Dear Editor,
COVID-19 is unlike any crisis we have experienced. It brought our nation to a standstill, compelled us to stay home, adapt to new norms, and overcome countless challenges.
Everyone I know has a story to tell, and every story shared connects us to someone’s lived experiences, fears and hopes. Although these stories we experience are preserved, they continue to service as reminders of what living through COVID-19 pandemic means to all of us.
More importantly, these stories reflect how our shared experiences have strengthened our resolve and inspired us to take action.
Our reflections and contributions connect us to each other as individuals and as communities, and enable us to look forward with hope as a nation.
The death of Mackenzie High School Principal Mr Haslyn Small to COVID-19 complication made me realise that COVID-19 has torn a particularly lethal path through those with diabetes, including many who never caught the virus. That’s because when the pandemic hit, people with the chronic disease were already in worse shape than in previous years.
It took the deadly disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic to expose a deeper, more intractable public-health crisis: For more than a decade, the world’s richest nation has been losing the battle against diabetes.
COVID-19, which has killed more than 600,000 people in the United States, has had an especially devastating impact on the millions of living Americans with diabetes. Health professionals and scientists noticed early on that many severely ill coronavirus patients also had that chronic disease. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cites research showing that 40% or more of the people who died with COVID-19 also had diabetes.
And those numbers don’t reflect the damage the pandemic inflicted on diabetes patients who never got sick from the virus but fell victim to the isolation and disruption it caused.
Deaths from diabetes surged by 17 per cent. We see younger people – ages 25 to 44 – suffer the sharpest increase, with a 29% jump in deaths. By comparison, all other deaths except those directly attributed to the coronavirus rose 6%, Reuters found.
COVID-19 has affected many facets of our lives. Public health measures rolled out to stop the spread of the virus have impacted the way we work, connect with others, and socialise. The pandemic has changed the way we’ve been able to celebrate milestones in our lives, and, importantly, the way we’ve been able to grieve losses.
Let’s care, appreciate and support each other during this period in order to emerge stronger!
To fight against the COVID-19 and minimise its transmission, we are currently at a phase where we have to do more to care and support each another. Contribute our ideas, time or resources to support the vulnerable among us. Appreciate our frontliners who are working hard to keep us safe. If you see a neighbour, colleague or community in need, do give a helping hand. Together, we can keep safe, stay healthy, and emerge stronger as one Guyana!
I realise that, in the midst of these trying times, many of us do try to extend a helping hand while looking out for each other. It makes me learn and realise the impact one can make even by a small simple gesture of checking up on others, of standing in solidarity with those in need by donating. All these can make a huge impact on how strong we can stand as a community.
People seem more aware and considerate because of a common enemy: the COVID-19 virus. I feel assured that Guyanese have awoken from a self-centred lifestyle. I realise we need to learn how to start a conversation without getting on each other’s nerves.
The fast-paced lifestyle in which we assume that everyone holds the same values that we hold should be reviewed. The misunderstanding, jibing and sarcasm hidden behind anonymous identities on social media is a widespread problem we need to address.
Let’s use this opportunity to grow as a nation towards an entrepreneurial culture that embraces failure, and celebrates creativity and innovation.
Sincerely,
David Adams
