The Coronavirus Crisis in India
May 25, 2021
This blog post was written by Chaitanya Raina and Jatinderpal Singh. Chaitanya is a student at Michigan State University and Jatinderpal is an intern with the Alhambra US Chamber.
Throughout the past month and a half, the Coronavirus has devastated India. Cases have surged, which has caused a shortage of drugs, hospital beds, and oxygen to manage the symptoms of the disease. This has led to a significant increase in deaths and to a collapse of the medical system. Even though the surge in cases has slowly started to fall back down, deaths have not and the pain felt in India has ricocheted across the world. The vaccine may be available in some countries but where access is limited, the surge is still doing damage and the effects will be sure to linger for a long time.
During the start of March, people were optimistic that India might be rid of COVID soon. Fake coronavirus cures abounded, and some people believed that Indians are more immune to the virus than other people, because they supposedly lived in dirtier environments. Since the lockdown has left the Indian economy struggling and left people without jobs, some politicians argued that India was winning the war on COVID and held rallies for upcoming elections. The optimism, pseudoscientific beliefs, and lack of leadership lead people to disregard public health safety to celebrate religious holidays such as Ekadasi, Navratri, Holi, Kumbh Mela, and Ramadan.
People gathered in huge numbers without masks for the holidays and rallies, and although India’s COVID-19 task force warned that India should return to social distancing restrictions, the advice was ignored. The virus spread like a weed, and India entered a state of emergency. Access to hospital beds and oxygen plummeted and remains low, and many hospitals cannot admit new COVID patients. The unfounded optimism about an immediate end to the virus caused far more problems than the virus could have caused on its own.
As an Indian American, I have felt a lot of anxiety among the Indian-American community. Many of my Indian American friends have had close relatives pass away due to the virus, and are stricken by grief at having missed their loved ones’ passing. For Hindus, it is tradition to ceremoniously burn one’s parents’ bodies and deposit the ashes in a sacred river, and many Indian-Americans have been unable to do so due to the travel ban. This is a tradition that has been around for thousands of years, which has been halted due to the pandemic.
Deaths continue to rise, but the surge in cases caused restrictions to be re-implemented and have eased the number of new cases. Some municipalities like Delhi are planning to relax them again, and we cannot know the exact effects this relaxation in the rules will have. However, it is likely to increase the number of cases again, as only 5.1% of Indians are fully vaccinated at time of publication.
Even though vaccines have been administered to close to 2 billion people, distribution has been concentrated in a few countries. It is important for India and people across the world to recognize the importance of staying mindful until their communities have received the vaccine, or they could pay the same steep price that India has paid these past two months. I hope that this pandemic has taught Indians about the importance of listening to health experts rather than rumors and hearsay.
