With Covid Going Away Everything Else Is Coming Out To Play

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Coughing, sneezing and having a fever? Well, good news is that it may not be Covid. Looking at the reported numbers over the past few weeks, one can perhaps make a reasonable guess to say that overall, Covid-19 seems to not be so worrisome any more.
However, if you take a look around you, you will see a lot more people coughing, sneezing and having a cold. The reason for this? Well, as Covid slowly goes away, many other acute infectious diseases, especially of the viral family, which have not been as actively spread in the public seem to be coming out to play.
Among the ‘usual’ suspects are influenza, parainfluenza and a whole host of other airborne infections.
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Though admittedly not as ‘dangerous’ as Covid-19, many of these infections are still able to put you abed, and more importantly, have severe consequences on the very young and the elderly members of our communities.
Experts in the US have already sounded out a warning on this issue: they are seeing ‘familiar’ viral infections acting in ‘unfamiliar’ ways – manifesting as more severe, more infectious and presenting different abnormal manifestations.
Even the common cold, long attributed to the mild rhinovirus, is being seen as being more aggressive and severe than it was before. Some children have been reported to have two or even up to three viral infections at the same time, something very rarely seen before.
What is certain is this: the risk-mitigation measures in place during Covid-19 were beneficial to stop not only the spread of Covid-19, but almost all other acute airborne infectious diseases as well (including our local favourite, dengue).
Measures such as masking helped stop the spread of these diseases, and with the gradual slide into a more relaxed situation pertaining to masking now, the spread of these other infectious diseases seem to be on the rise once again. The one good thing is that with the high rates of vaccination in the community, we don’t look to be seeing a similar spread of Covid-19.
People were getting infected with different acute infections long before Covid-19 ever came into being. However, as with most situations in Malaysia, things became ‘blasé’ after a while.
I recall the huge scare when influenza first came to our shores, with thousands rushing to clinics to get tested the moment they got the first sign of a running nose.
Influenza was treated so seriously, with people panicking if a family member got ill, and everyone with influenza wanted a hospital admission (in ICU if possible).
After a while, once the furore died down, everything, including all those preventive measures that people associated with not spreading the disease, died out as well. Until Covid-19 came, that is.
Now as the fear has died down over Covid-19, it is perhaps prudent to consider continuing some basic risk-mitigation measures which may go a long way to help alleviate the spread of your other ‘garden variety’ viruses as they slowly come back.
For the longest time ever, if you have visited Japan, Taiwan or even South Korea, you would have noticed they have a very positive ‘masking’ etiquette.
Individuals with a cough or a cold would wear a mask out of their own volition, with no one forcing them, to ensure that they did not spread any sort of infection to everyone else around them.
This is a really good move, and with everyone quite used to usage of masks, is something you should consider for yourself and those around you.
Similarly, handwashing or even the use of sanitisers is something that has become ‘bred’ into most of us during Covid-19, but has now gone the way of the dodo.
Sanitising and cleaning your hands before touching many common surfaces including food items is something that should be done automatically, not just under the threat of passing Covid-19.
Keeping these good practices in play should be automatic, and not just something to be done during a time of acute outbreak or emergency.
For those picking up flu-like symptoms, please don’t be so nonchalant just because you test negative on an RTK test. It could still be Covid-19, as many individuals have found out the hard way because the tests are not as accurate as a PCR test.
However, it could also be something else, such as influenza, or a whole host of other acute infections. The key is, be especially careful with those from vulnerable groups such as those of us living at home with children or older people. Spreading an infection to them may end up with them having a really bad time.
Boosting your immune system via a Covid-19 booster may be helpful; but also equally important is the resumption of your influenza vaccines.
Many people I know have discontinued this under the ‘wise’ understanding that there is no more influenza since Covid-19 has ‘killed’ it off. This cannot be further from the truth.
Of course, the final warning needs to be about dengue. It’s back. Again, testing negative for Covid-19 should not make you happy that everything is hunky dory since you might be having dengue.
Malaysians are beginning to die from dengue once again – and again this is a disease that can be managed when caught early enough, if we do catch it early enough.
So while we are all looking to come back and play post Covid-19, please be aware of your other friendly neighbourhood viruses and how they may be looking to get ‘chummy’ with you as well. - FMT
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

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