by Asueiza Onwunaru
With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, so many lessons affecting virtually everything human have been learnt. We will continue to take valuable lessons from this saga, but I want to share some personal experiences that will live with us forever.
(A) Health is wealth.
It has often been said that health is wealth. While a few people may have held opposing views prior to the outbreak, the covid pandemic managed to unite almost everyone. It was seen how the pandemic swept away almost everyone it came in contact with, thereby making people see the need for wellness and wholeness of the body parts. More surprising was the fact that it carried away in its rage some of the most popular and wealthy people from many countries. Hereby, making it clear to everyone that it wasn’t an enemy to the poor but a friend to the rich and mighty.
Unlike malaria, which has been claimed to primarily kill people living in impoverished conditions., in a certain African country, the corona outbreak was referred to as a sickness of the rich because of the high number of positive cases recorded amongst them. With the ravaging spread of the pandemic on every continent of the earth and the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives all over the world, along with the downslides of business and economies, it was clear that even money couldn’t save lives as the world stood in awe, looking for a Hercules to come rescue them from the dreaded Corona virus.
It could clearly be seen that what money couldn’t do, a little carefulness could do.
During the COVID-19 breakout, some precautionary measures were proposed, but due to the negligence of many, the virus saw an opportunity to spread. Therefore, the world should ensure strict compliance with covid protocols.
(B) The significance of e-learning acceptance and adoption.
The educational system was not spared in the early days of the covid-19 outbreak. News channels all over the world daily update us on measures taken by schools to ensure continuity of education even in the pandemic era. Of course, the educational system couldn’t afford to be totally shut down, considering the vital role education plays in society. Hence the need for adoption of e-learning processes. It is pertinent to note that e-learning must not only be adopted in times like these, but it should be part of our everyday lives. This is because there are many benefits to this process, which include but are not limited to the following:
(i) Because students are not subjected to the conditions of the traditional learning environment, it facilitates easy learning processes.
Even lecturers now teach their students from the comfort of their homes without having to pass through the usual hurdles experienced in conventional school systems.
(iii) Due to the advancement of technology, it is imperative that daily activities be fine-tuned in alignment with modern technology. The advent of search engines like Google has even made it easier for students to do more research on their own, thereby needing little to no supervision from teachers. Now students can surf websites and get all the details they need to make their process better.
In a technology-driven world like ours, we can’t continue to live life like in medieval times. It is therefore important that all schools globally adopt a system that enables their students to visit the internet to conduct research on their own, as no teacher is an embodiment of knowledge.
(C) Medical practice is not incompatible with religious beliefs.
Conspiracy theories arose during the COVID and post-COVID eras. Mostly bordering on religious sentiments,
It would be recalled that some people refused to get themselves vaccinated with the covid-19 vaccine simply because the head of their religious organizations strongly condemned the act, hence they followed suit.
Meanwhile, it is worthwhile to note that the history of medicine can be dated as far back as when the first generations of humans lived on earth. Therefore, these two contexts (religion and medicine) ought not to be mistaken as they may both be seen to be intertwined. A medical doctor, for example, may still have faith in a supreme being to complete the task of healing (religion).
On the other hand, a pastor who prays for a sick person may as well advise the seeker to still go ahead with medical treatment while waiting on God to heal (medicine).
It is therefore imperative that when faced with situations such as the COVID era, every good and possible option ought to be explored and not castigated.
One’s belief isn’t necessarily a call to castigation of another’s. In the case of the COVID pandemic, all necessary alternatives needed to be tested and explored, because life, which is the most important variable here, is more important than medicine and religion.