By: Ismail )*
Corona patients who recovered continue to increase and this is good news, because the pandemic could end quickly. The mortality rate has also decreased. This shows the readiness of the government in dealing with corona.
It doesn’t feel like we have been in a pandemic period for more than 6 months. Even though we were shocked at first, eventually we were able to adapt and get used to wearing masks everywhere. Public awareness to comply with health protocols also continues to increase.
The result of government regulations and community discipline is an increase in the cure rate for corona patients. From the initial 73%, now it is 75%. Meanwhile, the mortality rate decreased to only 3.77%. More and more patients recovered and the rate of transmission of corona decreased.
Doctor Reisa Brotoasmoro stated that the increase in patient recovery rates was the result of the 3T program launched by the government. Namely Testing, Tracing, and Treatment. Testing is conducting a rapid test for people throughout Indonesia. Every day the government conducts at least 40,000 tests to find out if there are new corona patients.
Tracing is a program to find traces of wherever corona patients go and make contact with healthy people. Because they can currently have OTG status, aka people without symptoms. People who have had direct contact will immediately be asked to do a rapid test, so that if they are caught ill, they can be immediately treated at the hospital.
While treatment is treatment. At first, the mandatory drug for corona was chloroquine. However, it turns out that there are patients who are not even suitable. Currently there is a more patent-pending corona drug combination, namely lopinavir, ritonavir, and azithromycin. The government has received strong support for this combination drug research.
Apart from providing better medicines, the government also eliminates the cost of treating corona patients, through the BPJS. Because if it is not covered, the patient must pay at least 400 million rupiah. Therefore, we shouldn’t forget to pay the BPJS especially not having the card.
After being treated for at least 14 days, the patient cannot just go home. He must be re-tested for swabs at least 2 times. If the result is negative, then they are allowed to leave the hospital. Patients are also advised to be self-isolated for 2 weeks, so that they are completely cured and do not have the potential to infect other people.
Health workers also play an important role in the fight against corona. The increasing number of recovered patients is the result of their hard work, who are willing to heat up wearing PPE. And dare to have contact with patients, even though there is a possibility to be infected. The government gives special intensive to reward health workers.
Apart from health workers, personnel at the hospital are also added with volunteers. Because to prevent them from working more than normal shifts. With the presence of volunteers, health workers can save energy and not overwork the body, thus avoiding contracting cases. Volunteers are also noble because they help increase the cure rate for Covid patients.
The government’s steps to overcome corona must of course be supported by the people. When someone is disciplined with a mask, then there are people who insist that they don’t want to wear it. Moreover, considering that corona is only a conspiracy disease. This person must be eradicated and his mindset changed. People don’t just believe, because they only believe in hoaxes.
They need to be shown the reality that corona can attack anyone, even the president of America. Unfortunately there are people like this who just believe that there is a Covid-19 virus when it is infected. It’s really sad.
When the cure rate for corona patients continues to rise, we need to be more disciplined in adhering to health protocols. Don’t even take off your mask and let your guard down at all. Because the covid-19 virus can be transmitted through the air, so it must be more stringent to prevent it. Remember the old adage, prevention is better than cure.
)* The author is a student of IISIP Jakarta