Fast and slow pandemic

The first cases of the coronavirus pandemic were registered on December 31, 2019, however, the infection continues to spread even in 2021.

An epidemic can develop rapidly or slowly, and the course of the development depends on how we all respond to the outbreak from the first days of infection.

As we have seen with the example of the coronavirus, a rapid pandemic can have dire consequences and take many lives. But the slow epidemic will not even be remembered in history books. The worst-case scenario is a rapid onset of infection when there is no cure for the disease.

Why is the rapid pandemic dangerous?

During the pandemic, many people get sick at the same time. If numbers are too high, health systems are unable to handle the situation. There are not enough resources to help everyone, such as medical staff or equipment. In such situations, people die untreated. And as more and more health care providers get sick, the capabilities of health care systems become even more declining.
In such a scenario, the number of deaths increases significantly.

To avoid all this, everything possible should be done to turn the rapid epidemic into a slow one.
The epidemic can be slowed down if it is given the right answer at the initial stage. In case of a quick response, most of the infected can be treated, there will be no overcrowding in the hospitals, the life of the doctors will not be endangered.
Before switching to special vaccines, we must all follow the special rules and act as a social vaccine.

There have been recorded epidemics with high morbidity and mortality rates throughout human history.

Some of them are:

• 1331–1353, Europe, Asia, North Africa, “Black death”, 75–200 million deaths
• 1545–1548, Mexico, Coccolistli epidemic, 5–15 million deaths
• 1918–1920, worldwide “Spanish flu”, more than 100,000,000 deaths
• 1957–1958, worldwide, “Asian flu”, 2,000,000 deaths
• 1960s, worldwide, HIV / AIDS epidemic, 30,000,000 deaths
• 2013–2016, West Africa, Ebola virus, 11,300 deaths
• 2019–2021, China, SARS CoV-2 coronavirus, 116 million infected, 2.57 million deaths

What is the importance of quarantine?

The COVID-19 epidemic has spread at an alarming rate, infecting millions of people and putting all economic activity at a dead end. Concerns have shifted from supply and manufacturing issues to declining business services. The epidemic caused the largest global decline in history, during which more than a third of the world’s population was quarantined. During this pandemic, the word “quarantine” was added to the vocabulary of each of us.
The main purpose of mass quarantine is to smooth the curved spread of the disease. This curve predicts the number of people who will be infected with the coronavirus. A sharp curve indicates the spread of the disease in a shorter period of time.
Depending on the speed of the spread, the curve can take on different shapes. This curve can have two development processes: a sharp rise, and a sharp fall.

The sharp rise will lead to an overload of the healthcare system (as was recently observed in Italy during the outbreak of COVID-19). The rapidly rising pandemic is particularly dangerous for countries with high populations or with limited health facilities, like India.

However, the sharp curve can also have a sharp fall. In this scenario, the infection affects as many people as possible, and the number of cases decreases quite rapidly.

Thus, in order to overcome the epidemic, in the first place, it is necessary to slow down the spread of the infection by weakening the curve. Will be infected, the same number of people but over a longer period of time, resulting in less stress on maintaining the health system.

We all already know that during an epidemic it is dangerous to visit public places, such as cafes, gyms, hospitals, even laboratories to be tested. Of course, the question arises as to how to be tested for coronavirus, when you are not allowed to leave the house. In such a case, on-site service is encouraged when the health worker approaches and performs the required sampling at home. Thus, you avoid contact with other people, queues, and gatherings. Such services work for the benefit of public health and security, and can greatly improve the epidemic situation in the country.