Six months since the country’s first Covid-19 cases were announced, the growing number of confirmed cases has become even more alarming. We have apparently been unable to control the spread of the disease.
By
KOMPAS EDITOR
·3 minutes read
Kompas/AGUS SUSANTO
Health workers communicate between tests with the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method or swab tests at the Press Council Building, Central Jakarta, Wednesday (12/8/2020).
Six months since the country’s first Covid-19 cases were announced, the growing number of confirmed cases has become even more alarming. We have apparently been unable to control the spread of the disease.
The expectation that we will soon emerge from this health crisis is moving farther and farther out of our reach. Indeed, a dark cloud is hanging over Indonesia’s Covid-19 mitigation these days.
The Covid-19 Task Force announced 2,858 new cases on Sunday (30/8/2020). Even though this was a drop from the record high of 3,308 new cases recorded on Saturday (29/8), this should not have transpired if the government had done its homework.
The high positivity rate of 25 percent indicates a shortage and narrow coverage of tests. According to Indonesian epidemiologist Dicky Budiman of Australia’s at Griffith University, testing is like a net and Covid-19 is the fish. If a small net catches many fish, this means that the pond is teeming with fish, or an extremely high prevalence of Covid-19 infections (Kompas, 31/8/2020).
According to the classic model of the epidemiologic triangle, three factors influence the spread of an infectious disease: microbes as the infectious agent, humans as the host organism, and an environment that supports interaction between the two. The infectiousness of the microbial agent is closely linked to a host’s age and health, as well as the level of sanitation and availability of health facilities in a particular environment.
However, the epidemiologic triangle is insufficient to explain the widespread transmission of Covid-19 in Indonesia. There is another vital factor that needs to be taken into account: the sociological condition of society.
A health worker conducts a swab test on a resident at the Community Health Center (Puskesmas), Duren Sawit District, East Jakarta, Monday (31/8/2020). About 90 people underwent a swab test at the puskesmas.
How do we emerge from this situation? Regret is clearly no solution.
Based the ethnographic studies of Clifford Geertz, I Nyoman Sama explains in his thesis, Abangan, Santri, and Priyayi in Political Struggles During the New Order Era (anthropology department, Udayana University, 2017), that the polarization in Javanese culture and structure (abangan, santri, and priayi) is a latent threat that could cause disaster at any time.
People who are apathetic and anomic (lacking social/ethical standards) collapse when other actors are in control of an issue. In this case, the elite and the government are key actors in mobilizing the public. During the ongoing health crisis, however, the government has not taken a leading role. The government has remained silent whenever someone raises conspiracy theories, religious issues, and violations of the health protocol.
The Covid-19 response, which is a public health issue, has even turned into an arena for feuding among the political elite. The task of communicating correct information for easy public consumption has been neglected.
It seems as though the government’s responsibility ended with the establishment of the Covid-19 Task Force. Not a peep has come from the health authorities, which have become entangled in eucalyptus necklaces. It has not accomplished its main job, which has been the 3T strategy of testing, tracing, and treatment) since the start.
So today, we are seeing an increasingly alarming rate of rising infections.
How do we emerge from this situation? Regret is clearly no solution. The government must take action to address the delay in applying the 3T strategy, improve public communication, especially in denouncing hoaxes, and punish those who violate the health protocol. Not doing so will only perpetuate the continuing series of shocks.
