Thursday, 01 April 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
Even as a fresh surge in Covid cases is being witnessed and the government is stressing on observing all necessary precautions against the virus, some people seem to be taking the situation seriously while some are still taking it lightly.
Dehradun resident Dinesh Bisht said, “We are failing to abide by social distancing guidelines because we are social animals and it’s hard to resist social gatherings as we love to attend such events but when the situation is alarming we should try to avoid them or at least maintain basic rules like wearing masks and using sanitisers.”
Another local, Lakshmi opined that the general public is careless and irresponsible because of which others have to suffer. “Maybe people are not able to follow the guidelines because we have this mindset that nothing will happen to us until it actually happens,” said the lady who was maintaining social distancing and using two masks for added safety while in a public area.
However there are some people who are still not convinced and believe that the situation is being exaggerated. Jai Mamgain a worker in finance and investment sector, said, “Nobody in my family has contracted Covid and I don’t think many people of middle class families have caught this virus. In my opinion, the situation is being exploited for profit.”
Neuropsychologist Dr Sona Kaushal Gupta said that now it’s difficult for people to come out of their comfort zone as it requires a lot of willpower. Now when people have knowledge and awareness, willpower is lacking. “In the initial stage, there was a lot of fear as Covid was new so people were afraid and coming out of their comfort zones by staying home and wearing masks outdoors but now fear has decreased.” As a solution she said that law has to be enforced and people violating the guidelines should be penalised strictly.
Founder of Social Development for Communities (SDC) foundation, Anoop Nautiyal said, “This surge is due to a combination of various factors like absence of penalities for violations. We accept rules only if others around us do and people look up to their role model and try to emulate their social actions but when these role models violate the rules then people imitate them and do the same. The government should start awareness campaigns and involve active people of society in them. Basically it should be a combination of soft approach with a little bit of hard approach,” he added.
