Business as usual as cases rise, only isolation of positive patients

Nagpur: The daily spurt in Covid cases seems to be a normal situation for citizens and organisations now. Unlike in the last three waves, no one is panicking or sealing areas where new cases are found.
In the last couple of days, new cases have been reported from medical colleges, government hospitals, offices and private establishments. However, these places continue to function as usual while the positives patient are isolated or asked to stay at home.
Two first-year medical students have tested positive at a private college. Last year, the same college had sealed the entire hostel and suspended regular classes. “No one wants to go back home or stop physical classes. The positive students are doing well and kept in isolation at the hostel. Some of their close contacts too were tested and found negative. They are attending classes,” said the dean.
At GMCH, officials sounded optimistic that the rising cases may not pose a major problem. “We haven’t decided as to what would be the new protocol if students and doctors test positive. We have an isolation ward ready, though no one has so far tested positive,” they said.
At IGGMCH too no one has tested positive. “The impact is very mild this time,” said a doctor.
The district has 289 active cases as on date. Of these, just seven are admitted in hospitals.
Infectious disease specialist Dr Ashwini Tayade said, “Fear among health care workers, patients and public has gone down. They all know Covid is just another disease, it will go away and medicines are available. A sense of security, pandemic fatigue, protection form vaccine also instils confidence.”
Activist Kunal Maurya said there is no panic in society. “People have become used to Covid. No one cares about the number of cases too. No one is asking about testing centres or hospitals,” he said.
Pulmonologist Dr Ashok Arbat said this is the right approach. “We have to see many challenges. If the tag of Covid is removed, it is just like cold and fever. Now, people are busy in their lives. Life should go on as usual. This should have been the outlook during first wave too. For how many days could we have kept away from normal life. People face bigger diseases like cancer while comparatively Covid is not as serious” he said.
A senior public health officer said, “Indicators to redefine Covid wave should be number of hospitalizations and number of deaths rather than just the cases now.”
Dr Abhishek Somani, professor and head, department of psychiatry, IGGMCH, said the fear still prevails among certain people. “A few new as well as old patients are coming with complaints of anxiety because of spike in cases. In general, public is not worried assuming it is not going to be a lethal wave,” he said.