By: Reza Pahlavi )*
After the long Eid holiday, we need to be aware of the surge in corona cases. Reflecting on the events in Kudus and Bogor, don’t be careless in implementing health protocols. If it is still a red zone, then tourist attractions should not be opened, because the crowd will become a place of corona transmission.
The pandemic period has indeed put us in a dilemma. On the one hand, you must obey protocol and reduce your time to leave the house, except for really important matters. But after more than a year of staying at home, it feels too tired. So that after Lebaran several tourist attractions are opened, many people are happy because they can take a vacation.
However, the holidays even brought disaster because it made a lot of people get corona. As happened in Kudus, Central Java. The small town was immediately locked down because of the increasing number of corona cases and its status rising to a red zone. The reason is because there are so many visitors in the pilgrimage tourism area that there are crowds and the Covid-19 virus is spreading.
Likewise in Bogor. A new corona cluster was formed because 90 people were infected with the corona virus in a housing complex in West Bogor. Deputy Mayor of Bogor Dedie A Rachim even declared it an extraordinary event (KLB) and reminded all parties to remain vigilant.
Dedie added that the government has made policies that should be followed by the community, but public awareness must be grown. Don’t let the government work alone with vaccinations, promotive and preventive actions that are ignored by the community and eventually many are affected by the corona virus. In a sense, one example of neglect is that many are desperate to return home.
In fact, according to Dedie, the ban on going home is actually for the people themselves. Because if no one returns home and human mobility is low, corona cases will decrease, and schools can be reopened because Bogor can drop its status to an orange or even green zone. However, when many are stubborn and eventually return to the red zone, mothers are dizzy because they have to teach online schools after face-to-face learning is canceled.
Reflecting on these 2 cases, the community still needs to be disciplined again when facing a pandemic. Don’t want to immediately get back to normal activities but don’t apply strict health protocols. For example, wearing masks at random or even only worn during raids. Even though the price of masks is very cheap and can be obtained easily.
The health protocols that must be adhered to are not only 3M but also 5M. Apart from wearing a mask, it is also mandatory to wash your hands and keep your distance. Don’t let it be because you’re already familiar and just taste it, even though he’s an OTG. Surely everyone understands that it is not permissible to shake hands in person and it is enough to say hello from a distance.
In addition, obey the other 2Ms, namely avoiding crowds and reducing mobility. Because if you are in a crowd, there are still many who don’t wear masks or wear them but don’t cover their noses, so the risk of transmitting the corona virus through droplets is still high. Don’t leave the house except for work or school (if it’s face-to-face), and shopping can only be done online.
All of this must be adhered to so as not to form a new corona cluster. Don’t grumble because it’s for our own safety. Adhering to health protocols is not that difficult, and in fact over the past year we have been accustomed to wearing masks everywhere and carrying hand sanitizers in our bags.
To avoid a spike in new corona cases, everyone must be disciplined in obeying health protocols. Don’t be careless in the slightest and stick to the rules. If everyone is disciplined, the transmission of the corona will stop and the pandemic can end soon.
)* The author is a contributor to the Pertiwi Institute