By: Aldia Putra) *
The public must be willing to postpone homecoming this year because they are still in a pandemic confinement. Don’t be desperate to go home because it will endanger yourself and others, because you are at great risk of getting corona. Be patient and Eid at home, and don’t even go home secretly.
We have passed the pandemic a year and unfortunately there are still a lot of corona patients. Therefore, the government strictly prohibits the Eid homecoming on May 6 to 17, 2021. Not only civil servants, members of the TNI and Polri, but also the entire community is strictly prohibited from returning to their hometowns. In addition, Eid leave is only given for 2 days.
Doctor Wiku Adisasmito, spokesperson for the Covid Task Force Team stated that the ban on going home was due to the past few months. When there is a long holiday nearby ( long weekend ), corona cases immediately jump. Therefore, the government decided to prohibit going home, for the sake of the safety of many people.
Please understand this prohibition by the public. Indeed, at first some were disappointed because they failed to go home for the second time. But it would be better to refrain. Because going home will make people’s mobility increase drastically. Meanwhile, this will trigger an increase in the number of corona patients, and the pandemic period will be longer.
According to data from the Covid-19 Task Force Team, as of April 11, 2021, corona patients in Indonesia were still 4,127 people per day. So that the total number of patients is 1.5 million people. The number of patients this much is worrying. After all, we certainly don’t want to be the next patient, do we? When the immune system drops and the blood thickens, the risk of death from corona will threaten.
Even if they don’t get corona right away, travelers are at risk of bringing the virus to their hometown. Do we have the heart to pass it on to old parents in the village, then they get sick because of the corona? The answer is of course no. We must understand that this prohibition is not only for one’s own safety, but for common health.
Doctor Riris Andono Ahmad, an epidemiologist from UGM, stated that the ban on going home was due to the lack of discipline in implementing health protocols. In that sense, there are still many Indonesians who are lazy to wear masks and obey other health protocols. So it is better if going home is prohibited, than there is a second wave of covid attacks.
An example of the lax application of health protocols when traveling long distances, for example, is only wearing a mask when there are officers, but after that it is removed. The number of people is also not limited so that they are jostling, even though the maximum passenger capacity should be 50%. So it is feared that they will form a new corona cluster.
In addition, when there are people who are desperate to go home, the Covid-19 virus can lurk while resting in the rest area. Most of them go to the restroom and then lie down while eating their lunch. At that time the masks would have been removed and there was a risk of transmission from other people there. Because according to WHO research, corona can be transmitted through dirty air, such as in crowded rest areas .
Therefore, it is better for us to obey the government and not go home this year. Instead of arriving at his hometown, he had to be isolated independently and exposed to the symptoms of corona, and could not enjoy the beauty of Eid. Be patient and wait until the pandemic is completely over.
Don’t even be desperate to go back to your hometown and look for a mouse path, because there are many officers on guard to keep you out. Likewise with routes via air, almost all airlines do not operate to support the ban on going home. Not returning home does not mean that it is not Eid, because we can pray Eid at any mosque.
