Corona virus is not going away soon, so what next?

By PETER GITHUNA

Now that we have finally taken the necessary measures in many places to close school, offices, restaurants and business, people are asking: How soon will it be over? Two months? Three months? When will we go back to norm?

The virus may become just like another endemic viruses like HIV/Aids that have never disappeared, but effective treatment has been developed to control it.

Unfortunately we have a long way to go, we need to think in terms of months and even years, we should stop picturing the ubiquitous “Flattening the curve”

China and South Korea have demonstrated that social distancing works, it is possible to slow the spread of virus and limit many people infected at one time. This will prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed with patients. It will give researchers time to develop vaccines and reduce infections.

No one knows how long social distancing will last, but China and South Korea are good examples. China locked Wuhan and Hubei provinces on January 23 and today they are reporting zero cases.

But in Kenya a raft of safety measures should be put in place including reducing number of children in schools to achieve the social distancing rule.

Even though effective vaccines will be developed, it will require immense work to produce sufficient doses to be distributed worldwide. The vaccine may not be available until 2021.