What is Bhutan's Situation?

Hi .......... ,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

I know – the weirdest thing is that Americans are supposed to be the first world people – but they go and elect someone like Trump to lead them. It is frightful!!

Well, do not worry about getting here …. You will get here for sure  - eventually. The human race will overcome this one too --- as we have done many viruses over the centuries.

My view about Bhutan’s situation? Frankly, right now I am feeling a little nervous. Our rationality seems to have been totally hijacked by this frenzy to keep the virus at bay. We seem to have lost focus – I hope the government will do a retract and reorganize their thoughts soon.

What is currently happening is that we are so focused on keeping the virus at bay, that we do not seem to be preparing for an eventual community outbreak. My thinking is that WE CANNOT KEEP THE VIRUS AWAY FOR EVER. It is here to stay - thus we have to learn to live with it, and face it squarely.

What we have obviously failed to understand is that the current locked-down condition is NOT A FIGHT AGAINST THE VIRUS - but to contain it until our preparedness is in place - it is merely a game plan to GAIN SOME TIME to effectively tackle the eventual spread of the virus. This locked-down period should be used to upscale our medical facilities - to tackle the outbreak that will happen.

Lock-down cannot be perpetuated forever – or it will be the cause of our death, not the virus. The virus will only kill selectively – lock-down can kill en-mass.

We have to go with the assumption that the virus will hit us soon. As we bring back all the Bhutanese from the affected areas like the US and the Middle East, as strict as we are in our quarantine regime, few cases will eventually slip in – because the scanning and detection system is NOT 100% FULL PROOF. Some positive cases will eventually slip through undetected – and we will have community infection and spread. That is as certain as night and day!

Now this is where I think we have so far failed to comprehend – that community infection and spread is a foregone conclusion. Thus while we are totally focused on arresting the virus at the entry points with the zeal of a coyote, we do not hear of the government preparing to handle an outbreak.

We are not preparing for enough hospital beds. We are not preparing for enough trained doctors and nurses and other health workers to handle positive cases.

In my view, when the virus hits us, there will be thousands of cases – not merely hundreds.