Capturing currents

Community Kitchens and Go Bags By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Foundation : To prevent the lethal Coronavirus from spreading and to decrease the rate of spread of the infection along with corresponding death rates, perhaps it is inevitable for the governments to extend the Lockdown atleast till such time that the vaccine is available on a commercial basis. The moment the governments lift the Lockdown people are becoming callous and are letting their guard down. Lockdown itseems is the most effective preventive tool atleast as far as spread of infection is concerned. Various Indian states are in various avatars of Lock down at present.  Moment the lockdown was lifted by the governments, people became calloys, letting their guard down... triggering the second wave of the Pandemic It was unlock 1.0 and Unlock 2.0 that triggered the second wave of the infection. We need to pull back to mitigate the spread of the virus. Yes all of us from the State to the highest tax payer a

By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Foundation   In the aftermath of the Asian Tsunami the WHO Technical Report Tsunami in South Asia 2004 A Comprehensive Analysis . says “Bodies were unceremoniously collected in black bags and buried in mass graves. Claims that bodies needed to be quickly recovered and disposed of in order to prevent the spread of disease were false, but the removal of dead bodies from impacted communities was an important step in restoring a sense of normalcy. Additionally, religious customs among some of Aceh’s Muslim communities instructs followers to bury bodies within 24 hours of death. At the same time, the need to identify missing loved ones and the desire to observe proper burial rituals were strong among the impacted population”.  A  Plos Medicine article enumerates the need for best practices of managing mass mortalities in disaster afflicted areas:  Preventing mass mortalities on such a scale calls for an almost Utopian level of efficiency in Administrati

By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Foundation Given that we are living in unprecedented times, we have to resort to guidelines. Government of Karnataka's, (a state in South India), guidelines states “It is hereby clarified that dead bodies of ‘suspected’ COVID 19 cases should be handed over to their relatives immediately after swab collection and should not await laboratory confirmation of COVID. “These dead bodies can as a matter of abundant precaution shall (sic) be disposed off as per guidelines on COVID 19 dead body management of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of India and State Government guidelines as mentioned in reference. If such cases test positive eventually, then the required action for contract tracing, tracking etc. should be carried out subsequently”. The Government order does not clarify or record how to do contact tracing from a deceased, nevertheless! The Wet Markets in Wuhan China – the epicentre of the COVID 19 - where wildlife o