The absurd level of panic in Sri Lanka – Coronavirus Panicatacus Syndrome!

The way the people of the Country have been unnecessarily alarmed due to the Coronavirus is worrying, and an indication of how gullible, how insensitive, how racist, and how melodramatic the people are in general with a few exceptions, which indicate the nature of the public.

The over use and therefore shortage of face masks, which are really of minimal value, over something as simple as regular washing of hands in antibacterial soap is a case in point. After all apparently only one is a hundred people who contract this virus is likely to die from it, makes Dengue and its prevention in SL is a far more disturbing public health issue than what Corona will ever be and I don’t see anyone making that point.

As a nation merely moving from sound bite to sound bite, the true extent of what one should be concerned about is not taken into account. It is more important to safely cross at a pedestrian crossing than put on a face mask, as the likelihood of being run over by a vehicle, exceeds that of even contracting the virus, let alone dying from it! I hope that puts in context what we are seeing.

So when travelers say that even at the airport they are being treated as if they have come from a danger zone when 99.9% have not, you can imagine the chagrin with which oncoming tourists will feel the authorities in Sri Lanka behave.

The host country must not instill fear into our visitors who don’t bring this virus and the shoddy treatment of anyone remotely looking slitty eyed as we don’t still know how to distinguish between Japanese, Korean or Chinese, makes it even more embarrassing.

I was informed by a friend who works in a restaurant that they are wearing masks when serving. They have not been told that washing hands is more important in the prevention of the spread of the disease if one were infected. What is the likelihood of a patron of being infected? It is enough to put people of their food if they are trying to enjoy a meal in a restaurant without feeling they are in a hospital. It is not one which the patrons will like especially if they are not wearing a mask.

Then finally the false sense of security created by the masks is an important consideration. After all there are many masks in the market, especially now that don't conform to minimum acceptable standards. So they only give a veneer of safety without actually being safe, and give another person a false sense of security which is worse than not giving any sense without a mask. Just think