"When a man with ebola flew into Lagos in 2014, doctors managed to isolate him & his contacts were traced. They contained it -- 8 people died. Will Nigeria be able to pull this off again with #coronavirus?" @ruthmaclean, Ruth Maclean, the newly appointed West Africa bureau chief for the NYTimes
Let me just say - I have no idea how this post will age - but I have actually been amazed by the organization and efforts I've witnessed to contain the spread of coronavirus in Nigeria.
The first case in Nigeria was announced on Friday, Feb 28. It was an Italian who worked in the oil and gas industry.
On that day, two O&G clients of ours instituted a remote work policy in order to trace recent travel and interactions of all employees before risking an outbreak in the office. This especially hurt the [current company name redacted] team as their final read out was supposed to be that day. Sad face.
The next day (T+1 days), I went to the Lagos Theater Festival in Freedom Park (more on that in my post about Uber...). Before even entering the park, a facemasked guard took my temperature* and squirted hand sanitizer into my hands. As the Uber fiasco unfolded, I stood right outside the gate of the park for ~2 minutes -- when I went to go back and enter the park, the same guard insisted on taking my temperature again before I could enter.
The next Monday (T+3 days), when I showed up at work, a similarly facemasked guard took my temperature* before I could enter the compound. Then, a different gaurd took my temperature again before I could enter the building, and directed me to hand sanitizer right inside the door. The building has since been covered with hand sanitizer -- including two bottles in the elevator!
Temperature* + hand sanitizer has quickly become a fact of life for me in Lagos...at the grocery store, in restaurants, at the bank, and of course at work.
Throughout all of this, the only guard that communicates the read of my temperature has been the one outside at work. Every morning, he excitedly shows me the read. Since I have no idea what celsius temperatures really mean, I just try to read his body language to understand that he's being helpful and not passively telling me I'm going to die of coronavirus. (Yes of course I know that 0 is 32 and 40 is "hot"...but I don't really know the nuanced difference between 36 and 37...do you??)
So this afternoon I went to the bank (more on Nigerian banking at some point...no way I can't post about it...) and thought it'd be nice to wait outside for a bit for my Uber to arrive. It wasn't nice. It was effing fucking hot. Harmatan (dusty season) seems to have ended so there's no protection from the sun. It just bakes. And my Uber was slow. (But you already expected that given my Uber post.) I also had to cross the scary street to get the uber. I managed to get my hair up in a ponytail and off my sticky neck but I was uncomfortably sweating in all the wrong places by the time the Uber arrived. I relished the AC, but it didn't quite make it from the front of the car to the back. And there was no value in rolling down the window to get a breeze in the Lagos traffic.
So when I arrived back at the office, I was looking beautiful. (So sorry - no photographic evidence.) The guard took my temperature...and I read from the body language that 37.5 was not okay. We stood blinking at each other. I was a sweaty mess. Surely he understood I was a sweaty mess because it's a 104 heat index and I couldn't find any shade while waiting 14 minutes for my Uber...and not because...he thought I had coronavirus...right...? We stared.
"Just go cool off" one of the other guards said.
Cool off? WHERE? I'm still outside! There's no AC, no breeze, just heat.
"Deep breaths" the guard said.
Okay...I backed my back against the metal gate it was cool. And probably ruining the back of my pretty pink button down, but some sacrafices must be made. I stood in this sliver of shade, enjoying the cool metal for about 2 minutes and then went back for another read.
37 degrees. Success!
So now I know...37 C = 98.6F...and 37.5 C = too hot (99.5 F)
Meanwhile, the Nigerian CDC has tracked down every passenger on the same plane as Patient 0 and has put them on isolation protocol. The second person from the plane just tested positive -- so Nigeria is now up to its second case. However, that patient has been on isolation since Feb 28 -- so it seems that Nigeria is well on its way to containing coronavirus much as it did Ebola in 2014.
*Quick explanation -- "taking temperature" uses a no-touch infrared thermometer...basically it takes external temperatures...which is (I think) why I was actually able to "cool down" to get my temperature down!
Let me just say - I have no idea how this post will age - but I have actually been amazed by the organization and efforts I've witnessed to contain the spread of coronavirus in Nigeria.
The first case in Nigeria was announced on Friday, Feb 28. It was an Italian who worked in the oil and gas industry.
On that day, two O&G clients of ours instituted a remote work policy in order to trace recent travel and interactions of all employees before risking an outbreak in the office. This especially hurt the [current company name redacted] team as their final read out was supposed to be that day. Sad face.
The next day (T+1 days), I went to the Lagos Theater Festival in Freedom Park (more on that in my post about Uber...). Before even entering the park, a facemasked guard took my temperature* and squirted hand sanitizer into my hands. As the Uber fiasco unfolded, I stood right outside the gate of the park for ~2 minutes -- when I went to go back and enter the park, the same guard insisted on taking my temperature again before I could enter.
The next Monday (T+3 days), when I showed up at work, a similarly facemasked guard took my temperature* before I could enter the compound. Then, a different gaurd took my temperature again before I could enter the building, and directed me to hand sanitizer right inside the door. The building has since been covered with hand sanitizer -- including two bottles in the elevator!
Temperature* + hand sanitizer has quickly become a fact of life for me in Lagos...at the grocery store, in restaurants, at the bank, and of course at work.
 |
| Just chilling with some sanitizer in the elevator |
So this afternoon I went to the bank (more on Nigerian banking at some point...no way I can't post about it...) and thought it'd be nice to wait outside for a bit for my Uber to arrive. It wasn't nice. It was effing fucking hot. Harmatan (dusty season) seems to have ended so there's no protection from the sun. It just bakes. And my Uber was slow. (But you already expected that given my Uber post.) I also had to cross the scary street to get the uber. I managed to get my hair up in a ponytail and off my sticky neck but I was uncomfortably sweating in all the wrong places by the time the Uber arrived. I relished the AC, but it didn't quite make it from the front of the car to the back. And there was no value in rolling down the window to get a breeze in the Lagos traffic.
So when I arrived back at the office, I was looking beautiful. (So sorry - no photographic evidence.) The guard took my temperature...and I read from the body language that 37.5 was not okay. We stood blinking at each other. I was a sweaty mess. Surely he understood I was a sweaty mess because it's a 104 heat index and I couldn't find any shade while waiting 14 minutes for my Uber...and not because...he thought I had coronavirus...right...? We stared.
"Just go cool off" one of the other guards said.
Cool off? WHERE? I'm still outside! There's no AC, no breeze, just heat.
"Deep breaths" the guard said.
Okay...I backed my back against the metal gate it was cool. And probably ruining the back of my pretty pink button down, but some sacrafices must be made. I stood in this sliver of shade, enjoying the cool metal for about 2 minutes and then went back for another read.
37 degrees. Success!
So now I know...37 C = 98.6F...and 37.5 C = too hot (99.5 F)
Meanwhile, the Nigerian CDC has tracked down every passenger on the same plane as Patient 0 and has put them on isolation protocol. The second person from the plane just tested positive -- so Nigeria is now up to its second case. However, that patient has been on isolation since Feb 28 -- so it seems that Nigeria is well on its way to containing coronavirus much as it did Ebola in 2014.
*Quick explanation -- "taking temperature" uses a no-touch infrared thermometer...basically it takes external temperatures...which is (I think) why I was actually able to "cool down" to get my temperature down!
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