As India faces the most dire crisis experienced by any country since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the media has placed a spotlight o...
As India faces the most dire crisis experienced by any country since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the media has placed a spotlight on dying people being turned away from hospitals, patients running out of oxygen, and crematoriums on overdrive.
In the face of these heart-wrenching reports, healthcare workers and the Indian public have scrambled to mobilise resources to help individuals affected by Covid-19. Most of these efforts have understandably focused on short-term requirements such as improving access to make-shift hospital beds, oxygen tanks, and therapeutics, or on advancing India’s vaccination campaign.
While therapies and vaccinations are crucial, addressing medical needs alone is inadequate given the severity of the current crisis. India cannot treat or vaccinate its way out of this surge without great loss of life. Given the near-collapse of its health system, India must urgently consider a nationwide shelter-at-home recommendation. A nationwide shelter-at-home recommendation could avert numerous deaths, while buying time to advance India’s vaccination campaign, which is the path out of this pandemic.
However, any such directive must be implemented in a humane manner that avoids the mistakes of its nationwide lockdown last year. We therefore avoid using the term “lockdown” here – a term that evokes painful memories...
