Seun:
Staying at home is not the answer for a country with so much poverty. There is no point in saving ppl from the Coronavirus only for them to die of hunger and malnutrition and increased crime. The lockdown policy is simply unsustainable. It is at best a temporary measure to enable the government to get it’s act together. It is not a long-term strategy.

There is no country that has beaten the Coronavirus just by asking people to stay at home. The countries that are beating the Coronavirus, China and South Korea, both did 2 things:
1) Massive testing of suspected cases and isolation of infected people.
2) Encouraging everybody to wear face-masks in public to dramatically reduce the rate of transmission, because many carriers of the virus have no symptoms and can still spread it

Those are the key things we need to do. Shutting down the economy will rob us of the financial resources that we need to carry out the measures that actually work. If we actually calculate economic losses for each day that Lagos is closed, we would be shocked.

Just as asking people to abstain from sex to prevent AIDS never worked, but urging them to use condoms worked, asking people to stay at home when they are poor, cannot work. Our government doesn't have the resources to feed everyone until the vaccine is ready. What we need is for people to use a condom for their faces when they have to go out. If 80% of us can wear face-masks, the problem is solved.

seun help a neighbour na, 2024717292 uba

raymi:
Seun, I think you need to do more research about this virus and listen to the experts.

Who are the experts and what are they saying? I mean, the South Koreans who are beating the virus without locking everything down are the best experts on the matter of the Coronavirus. Why listen to experts from countries that are losing hundreds of their citizens to the virus every day instead of experts from South Korea and other Asian countries, who have actually demonstrated that their ideas are effective?

Also, how many Economics experts did our leaders consult before deciding that shutting down the commercial capital of the country, which is responsible for a third of our GDP Is more cost-effective than massively funding the NCDC so they can increase our testing and isolation capacities to match or exceed that of South Korea?

First of all, everything is secondary when it comes to human lives. Business, economy etc. Human lives are priceless. We cannot gamble with human lives because we want Nairaland or other companies to grow or not lose money.

Forget Nairaland. I will probably lose my sanity if this lockdown continues much longer. And it pains me because the experts in South Korea have demonstrated that if you put the right things in place, you can beat the virus without shutting down your economy. Why is the whole world not listening to these experts?

By the way, we gamble with human lives all the time. For example, with the lockdown, the government is gambling with the lives of poor people who struggle to meet their basic needs. It’s gambling with the lives of Innocent people will be killed as a result of a sharp rise in robberies by desperate impoverished people. It’s gambling with the lives of failed business owners and retrenched workers who will commit suicide.

The use of face masks, according to experts doesn't stop the spread of the virus effectively.

Many experts are now saying that the above information by the WHO is false. Dr Fauci of USA said that if we have enough masks, putting a mask on every face would help against the virus and the US CDC is advising Americans to wear home made face-masks to slow the spread of the disease. The head of China’s CDC, an expert who is winning the battle against COVID19 in his country, said that not wearing masks is a big mistake:

Q: What mistakes are other countries making?

A: The big mistake in the U.S. and Europe, in my opinion, is that people aren’t wearing masks. This virus is transmitted by droplets and close contact. Droplets play a very important role—you’ve got to wear a mask, because when you speak, there are always droplets coming out of your mouth. Many people have asymptomatic or presymptomatic infections. If they are wearing face masks, it can prevent droplets that carry the virus from escaping and infecting others.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/not-wearing-masks-protect-against-coronavirus-big-mistake-top-chinese-scientist-says

How do you even think government can enforce face masks and social distancing?

If the government can enforce the lockdown, they can enforce physical distancing.

You setup detailed rules that are sensible and logical, make sure everyone knows what the rules are, provide materials that they will need, and shut down or fine establishments that fail to follow the rules. After a few have been made examples of, others will fall in line.

I don't think you understand the ramifications of what you're proposing. I hope it doesn't take the infection/death of a family/friend for you to take this situation seriously. Forget about the experts, you really think it's wise to allow people go about their normal businesses with only masks as protection? Are you aware of what is going on around the world, the death toll, the chaos and how easily this virus spreads? Do you realize one single cough from an infected person spreads about 3000 droplets? It is because of people who share your mentality the virus has become such a menace. Boris Johnson, Trump and others did not listen to the experts in time and it spread widely before they started taking extreme measures. The English Premier league was one of the last leagues to suspend the season. In US, the NBA was still going on with fans in the arenas despite the fact that they had confirmed cases and it has now led to heaps of bodybags on their streets. It took a player being infected before they suspended the season. Should people start dying in masses in Nigeria before we start taking extreme precautions? If we had taken extreme precautions earlier, we won't even have any cases in Nigeria. Save your energy for more profitable causes like holding the government accountable and forcing them through our voices to do the right thing by taking care of the low earners. If they really want to do it, they sure can. Stop bringing up insane suggestions that will guarantee mass corpses on our streets. The government is finding it hard to enforce the lockdown, many people are still flouting the rules, how realistic is enforcing physical distancing and face masks (which is not even effective enough) if everyone is going about their normal lives? The lockdown is not going to be forever but it is mandatory till we get the virus under control. Nobody is against mass testing, masks, physical distancing, etc but the lockdown is still the most effective way of controlling the spread. There's a reason why over 100 countries are advocating self isolation. People are dying of hunger but that has been the state of Nigeria even before the virus. No matter how people complain of hunger and hardship, it can never be as bad as people dying in masses to the virus which will happen if we keep on our daily lives. We have to do the least worst thing. I don't really have time for any back-and-forth on this subject. I've come to a realization that people hardly change their opinion even if they know they're wrong. You're entitled to your opinion and it's okay if it doesn't align with mine.

Seun:

Who are the experts and what are they saying? I mean, the South Koreans who are beating the virus without locking everything down are the best experts on the matter of the Coronavirus. Why listen to experts from countries that are losing hundreds of their citizens to the virus every day instead of experts from South Korea and other Asian countries, who have actually demonstrated that their ideas are effective?

Also, how many Economics experts did our leaders consult before deciding that shutting down the commercial capital of the country, which is responsible for a third of our GDP Is more cost-effective than massively funding the NCDC so they can increase our testing and isolation capacities to match or exceed that of South Korea?


Forget Nairaland. I will probably lose my sanity if this lockdown continues much longer. And it pains me because the experts in South Korea have demonstrated that if you put the right things in place, you can beat the virus without shutting down your economy. Why is the whole world not listening to these experts?

By the way, we gamble with human lives all the time. For example, with the lockdown, the government is gambling with the lives of poor people who struggle to meet their basic needs. It’s gambling with the lives of Innocent people will be killed as a result of a sharp rise in robberies by desperate impoverished people. It’s gambling with the lives of failed business owners and retrenched workers who will commit suicide.


Many experts are now saying that the above information by the WHO is false. Dr Fauci of USA said that if we have enough masks, putting a mask on every face would help against the virus and the US CDC is advising Americans to wear home made face-masks to slow the spread of the disease. The head of China’s CDC, an expert who is winning the battle against COVID19 in his country, said that not wearing masks is a big mistake:https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/not-wearing-masks-protect-against-coronavirus-big-mistake-top-chinese-scientist-says


If the government can enforce the lockdown, they can enforce physical distancing.

You setup detailed rules that are sensible and logical, make sure everyone knows what the rules are, provide materials that they will need, and shut down or fine establishments that fail to follow the rules. After a few have been made examples of, others will fall in line.