Citizens have a role in limiting the social cost of COVID-19

Simbarashe Majamanda Correspondent
Beyond question, COVID-19 has negative ramifications on our society. Most of the time the economic impact is acknowledged and quantified but the social cost is forgotten. The social cost of COVID-19 is what I would consider the most significant and most damaging of them all. Human beings are social animals and COVID-19 has impacted negatively on our social lives. I seek to highlight the social cost of COVID-19 and the role of citizens in curbing it.

The government has put in place restrictions in almost every sphere of citizen lives in a bid to protect citizen health. This move is commendable as depicted by the recent slump in COVID-19 infections and rise in recoveries, but the social cost has been unbearable countrywide.

Our society is not functioning the way we know it. For instance, we cannot travel freely from one point to another unless for essential reasons, children have not been consistently attending school, families have suffered separation, jobs have been lost and members at social events and gatherings for example, funerals and weddings has been cut. We have had to make painful adjustments to the way we know life.

Quarantine arrangements either in approved government facilities or at home have negative effects on mental health and the social functioning of families. If a father or mother of a family is quarantined due to being infected or affected by COVID-19, he or she cannot attend work and or continue their parenting role for their children. In such a case, children who are a vulnerable and disadvantaged group will be distressed because of the anxiety associated with COVID-19. For such a family, additional stress will stem from stigma in their community of residence.

A closer examination of today’s society would show that substance misuse and domestic voilence at community level continues to increase as a result of social stress due to COVID-19. The result has been the tearing apart of families thereby affecting the fabric of society. Family is the most important unit of society. The impact of family destruction has serious repercussions for the future of our society.

We currently do not have approved treatment for COVID-19. So how can you lessen the social cost of COVID-19 on the society? How can you play your own role in limiting the impact on the society? Wear your mask, practice good hygiene, maintain social distance at all times and assume that anyone you interact with might be carrying the virus. It is all about behaviour to get yourself and your loved ones to the other side, a society where there is a vaccine or free of COVID-19. Now is the opportune moment to continue demonstrating bravery as Zimbabweans by strictly adhering to the set regulations to curb the spread of COVID-19 thereby reducing the social cost of COVID-19 on the society.