As the nation prepares to declare Covid-19 endemic, it would be wise to consider whether Malaysians truly understand what that means.
So far, the oft-used explainer has been "endemic like dengue — we have to live with it". It seems like a simple throwaway line that every Malaysian should understand. But, do we?
Dengue is such a familiar enemy that few think about it anymore. After all, Malaysians are used to mosquitoes — the person who screams when bitten is the one who will be laughed at. We accept mosquitoes as part of ordinary life — just like getting diarrhoea after eating at a roadside stall.
We have become accustomed to thinking that it is something which we have no control of.
The reality is that many people die unnecessarily from dengue — not because dengue is "endemic", but because people don't make the concerted and sustained effort to make it difficult for mosquitoes to breed. As many who have been hit with dengue know, keeping one's own backyard clean is not sufficient: Everyone, everywhere, must keep their surroundings clean. One unneighbourly household is a chink in the armour. More of them and the armour rapidly falls apart.
If all neighbourhoods have neighbours like that — and let's be frank, they are the rule rather than the exception — the Aedes mosquito's survival is assured. So, one person from a neighbourhood is bitten, becomes infected, goes to the office, and donates blood to other Aedes mosquitoes. Then someone else in the office gets bitten, goes home in another neighbourhood, and spreads it around. Multiply that exponentially and dengue thrives.
What could break the momentum is the populace working together to collectively keep clean. One walk-through, once a week, around the compound and in common areas to collect rubbish and tip over any vessel is all that is needed.
But, if no one works as a whole, the effort fails. Certainly, some neighbourhoods may fare better than others. But, no neighbourhood is an island, and even islands have visitors.
Thus, Malaysians should approach Covid-19's endemic stage with foreboding. Covid-19 is far, far deadlier, but we may likely be just as lackadaisical about it. Nothing in our habits and the way we behave should, in any way, assure us that we are even more equipped to fight this virus than we were last week, or last year.
Barely had restrictions been lifted on some travel and recreational activities, and Malaysians in the hundreds of thousands were out of the gate and over the turnstiles faster than the best steeplechase could muster. Suddenly, there were beaches with no sand visible; waterfalls with more children than rocks; and litter galore. And as for face masks and physical distancing?
After 18 months of lockdown, people just wanted to really live for one day. Unfortunately, that may prove to be very true for some. After all, "We have to live with Covid" is not an agreement with Covid-19 to let us live. Medical experts are cautioning us not to be lulled into complacency, and the recent decline in cases may be a false trend that can easily be undone by the "ticking time-bomb" of the holidaying-horde.
So, as with dengue, this is something Malaysians must understand: Covid-19 is not just something that happens to us, it is also something that we make happen to ourselves and to others.