This archive report was first published on 5 May 2020.
OPINION: Nobody Is Dying Of Covid-19 ¶
On April 13, The Standard published a front-page story titled, 'More than 800,000 Kenyans could die of Covid-19 — Study.' However, a recent post by Dr. Sam, a Kenyan doctor, suggests that this claim may be misleading.
Dr. Sam's post, which was shared in a Kenyan WhatsApp group chat, warns against the looming disastrous consequences of treating Covid-19 like HIV-Aids in the early 1990s. He argues that being Covid-19 positive does not mean death and should not be a reason for stigmatization.
According to Dr. Sam, many people will die with Covid-19 and not due to Covid-19. He cites the example of HIV-Aids, where people died with the virus, not of it, due to stigma and lack of proper treatment.
Dr. Sam also argues that Covid-19 is a mild infection that most people will recover from without any complications. He points out that the body bags in New York and Italy, as well as the narratives by survivors, suggest otherwise. However, a model using data from the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) now shows that Covid-19 is more widespread, less severe, according to an April 14 report by WebMD.
Dr. Sam's concerns are not limited to the severity of Covid-19. He also warns against the obsession with testing and continuous data updates, which may result in undesirable consequences, such as stigmatizing people who contract the virus.
He argues that healthcare workers should refuse to let Covid-19 take us where HIV did, where we lost our mind and followed donors, not medicine. Dr. Sam regrets the way healthcare workers handled HIV patients in the early 1990s, where they gave up on the sick the instant an HIV diagnosis was made.
He writes, 'The moment HIV was diagnosed, we were to 'do the necessary,' meaning the barest minimum to maintain the patient's comfort as the patient wasted away to a stigmatized and lonely death. We called it palliative care. But it was more of supervised death.'
Dr. Sam's opinion piece has sparked debate on the severity of Covid-19 and the need to avoid stigmatization and draconian measures. His points are valid, and it is essential to consider his arguments in the midst of the pandemic.
