures higher than 25 degrees centigrade. On fatalities, the stark reality of how lethal it is has to a great extent sunk into most Kenyans, and measures adopted to help curtail the spread have been put in place.

The Kenyan government just like others dedicated resources to do awareness and sensitization about the virus’ nature. Perhaps the most intriguing fact about the virus to the normal citizen is how politicized it has been and used to exacerbate corruption among the top government officials and their cronies. International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank pledged finances to third world countries whose economies were crippled by the pandemic and Kenya was identified as one of them.

Sadly, as this money was dispersed to help ease the pressure on purchases of PPE’s, politically correct individuals found a way of embezzling the same funds meant to cushion the runaway expenditure. A scourge that needed a country to stick together and ride through the storm instead elicited divided opinions about the virus's veracity.