This household from Kerala’s Wayanad beats COVID-19 and social stigma

Express News Service
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Only a younger mom and her 11-month-old child, each sick and drained, stayed in that enormous hospital ward on the second ground of a constructing. The world outdoors felt alien and misplaced. There was nobody round to assist them, not even to maintain the infant when she needed to go to the bathroom.

Occasionally, a nurse in protecting clothes would go to them, bringing medicines or meals which she would depart on the desk there.

Those 9 days of isolation handed like years, Tintu Thomas, the mom, recollects a 12 months later. This 27-year-old schoolteacher and her household hailing from Mananthavady in Wayanad district are among the many many survivors who waged a tricky battle towards the dreaded illness of our occasions. Her son Adil was the primary case of COVID amongst infants within the state.

The first affected person in her household was Tintu’s father, a truck driver who was examined constructive upon coming back from the Koyambedu market in Chennai. Just a few days later, Tintu’s mom and grandmother turned constructive and have been admitted to the federal government hospital the place her father was being handled.

“On May 8, what I dreaded most happened to us. The baby got sick. He was hospitalised in the evening and his temperature shot up to 102 degree Celsius. He was given a rectal paracetamol and throughout the night I wiped his body with a wet cloth. We were housed in an isolation room then. His temperature came down the next day but fatigue continued. On the fifth day, he tested positive and we were shifted to the large COVID ward where the other twenty one beds were lying vacant,” Tintu says.

The household was scared because it was the primary or second case of an infection in infants within the state. “But, except for fever and fatigue, the boy didn’t develop complications. The doctors were extremely helpful,” she says.

By that point, Tintu too had developed fever and was experiencing persistent fatigue however the hospital couldn’t enable her to have a bystander. “It was an unimaginable misery. Sometimes, I had to carry the baby along when I went to the toilet. Adding to the physical weakness was the mental torture when people started criticising my family on social media for ‘bringing’ the pandemic to our place,” she recollects.

Kerala’s whole variety of COVID instances was simply above 500 then and her father was the fourth affected person in Wayanad. After Tintu, her brother, husband and five-year previous daughter too turned constructive and bought admitted to the identical hospital.

The contact tracing of a truck driver and cleaner created nice furore within the district. Her household was berated with taunts on social media.

On the tenth day, Tintu and her son examined destructive and have been shifted to the ward the place her daughter, mom and grandmother stayed. Her father, brother and husband have been admitted to a different ward. The complete household returned dwelling on May 31. She has some good reminiscences too of the hospital days.  

“My boy’s first birthday was on May 18. We couldn’t celebrate, but luckily, the female members of the family were staying together at the time. Also, my baby took his first steps in that hospital ward,” she says.

She considers it god’s grace that none of her relations had post-COVID issues. “Today people ask me for tips on easy recovery. I would tell them not to have physical or mental stress and drink plenty of water,” she mentioned.