Today's weather in Aizawl is chilly, windy, wet and gloomy. Mizoram has been getting some parts of Super Cyclone Amphan that devastated Eastern India and Bangladesh for the past few days now. Fortunately, the damage so far isn't as bad as those regions facing the brunt of the cyclone.
Also, as of this morning, according to the official Indian CoVid19 website, Mizoram is now the ONLY Indian state with no active CoVid-19 case!
I see a lot of my friends sharing this on their status and expressing their relief. While I appreciate their sense of alleviation, I must admit, I do not share their enthusiasm. Because you need to look at the underlying reason why our neighbouring states like Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, all with zero positive cases in the past few days, suddenly have so many active cases now.
It's not that they were careless or negligent. These states were also as vigilant as us, but their positive cases came from their recent returnees. Yes, with the operation of buses and special Shramik trains, stranded migrants from different parts of India are returning to their respective home states. And with them, came the inevitable CoVid-19.
Mizoram too has been seeing almost 1000+ Mizos returning daily at Bairabi Train station and Vairengte check-gate. At this stage, there are only three possible reasons why Mizoram still doesn't have any new CoVid-19 case:
Reason #1. All the returning Mizos had been extremely careful and taking utmost care of themselves to guarantee that they were not infected by the virus.
Reason #2. They were extremely lucky not to contract the virus from their point of origin, as well as on their journey home too.
Reason #3. We have faulty testing kits in Mizoram.
I wish it is because of Reason #1, but we got to be a little bit more practical and I think Reason #2 seems to be the most rational option, while I hope and pray to God it is not because of Reason #3!
And that is why I feel the fact that we are currently a Zero positive case State should by no means be a cause for celebration. It is still too early to let our guard down. A lot of our Mizo brothers and sisters are still returning to our beloved homeland, and we should be prepared to accept the worst, both physically and mentally.
I added the word "mentally" above because we need to prepare our minds to a possible scenario of mass infection that should not cloud our judgment with hate or scorn upon those who are returning home. We have our Quarantine centres and frontline medical warriors to handle those cases. Let not the worst moments bring out the worst in us.
We still have a long battle ahead in this fight against CoVid-19, and meanwhile, the best we can do for now is to welcome back our people with loving and open arms, not literally though, and convey to them the assurance and sanctuary that they so desire.
These are the reasons why we should continue to be ever vigilant, and these are also the reasons why I will not share this jubilation of being a Zero positive case State, yet. Not to sound clichéd, but this is our "calm before the storm" moment.
These are the reasons why we should continue to be ever vigilant, and these are also the reasons why I will not share this jubilation of being a Zero positive case State, yet. Not to sound clichéd, but this is our "calm before the storm" moment.
I'm sorry if I'm being such a Donnie Downer this morning, maybe it's because of the weather. Like I said, today's weather in Aizawl is chilly, windy, wet and gloomy.
