Dealing with COVID-19 without Panic, Intelligently and Practically

The COVID-19 pandemic has wrecked havoc beyond the physical realm and into our minds. DR. COL. CHETAN SHARDA, treating patients in Kota of Rajasthan, shares his thoughts on how the pandemic has changed humanity and what we can do to march on.

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The coronavirus has impacted humanity in ways unimaginable and its ramifications continue to unfold with each passing moment.
It would not be untrue to say that it has changed everything within and outside, affecting every aspect and each moment of our lives.

Nobody observes this more closely than "we doctors". The so-called frontline warriors pushed to the forefront by fate and destiny.
I am sharing what I am seeing.
My experience is limited by my sense of sight. I can only chronicle what I see but can never feel what my patients feel which is nothing less than a boiling ocean of emotion within each of them.
I can also see it in a sea of humanity that walks endlessly into our OPD's looking for answers and solace and above all, a guarantee that they will live to see another day.

This is true not just for the ones who actually suffer but also for countless many who care for them. Curiously a sizeable number are made up by the ones who are fearful of getting their infection in the future due to unfounded fears.
Fear psychosis has gripped many and I see many are frozen in their tracks as if they have seen death itself.
Families that have suffered losses are not just in mourning but also anxious to the point of hysteria. It is a cruel double whammy.

They fear that corona is lurking at every corner. Individuals are fearful of strangers and acquaintances alike.
People are fearful of their own lives and of their near and dear ones.
Humanity seems to be slowly learning the desperate art of self-preservation with renewed vigour that's effectively making us all more solitary and elusive in the real world. But, in the virtual world, we are becoming more active.
Humanity is redefining relationships in thought and actions and let all be warned that none will be spared.  The WHO's Director-General remarked: "This pandemic has brought out the best and the worst of humanity."

I find anxiety syndromes, PTSD's, obsessions and accompanying compulsive motor actions, fear psychosis and so on to name just a few which is spreading like an epidemic in this ongoing pandemic.
WHO also mentions isolation and fear of losing income as a major source of anxiety and panic among the population.
The so-called second wave and third wave are just not helping.

The pandemic is also spawning irrational social behaviours such as high irritation levels, "touch me not" psyche and so on.
It seems we are being launched into different social divisions-one based on the COVID-19 virus and the other on those who do not have it.
We the doctors, and frontline warriors, are in the grey zone. They cannot do without us. But, ironically, society wants to avoid us. What a dilemma?

Strangely, I see these emotional upheavals more in the middle-income group and higher income group than the lower-income group.
Ultimately, all it boils down to is how much one stands to lose from getting an infection. I say this because losing life seems to be a secondary concern of my patients. It is more about the work left undone, relationships, properties, and other issues that occupy the infested mind.

But, all is not so gloomy. I find that spending a little extra time discussing and allaying the fears of my patient mostly settles them and their relatives.  Shall we say they have more acceptance of their situation? Right advice puts them on a more logical footing and gears them up to fight their fears and infection in a more scientific manner. They are on a more sound footing and are more in command of their lives.
It is pertinent to point out that ill-advised relatives just make the matters worse.  It is best to talk to an expert. The experts are generally doctors who are working with corona patients and treating them. They know and also understand best.
You will always get more sane advice from the ones who know than from the ones who believe they know. The majority of us fall in the latter group.

The pandemic is here to stay and there is no denying that the show must go on.

(Dr. Col. Chetan Sharda has been busy treating COVID-19 patients at Kota, Rajasthan. Views are personal.)