COVID-19 Cases In The US Explode Again, Be Careful! This Is A Strong Warning For Indonesia

JAKARTA - The crazy explosion of daily COVID-19 cases in the United States in the past week is considered a strong warning for Indonesian citizens to remain vigilant, not to be complacent, and to obey health protocols.

"We don't want the explosion of COVID-19 cases like what happened in the United States to happen in the country. Therefore, we must not imitate the behavior of Americans who ignore health protocols because they think the Corona is about to disappear", said Member of Commission IX of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Rahmad Handoyo, in his statement to VOI, Tuesday, August 31.

In fact, the Central Java legislator continued, the COVID-19 case in Uncle Sam's country had been sloping some time ago.

In mid-June, only 11,000 cases per day, while vaccination has also reached 51 percent of the population. However, in the last week of August, daily cases jumped by more than 1,000 percent.

"This means that in this week the previous 11 thousand cases rose to 160 thousand to 200 thousand per day", said Rahmad.

According to him, the insane spike in cases in the US was due to the assumption that COVID-19 would disappear, so that the behavior of its citizens went too far.

"Second, following the decline in daily cases, the local government made easing. For example, summer holidays are allowed, people's mobility increases. As a result of this easing, the American public is currently facing tremendous anxiety", explained Rahmad.

The PDIP politician said that if you look at the ups and downs of COVID-19 cases in the United States, the conditions are almost similar to what happened in Indonesia. He said that the daily cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia last June had also increased sharply. Hospitals are full, so many patients have to be treated in tents, oxygen and medicine are also scarce.

“Daily cases of COVID-19, which previously peaked in Indonesia, are now starting to trend downward. Well, the recent increase in activity and mobility should not make us ignore it. We must be vigilant, lest easing makes us neglect the health protocol. The result could be like in America, there was a significant spike in cases so that in the end it endangered health facilities", Rahmad reminded.

Rahmad appealed to all elements of the nation, especially the central government, regional governments, community leaders to COVID-19 task force officers at the RT and RW levels to remind each other that COVID-19 still exists.

"We must not loosen discipline and health protocols must remain tight at the waist until COVID-19 is really weak", he stressed.

Rahmad also reminded the central government to prepare health infrastructure properly so that the previous bitter experience, namely the difficulty of obtaining medicines and the scarcity of oxygen, would not be repeated.

"We had experienced a crisis in health facilities, this should not happen again", said Rahmad.

Reportedly, the COVID-19 pandemic is increasingly in an alarming position in the United States. Despite having vaccination rates that tend to be high, the country still experienced a significant increase in infections, even more than 1000 percent when compared to last June.

Citing interactive COVID-19 data belonging to the New York Times, at the end of last June the average infection case in Uncle Sam's country was still at the level of 11,000 per week. But now, the average weekly infection has reached 141,000 cases per day. This is an increase of more than 10 times.

Health analysts consider this high rise to be a result of the easing in effect during the summer holidays. Where the public seems to have thought that the corona had disappeared and ignored health protocols.