Call me insensitive if you wish. But I gotta say this.
You cannot shut down an economy because of a disease that kills less than 3% of persons who contract it. These are stats from countries with ageing populations, unlike us.
Save for Italy with a fatality rate of over 10%. But let us face it, the median age in Italy is 46, compared to Uganda at 15. I would be considered a young person if I was in Italy at my ‘ripe old’ age of 43.
Even when Aids afflicted almost 25% of the adult population in Uganda with no known cure or meds to prolong life, sex outside marriage, hotels, bars, and all manner of debauchery (as some saw it) was not banned! Life continued till ARVs were found.
Imagine if all erotic music, checking into hotels for couples not married to each other, bars, sales of alcohol, short dresses, and music with sexual lyrical content were banned, the economy woulda crushed us faster than AIDS. If 3% of the World Population or even 10% must be risked as world trade goes on, fuck it, let it be! Pregnancy-related complications kill 17 women and girls daily in Uganda.
But as we speak, a Ugandan is conceiving! Life must go on! Mother nature cleans itself up. If 1 million Ugandans die of Corona, even I be one of them, we will be ok. More ok, than saving 100,000 Ugandans and destroying our economy and causing anarchy! Those who die will probably be the weakest links and those who survive will have the genes to continue and preserve life.
Even in World War II, trade continued albeit at slowed down the pace! We have closed schools because of a pandemic that has not even driven its youngest patient (an 8-month-old baby) into ICU or HDU? Wtf!
I challenge our scientists to conduct studies and come up with strategies to combat this disease. Strategies are tailor-made to our unique situation. Chinese, American, or European solutions cannot work! Our demographics are different!
Let the Bazungus worry about this shit. After all, flu kills 100,000 Americans every year, but Lubyamira doesn’t kill even 1,000 in UG! Malaria kills close to 100,000 people in UG annually. Have we stopped night movements because of this? Fuck Corona! Lift the lockdown!
I am ready for a backlash for this post. Shoot!
Tom N. Mbalinda (April 2020).
Note: I received this article on my WhatsApp mobile as a forward. It is not written by me. And I don’t know the original author/s. The article will teach you a lesson and that is why I am sharing it. If you share, add this disclaimer.
