While most countries have implemented strict lockdowns and curfews to curtail the spread of coronavirus, we in Tanzania have not experienced any restrictions. We don’t even have to wear masks although some people have taken it upon themselves to do so. This is especially true for foreigners. They are less likely to believe the government when they claim Tanzania is COVID-free.
You cannot imagine the number of intelligent people who tell me “I will never get COVID” or “We Tanzanians are too strong to die of COVID” and more worryingly “There is no COVID in Tanzania”.
The upshot of this is that many thousands of people have died of respiratory disease or pneumonia or whatever else is put on the death certificate to hide the fact that the cause of death was COVID-19.
The country does not even require a visitor to have a negative test before arriving. This has resulted in lots of Russians (mostly) bringing whatever germs they have to Zanzibar. Testimonial evidence suggests Zanzibar is now a COVID hotspot. So there you have it, the balance between public health and the economy. It seems you cannot have both. Most countries have sought to balance the two but we have sacrificed our population for economic growth. We are, after all, a proudly middle-income country. This was Magufuli’s goal.
There is no doubt that a country full of COVID restrictions and daily news briefings warning everyone about the many ways they can catch the virus and die, cause distress and anxiety among the population. In contrast we in Tanzania have been living a carefree life without such “scare-mongering”.
But now there seems to be an upsurge in neighbouring countries of Uganda and Kenya which have enforced nationwide restrictions and taken precautions. Contrary to what some locals might say, there is absolutely no way that we are not experiencing the same acceleration (if not higher) of cases.
If I count my friends here, I find that around half of them claim to have had COVID to some extent. Several of them were near death, on oxygen in hospital. Others were bed-bound and others lost smell and taste. It seems like every week there is another couple of my associates struck down with COVID.
And yet I am still healthy (as far as I know). How is this so? I have been wearing a mask mostly but am often mocked for doing so by locals and foreigners alike. I am not very careful about washing hands or social distancing. My employer expects me to continue my job as if there was no pandemic.
This means I am in close contact with people who travel every day on public buses without a mask.
It feels like I am playing a massive game of Russian Roulette. When I take the lift at work with 5 other unmasked people I wonder which of them will give me COVID.
Unless I have had COVID and been asymptotic, I cannot imagine I can last much longer without joining the long list of the sick, dead and dying of Tanzania.