By NERIMA WAKO-OJIWA

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When Aids emerged in the 1980s, it was shrouded in rumours and misunderstanding. It took a while before the government intervened in the form of resources in research, looking for medication that could prolong life and even find a cure.

People were afraid of contracting the virus by touch or even sharing items. When people died of the virus, they were buried separately.

People were not sure if the bodies could still infect them and in cities such as New York, separate burial sites were created for people who had died of Aids

Decades later and we are dealing with a different kind of virus. But the kind of fear of the unknown is not that different.

Recently, Kenya’s Ministry of Health announced that it is no longer necessary for people to wear protective gear when burying people who have died of Covid-19. They declared that the virus does not spread from the dead, and families can now bury their loved ones without the strict guidelines that were followed for months.

So more and more, we are learning about coronavirus and how it thrives but is it a little too late? The damage may have already been done.

We have been witnessing news coverage of people buried and treated like combustible elements. Some video content circulated on social media platforms of how those who have died have been picked up and treated.

Caretakers in full protective gear that look like they should be walking on the moon, spraying everything as they walk with the completely sealed body bags, even spraying the ground that they walk on. Family members so distant from the entire ceremony.

There was also the case of an individual buried in the wee hours of the night, going against traditions. It was chilling to see and for many just stranger than fiction. In countries like Nigeria there were reports of graveyards getting filled in the night and people being concerned that the figures were being doctored.

Now months later, after getting used to funerals that have been small and intimate compared with the larger ceremonies we are used to, one cannot even begin to imagine the kind of trauma that it carries on family members.

Obviously, the community around fears engaging just because of the fear of the unknown and the very trauma of losing a family member so quickly that falls on members as well. All of a sudden, that hullabaloo was actually unnecessary, a process that was such a spectacle in itself and definitely affects one’s frame of mind.

Nerima Wako-Ojiwa is the executive director at Siasa Place @NerimaW