FIGHTING COVID-19

3 COMMITTEES BUT NO EXIT STRATEGY FOR TN

Kerala And Karnataka Have Come Up With State-Specific Plans

Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com  10.04.2020

Tamil Nadu has no exit strategy from the Covid-19 lockdown, unlike its neighbours Kerala and Karnataka, which have released documents detailing their plans. TN has set up three committees -- a task force, a committee of medical experts and a think tank of multidisciplinary experts -- to help it contain the Covid-19 pandemic, but not one of them has addressed the question: What next?

“We don’t release documents. There will be a government order. That will be in line with what the Centre says,” said a senior official who is a member of the task force, which holds discussion with the chief secretary at least once a day.

But what about putting in place a state-specific strategy?

The expert medical committee with more than 19 members has decided not to submit a formal recommendation to the state government. One of its leading members said, “Unlike other states we were not asked to prepare the document. We were told the task force will do it.”

In the last four days, the task force has mulled over more than six options – between continuing and completely lifting the lockdown. “There is no consensus. And no one wants to take a decision that contradicts the Centre’s line. There is a fear because we are being proved wrong about every statement we made in the past,” he said.

Senior microbiologist Dr SP Thiyagarajan, who is also a member of the task force, said most chief ministers have told the Centre that the lockdown must continue. “The decision will be made as soon as the Centre announces its plan,” he said. “We meet and discuss plans every day. Most members have strongly recommended extension of the existing lockdown, with a more stringent enforcement,” he said.

Last week, health department officials say the state could not decide on the exit strategy because of the swelling number of Covid-19 cases and deaths. Health minister C Vijayabaskar initially announced they would be able to contain the disease in Tamil Nadu as it was a cluster. “He said that if the state isolates and treats them, we will be able to contain the virus. But that never happened,” said a senior health department official.

By Tuesday, officials realised that many of their primary contacts were now testing positive. “The virus is unpredictable. It is behaving differently in different countries. We are working out plans as we move into the battle field,” said health secretary Beela Rajesh Director of public health Dr K Kolandasamy has been advocating for need extension of a lock down. “We must continue to keep our border closed,” he said.

And what about the think tank? It provides mathematical models of how the infection can progress.

The problem is no one wants to bell the cat.

PICTURE THESE: The lockdown is unravelling new sights every day. While black-winged stilts can be seen in droves at the Perumbakkam lake, vendors have come out on the streets selling masks, which initially were being sold by pharmacies