As on March 2022 its almost two years completed when COVID 19 hits the Indian population. No one can forget the impact of COVID 19 which it has done on our lives. This kind of global anomaly has appeared for the first time for all living generations together on this planet (last could be world war II). It touched almost every human life, for some it was a health disaster, for some it was loss of loved ones and for many others it was financial calamity.
Disease severity: From the initial days of this pandemic we were getting some trend that this virus is not causing any severe symptoms in children. Severity of symptoms are proportional to increasing age. People with higher age groups and with comorbidity are most vulnerable. There are numerous research papers published in the scientific community which shows there is no single mortality case reported with age groups less than 18 years.
Why are Parents still worried? : Although children will not face any severity with this disease but they are susceptible for infection thus can carry this virus to elders at home. Risk of hospitalization, Tricky methods of RT PCR tests, quarantine period, heavy expenses of hospitalization are the main worries for parents.
Accept the fact: Lets accept some facts. This virus will remain in the human population forever. It will keep coming to us again and again. Those who are already infected have received natural immunity against it. Duration for this immunity is not yet studied. Another safest way to get this immunity is vaccination. This will take at-least another year to cover the majority of our population. It will take another two years to immunize children under age 18 years.
Fight vs Flight response: The fight or flight response is an automatic physiological reaction to an event that is perceived as stressful or frightening. The perception of threat activates the sympathetic nervous system and triggers an acute stress response that prepares the body to fight or flee. These responses are evolutionary adaptations to increase chances of survival in threatening situations. COVID-19 emergency has brought this situation in front of us. I have seen some extreme examples with respect to children. Thus, from COVID -19 perspective, I would like to explain pros and cons of both situations
Flight response:
In the initial day of the pandemic almost every one was part of this ideology. Virus was novel, doctors were not prepared, there was no proper cure, epidemiology was unknown. We had locked ourselves in houses to flee away from this virus. Benefits of such strict lockdown is still subject of debate. Our nation had received valuable time to build strategy and prepare a workforce to fight against this virus. But in conclusion it was proved that no country in the world was so lucky to stop the transmission of this virus. Governments are still advising communities to take precautions to avoid transmissions.
Cons of prolonged flight response: I will explain only with children (Age 2 to 6 years) perspective. I have seen some parents who have locked their children in their houses for many months ahead. Children have a lot of energy. I wonder how parents have managed to control this energy in a positive way. Children need to play a lot. They need much more space and peers to interact and learn new things about their surroundings. Without outdoor games children can become explosives inside nutshell! I am afraid that many children might be addicted to dead screens (mobile or TV) for a longer duration. This will create another setback for their creative learning and imagination process.
Fight response:
This is the current scenario for this pandemic. Even though there is a rise in the number of cases in multiple waves, people are more worried about their income than virus infection. It’s impractical to cut daily routines for all businesses. Hence many businesses resumed as earlier while some had changed their mode of execution to adjust with the scenario. Example: Work from home for software engineers, Virtual classrooms for schools. In recent times, I have personally seen many local tourist points flooded with people which includes children as well as elders. I have seen toddlers to teenagers playing outdoor games. Children can hardly maintain a mask on their nose while playing games like football and cricket. So these are some examples which have shown us a way to fight back with this virus. Healthy individuals must fight and not flee away from this virus. This statement may prove contradictory to current government restrictions but way better to normalize the panic situation. Doctors have also learned many ways to save infected individuals provided that the patient visits the doctor earliest. In many mortality cases it is observed that patients took enough time to seek treatment. It could be mere ignorance or over confidence. To get immunity against such a huge population (either natural infection or vaccination) it will take at-least 3 to 4 years more. Till that we never know how this virus will behave but most probably it will be less severe and we will have better control over mortality of cases.
Conclusion: Lets fight back this virus and not flee away. Let children play outdoor games. Let them interact with their peers. They are the healthiest among us to fight against this virus.