The first wave of the Corona Virus has stricken the world with poverty, unemployment, and hunger. The economy is at an all-time low and the world has lost close to seven hundred thousand people in the pandemic. Europe is in shambles and the United States of America is number one in the total number of people infected.
So it can’t possibly get worse than this, can it? Unfortunately, yes it can.
What is the second wave of COVID-19?
Every global outbreak or a pandemic has subsequent waves of the spread of the disease. We are right now in the first wave of the Coronavirus in which the original virus that causes the Corona disease is starting to spread around all over the world. The disease will spread as much as it can until it is weakened by the weather conditions (high temperatures in summer) or due to strong resistance by the hosts (humans).
But when the winter season comes, the mutated virus returns stronger than before as it now has the appropriate weather conditions and mutations developed against host resistance to propagate even further.
This cycle is noticed in every pandemic that has occurred during human civilization and generally the second wave is fiercer than the previous one.
What does History say about second waves?
Well, the most common and relevant example to compare with the 2020 pandemic would be 1918’s Spanish Flu outbreak.
Though several other reasons made the Spanish Flu spread through Europe like wildfire, the biggest one was World War 1. Soldiers were not given proper treatment because there was none, the famous ‘flu shot’ wasn’t yet developed which resulted in the enormous and uninterrupted spreading of the disease through squadrons.
Due to all of the above reasons the second wave of the Spanish Flu was the deadliest wave of any disease humans have experienced. Since we don’t have a world war going on right now but we still rock our lack of awareness, there is still the effort of spreading awareness and caution that the government is imposing on people which might help us out in surviving the second wave.
Will the second wave be deadlier than the first wave?
It’s hard to say at this point because most countries are still fighting the first wave of the virus. India itself has seen no significant decrease in the first wave so it would be hard to differentiate between the first and second when the second wave hits.
However, because of the above reason, we can be sure that it will be as dangerous as the first wave. The second wave will hit an already battered, diseased human population through which propagation will be easier as the number of cases will be extremely high. Also, the Corona Virus flourishes in lower temperatures experienced in winter. But then, on the other hand, there will be increased immunity and more cautious behavior exhibited by humans.
For now, the final statement would be: if you’re drowning in a well, it doesn’t matter if someone pours another bucket of water. So wear your mask and exercise social distancing.
How to curb the onset of the second wave of Corona?
It is being believed that the second wave of Corona will be harder to control than the first wave, partially because we still haven’t effectively stomped the growth of the initial spread. Hospitals, doctors, paramedics, emergency services providers and medical workers will still be overworked due to the high number of cases making it even more difficult to register the patients afflicted with the second wave. And as time wears on, people will start becoming more and more careless than they were when the pandemic started.
But it’s not all bad news. India has a high rate of recovery for CoronaVirus cases and that means a greater number of potential donors of plasma for Plasma Therapy. Read more about how a high recovery rate helps in the treatment of Corona on this Ziqitza HealthCare blog post.
More and more companies are shifting completely towards online/ work from home jobs which will result in less human interaction. Masks and other personal protective equipment have become common which brings down social infection rates substantially.
Follow the government prescribed guidelines and be cautious. Avoid social interaction as much as possible. If you are a person who is eligible for plasma donation please do so. Prevention is better than cure, but keep in mind there is no cure for the CoronaVirus yet.
How is Ziqitza helping in curbing the Corona waves?
Ziqitza HealthCare Ltd provides several services including emergency ambulance services 108 and 102, patient transfer ambulances to corporates , mobile medical units, and medical helplines in the pandemic for any sort of medical emergency. Ziqitza Limited also provides free transportation to the nearest hospital for pregnant women under the JSSK (Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram) program. The JSSK program aims at providing ambulance services to pregnant women for free so that the infant mortality rate in rural areas that have very little access to ambulances goes down.
Here are some of the services that Ziqitza Limited provides independently and in association with different state governments:
- Government associated free ambulance services 108 in Punjab , Sikkim , Odisha, Jharkand and Madhya Pradesh
- 24-hour medical helpline 104 in compliance with National Health Mission (NHM) in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha
- Mobile medical units that reach inaccessible areas in Madhya Pradesh
Ziqitza HealthCare aims to provide safe, quick, and reliable medical and emergency services that are on par with those in the United States of America(USA) or the United Kingdom(UK). The services provided by Ziqitza HealthCare ltd are making a huge impact during this pandemic while working with the government and served over 85,000 patients. Medical emergencies can occur to anyone, so it is Ziqitza’s objective to provide such quality services to each citizen of India. Read up more on our services here.