WHEN people I personally knew started testing positive for Covid-19, my heart began to sink. But my heart sank even more when people I personally knew began to get lost in the virus.
I say lost because they seem to have misplaced their moral compass when they started sharing lists on social media -- unverified lists of people who had purportedly tested positive for the virus.
I waited a while before writing about this because I truly wanted to understand the motivations behind this senseless sharing of information -- information that could have been yours or mine.
But I’m going to tell you now that if I should ever test positive for Covid-19, I will disclose it to the public because I don’t want to pass the virus on to more people than I might have already done so.
But that’s just me. I can’t do that for anyone else. It’s not my place to do so. It’s not yours either.
It is NOT okay to tell the world that X or Y has tested positive for Covid-19 unless X or Y or their families are explicit in their desire to do so. Otherwise, please exercise caution in sharing the information you receive.
If you personally know someone who tests positive and wish to alert people who might have come into contact with this person socially, please do so. Discreetly. But do NOT share the name to every chat group you belong to simply because you want to be FIRST to break the news on social media.
This is how a virus spreads exponentially.
Social distancing is the norm these days. Learn to distance your finger from the SHARE button unless you are sharing joy, laughter or inspiration.
When they test positive, why do you think they stay silent? Could it be because the mob, despite their much-touted faith in God, devotion to Christian rituals and values, fairly high literacy and IQ levels, are just waiting to lynch them?
Why, after all, would we treat persons who test positive for Covid-19 and their families, like pariahs in the community? Why would we subject healthcare workers and other frontliners to discrimination, hostility, violence?
They are NOT the enemy. The virus is the enemy. We cannot win this war if we keep shooting at each other. Voluntary public self-disclosure can never happen if we do not learn to look at this virus with reason and calm.
Patients are victims of the virus. They need compassion, not condemnation. Healthcare workers are soldiers fighting against the virus. They deserve respect, not revulsion. Frontliners are warriors in this war. They deserve support, not spite.
The enemy is deadly—threatening to take not just our bodies but our souls. Let’s not lose our moral compass in this war. Let’s not get lost in the virus. The Lord is mighty. He can contain this virus. But perhaps, we need to save humanity ourselves.