India's worsening Covid crisis partly due to religion

Since for 35 years I was a member of a religious organization headquartered in India, I have a special interest in how that country has been doing during the Covid pandemic.

Recently I've been seeing dire stories about rapidly increasing Covid cases and deaths in India. 

The reasons for the deteriorating situation are complex, but a big part of the blame seems to be related to factors that have been evident here in the United States, especially during the time Trump was president.

Namely, poor leadership from those in charge of the country; declaring victory over Covid prematurely; allowing large religious and political gatherings in the midst of the pandemic; failing to communicate the importance of wearing masks and following other public health advice.

Here's excerpts from a Washington Post story today, "India's 1.6 million new covid-19 cases in the past week are breaking its health system."

Four months ago, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared victory over the coronavirus pandemic. Now the country is in a new covid-19 crisis, with more than 250,000 new confirmed infections daily. India has now overtaken Brazil, with the second-highest number of confirmed cases worldwide.

The actual number of cases may be much higher — testing lags are increasingly common, and some states have curtailed coronavirus testing. Similarly, official numbers report a seven-day average of around 1,300 deaths per day, but undercounting and misclassification of deaths is rampant. Long delays and price-gouging at crematoriums — amid reports of makeshift cremations on sidewalks — suggest the death counts are far higher than reported.

The Modi government faces public criticism for allowing political rallies and religious gatherings. There has been little official focus on further investments in either the country’s health infrastructure or vaccine production capacity. Domestic politics factor into India’s covid crisis in these ways.

...Last week, millions of Hindu pilgrims headed to the Maha Kumbh Mela for a five-day pilgrimage, held in the state of Uttarakhand. Over 1,700 devotees tested positive, and the festival itself lacked adequate coronavirus protocols.

Uttarakhand is seeing record-high covid cases, and 11 percent of devotees leaving the festival by train have tested positive. Many in India criticized the Modi government for permitting the festival and even facilitating travel for devotees from all across the country.

The lack of public health concern also stands in stark contrast to the government’s handling of a much smaller Muslim religious congregation last year, which resulted in several charges being brought against attendees. The incident led to increased communal backlash against Muslims across the country. This year’s court-mandated restrictions on Ramadan prayer congregations in Mumbai and Delhi also demonstrate inconsistent government guidance on religious gatherings.

And these are excerpts from a New York Times opinion piece, "India's Second Covid Wave is Completely Out of Control."

A lethal, fast-paced second wave of the coronavirus pandemic has brought India’s health care systems to the verge of collapse and is putting millions of lives and livelihoods at risk.

On Sunday and Monday, the country recorded more than 270,000 and 259,000 cases, respectively, of Covid-19, a staggering increase from about 11,000 cases per day in the second week of February. Reported coronavirus infections shot up from about 20,000 per day in mid-March to more than 200,000 by mid-April.

The newspapers and social media are scrolls of horror and failure of the health system. There are reports of lines of ambulances with patients waiting outside the largest Covid facility in Ahmedabad in the western state of Gujarat because ventilator beds and oxygen had run out.

...How did things change so dramatically between March and April?

India’s rapid slide into this unprecedented crisis is a direct result of complacency and lack of preparation by the government. As the number of cases dropped significantly in mid-February, the Indian government and various policymakers, cheered on by a pliant, triumphalist media, prematurely declared victory against the pandemic. By early March, senior government ministers were speaking about the endgame of the pandemic in India.

Cricket matches where tens of thousands of spectators filled stadiums were allowed, and movie theaters were opened. The government did nothing to prevent enormous religious gatherings such as the ongoing Kumbh Mela, a festival in Haridwar in the northern state of Uttarakhand, where millions of Hindus gathered for a dip in the River Ganges. Unsurprisingly, Covid-19 cases in Haridwar have soared.

...The mass political, religious and sporting events, which are extensively covered by the Indian media, sent mixed messages about the seriousness of the pandemic. Popular impatience to get back to earlier lives made things worse. Indians started mixing widely and playing down the threat also because there is an unfounded sense among a large number of Indians that exposure to pollution and microbes had endowed them with superior immunity.

...The risk of getting infected through exposure to someone with the coronavirus is no different in India. The proportion of people who died after a Covid-19 diagnosis is lower in India compared with many other countries. But that is simply because 65 percent of Indians are under 35 years old.

Indians with Covid-19 ages 40 to 70 were more likely to have died in India because of the high prevalence of comorbidities like hypertension, diabetes and respiratory disorders. Covid-19 patients in our study in their 40s in India were twice as likely to die as Covid-19 patients in the corresponding age group in the United States. The rate was 75 percent higher in India than in the United States when we compared patients in their 50s.

Dealing with Covid-19 is tough enough without politicians like Modi and Trump making things worse by failing to follow public health science. Hopefully India will find better ways to handle the current wave of Covid cases.

Comments

[Dragonslayer]

Yes I agree with you, the bent, attention seeking baba of beas, aka Gurinder SINGH dhillon of the RSSB faith is always out and about drawing crowds - gives him a reason for his parasitic existence. If he's really loving and caring, why doesn't he pay a visit to the dying patience in the covid wards, they need a good healing hug from a God in human form. After all jesus healed the lepers!!!! Come on GSD step up to the mark , pathetic joke.

[Appreciaitve Reader]

There are dragons viler far than GSD, Slayer. GSD is small change next to the Trumps of the world. Let's not get so tunnel-visioned in our GSD bashing that we miss these far more egregious instances of outright deceit, that end up causing immeasurably greater harm than the likes of GSD can ever inflict.

(Which, I need hardly add but still will, is no endorsement of GSD, at all.)

[Manoj]

Man made religion like the rs cult with GSD in charge is a virus in itself.

Infecting the innocent humans with a nasty infection insisting to not go away.

Only thinking of himself and his selfish needs. Violating the rules as they don't apply to his royal ass.

Gsd thinks he's needs are way more important than lives.

There's still no cure for stupidity.

Leave the stupid being stupid

Religion is not more important than any life.

Let's hope the message gets through GSDs pee brain, sometime soon.

[um]

@ Manoj

If .... if you can offer something better to the devout, they will certainly listen too you.

There is an American magician that went through India to show that the so called holy men were just using stage tricks. There is nothing wrong with that if he would have offered these poor people an alternative in the form of an nearby hospital or medical post where these people could go when a child was bitten by a cobra. If such an post is not available within the means of transport of these people, the parents have no other option than to consult the local priest for divine help. Doing so the have at least the satisfaction thay they cared for their children and did what they could. Taking away that believe in the name of truth or science is cruel.

Religion is not about the organisation, the clergy in whatever rank, it is for the simple people that have the welfare of themselves, their family and friends at heart. .... it helps these people to go through life, it gives them hope.

It is the same as believing in democracy, ecconomy etc etc or believing that taking a plain, train or car etc will bring one from a to B.

[um]

@ Manoj.

Through our news media we are informed that the prime Minister of India Mr. Modi has ask foreign leaders to help him out with Covid 19.

The news also mentioned that Modi spoke to the people asking them to have themselves vaccinated and that the pandamic soon will be under controll .... IF ....if the people heed the words of the EXPERTS.

You see, at first sight there is nothing wrong with this advice but given the circumstances of life of the people in India, and the way the country is governed, the word EXPERT is like "GOD".

You see should he have said we are running head on into an disaster??!!??
He knows that India cannot handle the situation given the circumstances of the infra structure and for that reason have to face their fate.

Telling the truth for the sake of truth can be cruel .... never take away hope from anybody, even if that hope is not based upon solid foundation.