14 months, 1 positive: How Borgaon tackled COVID-19 threat

 

 

 

FROM living in a denial mode over the very existence of Novel Coronavirus to devising own safety protocols, the Borgaon village in Mohadi tehsil of Bhandara district has managed to script a rare success story in its fight with the pandemic. The village has been, so far, able to strongly tackle the COVID-19 threat even as the virus continues to singe rural areas of the Division. In the last 14 months, since the outbreak of the pathogen in the country, Borgaon has seen just one COVID-19 positive patient, who also gained swift recovery with a hard home quarantine. As cases saw an upward trend in neighbouring villages where the second wave wreaked havoc, the tiny village of 1,100 population wisely adopted self-governance to keep their folks safe.

 

For Archana Pingale, the young Sarpanch of Borgaon, the initial days of the pandemic saw an exercise in futility as people refused to believe in the existence of coronavirus. “Don’t bluff, there is no such thing called Corona... our innate immunity is a big shield for any disease....” she was snubbed with these retorts when the health officials and Borgaon Gram Panchayat started awareness programmes about the COVID-19 threat. “It took a while before people realised that the threat is for real. By that time Gram Panchayat had started distributing masks and sanitisers in all households,” Pingale told ‘The Hitavada’. The Gram Panchayat collaborated with the Primary Health Centre (PHC) and District Health Officials to chalk out a programme to sanitise the village at regular intervals. Those measures had a quick impact on the people as they adopted their own rules to maintain social distancing.

 

“Entire village teamed up and decided to cut down on mass gatherings. In the last few days, Borgaon has seen two marriage functions with not more than 25 people in attendance. The villagers realised the importance of safety protocols as bad news started trickling in from neighbouring villages where each day saw more than 15 people testing positive,” Pingale said. Even staunch opponents like Nandlal Padole, who still refuses to believe in coronavirus and has his own theory of medicines to defeat it, started wearing mask and followed the set protocols. Bhandara was among the badly-affected districts in Nagpur division in the last month or so. Keeping in mind the rising cases and sudden jump in fatalities, Borgaon imposed a curfew where visitors were barred from entering the village. Even close relatives and Borgaon residents coming from outstation were asked to quarantine themselves for 14 days in the village school on the outskirts. “These steps were necessary. We did not want the virus to enter our village from any source. Fortunately, we have so far managed to thwart ‘Corona’,” the Sarpanch said.

 

The Gram Panchayat also held regular testing camps in the village. Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) was carried out on a number of occasions. It yielded the only positive patient so far. Ironically, it was the Sarpanch’s husband, Shama Pingale. “He quickly went into isolation and completed a hard 14-day quarantine in April. We heaved a sigh of relief as the virus did not spread further. My husband, too, has recovered and resumed his duties,” Pingale said. The next task for Borgaon now is dealing with the vaccine hesitancy. Only over a 100 people have so far turned up for vaccination. “Lot of rumours are floating about the side-effects of the vaccine. But we have roped in the health officials and ASHA workers to dispel all the myths,” Pingale said. A vaccination camp is scheduled later this week in Borgaon. “People will shed their hesitancy just like they did while dealing with the virus,” the Sarpanch exuded confidence, perhaps based on last year’s experience when the virus threatened but failed to cause harm.