EDITORIAL: Reopening country is inevitable for survival

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In Summary

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s declaration that the country cannot continue indefinitely with the Covid-19 restrictions sent the clearest indication yet that the government is working on lifting the lockdown. And that has given hope to a weary citizenry that has had to cope with unbearable pain due to tough containment measures for nearly three months.

We acknowledge upfront that the challenge ahead is huge. Lifting the restrictions is fraught with risks as the pandemic is not going away anytime soon.

Indeed, the World Health Organization (WHO) has pronounced itself on that and charged the countries to think through the strategies they put in place as they roll back the control measures.

COMPOUNDING INFECTIONS

The onus is on governments to plan properly, guarding against exposing the citizens unduly and compounding infections. Ideally, the process has to be gradual and monitored at every stage to avoid imperilling the citizens.

There are precedents already. Various countries have de-scaled the restrictions and reopened their economies to allow the citizens to pick up and continue with their lives. Germany, for instance, has not only lifted the restrictions but restarted the professional football league, Bundesliga, albeit with strict guidelines that include not allowing fans into the stadiums.

Kenya has been agonising over what to do. Risks abound in quickly waiving the regulations. Fears are strong that people are bound to throw out the health protocols, including social distancing, and resume work and travel without caring about transmission of the virus. But that is the starting point for discussion.

When the government finally ends the constrictions, the imperative is self-control with everyone required to act extremely carefully.

HUMAN INTERACTION

The coronavirus has profoundly changed human interaction and that is bound to remain into the future. Enforcing high hygiene and health standards is a new reality all of us have to internalise and learn to live with. Travel, particularly outside the country, will become a rarity and undertaken when absolutely necessary.

As we have argued before, three months of partial lockdown have been excruciatingly distressful. The social, economic and health losses have been colossal. All learning institutions have been closed and students put in a quandary over what to do. Kenya, like other countries, has to start afresh to rebuild the economy and institutions ravaged by the global pandemic.

The government has to craft a well-thought out recovery strategy. Top on the agenda is revitalising the economy, which is central to the nation’s sustenance. Importantly, the citizens must be socialised properly for the post-Covid-19 reality. The world is entering a new order; the old is gone, the new has come.