COVID-19 with many puzzles
Oswald Zion is a Community Health Professional from Nigeria. He reveals some of the questions that the COVID-19 is bringing to his research and discusses the importance of social science in addressing many of the impacts.
The current COVID-19 pandemic, which was confirmed first in Wuhan in December 2019 is increasingly recognised as a serious public health concern globally. The first case of the pandemic in Nigeria was reported in 29 February 2020. Despite the measures put in place by the government to curb further spread, the numbers of cases have risen progressively. According to the latest COVID-19 situation report by NCDC (as of 4 May 2020), there have been more than 18,500 samples tested, 2,558 total confirmed cases, 400 cases discharged and 87 deaths as a result of COVID-19 in Nigeria.
Questions have been raised about the patterns as well as the perceptions about this pandemic such as:
- Why is the pandemic behaving differently in African states?
- Why are the older population the most vulnerable?
- Why do so many cases recover without any interventions?
- Could one build herd immunity against this pandemic?
- Why the global lockdown, if the pandemic is claimed to be an airborne disease?
- What will be the living pattern in post-COVID-19 era?
These puzzles are great concerns that the pandemic is bringing to my research.
In addition, I think social scientists should come up with measures that will have positive impact in the social wellbeing of the population. The lockdown in several areas of the country is having undue impact on the economy and society. If nothing is done this could lead to more deadly conditions associated with the poor socioeconomic status of many citizens.
More positively, during this lockdown season, I have been able to engage in more study and enhance my research writing.