Covid-19: To Defeat the Virus, We Must Go Visual -By Yunusa Ibrahim

We can significantly enhance how people react to this pandemic if we give the populace more access to photos and videos of those battling with acute symptoms of the virus in isolation centers, and even images of those that died from it. Of course, it has to be done legally by seeking the permissions of the victims themselves or through their legitimate representatives.

Connecting to the masses and making them feel the sorrows of the virus victims is instrumental in shaping the peoples´ response to this pandemic. Research had shown that people are more likely to be influenced by what they see rather than what they hear.

To effectively control the lives of about 200 million citizens with an audio case studies of less than 3000 people is highly difficult. Most of the government policies in curbing the spread of the pandemic is suffering a significant drawback because people are downplaying the danger posed by the virus. And it is not solely their fault. I mean, these are people who have never seen anyone with the virus, and at the same time has a crisis of trust with their governments which happen to be the only source of legitimate information as regards to the virility of the pandemic.

The Chairman Presidential Task Force for Covid-19 Boss Mustapha confessed that the real lesson he derived from Abba Kyari´s (late Chief of Staff of President Buhari) death is the reality of the coronavirus presence in our lives. By firsthand witnessing the virus´s victims he is more convinced that the pandemic is real and dangerous.
The question now is, how can you convince the majority who do not have firsthand access to the victims of the virus of its threats? To do that we must support our audio reports with visuals. People need to see how the Covid-19 patients are flaring with the disease. They need to have frequent access to the visual images of those that died from it. To save the peoples´ lives there is the need to instill not only reasons but also fear in their hearts.

The National Center for Disease Control (NCDC), should be vested with the sole responsibility of releasing such visuals to the public every day along with the trend updates of new cases. They should do it by clarifying to the volunteers that their images will be made available to the public only for the sole purpose of creating awareness to masses of the dire consequences of flaunting its preventive measures. This will go a long way in not only creating the much needed awareness but instilling fear into the minds of the majority of our populace, since it is a known fact that majority of people do not obey laws on their own volition but because of its attendant consequence.
Transparency is the key in containing the horrendous experience created by this pandemic, majority of our populace think that the virus is a rich man’s disease and it does not have anything to do with the poor, this is the reason why whenever the government gives any window for people to go out, majority do that without observing the social/physical distancing advice given to them.

To so many people they do not see any difference between the normal flu/catarrh and what is being bandied out as Covid-19 now, since what they know is just to survive. The government have a lot to do in containing this virus, because of the fact that we have never taken the act of governance very serious, since it is very convenient to use the media in creating the wrong impression that something is being done when in reality nothing is being done. My prayer is that after this pandemic we will learn to set our priorities right since the world will never be the same again.