Living through the pandemic in Sri Lanka has been an interesting experience. We feel very fortunate to ride out the pandemic in this tropical island nation. Doubtlessly, there are worse places to be stuck. And we are hopeful the worst of the pandemic will pass before our time here is up and we must move on to our next adventure.
The country's initial response to the pandemic was swift and deliberate, a 10-week island wide lockdown. The lockdown ended in May, and the summer was relatively quiet. The kids were on a hybrid program when they returned to school in the fall, one week in class, alternating with one week at home online. The kids were poised to return to class full time when an outbreak of the virus at a garment factory north of Colombo led to a second wave which rolled over the island and persists now.
Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi said that she was willing to offer herself as a living sacrifice to the sea to eradicate COVID-19 from Sri Lanka.
Her self-sacrifice seemed melodramatic, but the country has a mythology steeped in melodrama. Queen Viharamahadevi, the daughter of King Kelanitissa who ruled Kelaniya in Sri Lanka around 200 B.C., was sacrificed to the sea to appease gods angered when the king punished an innocent monk by boiling him alive in a cauldron of oil. It is said that the gods, angered over this cruel deed, made the ocean rush inland and flood the land. Soothsayers said that if a princess was sacrificed to the sea, the raging waves would stop. The young Viharamahadevi sacrificed herself for the sins of her father and for the safety of her motherland. She was placed inside a beautifully decorated boat which bore the letters "Daughter of a King" and set adrift on the sea.
It is said that as soon as she was sent off, the sea suddenly turned calm again and the water receded. Seemingly, the Health Minister saw herself as a modern-day Viharamahadevi.
When the garment factory cluster subsumed Colombo's largest fish market in Peliyagoda, the market ground to a standstill as the virus raced through the crowded stalls. Both the supply and demand for fish plummeted. There was a genuine fear the virus spread through the consumption of fish.
In order to dispel these fears, a former Sri Lankan fisheries minister bit into a raw fish at a news conference on live TV.
"Our people who are in the fisheries industry cannot sell their fish. People of this country are not eating fish," said Dilip Wedaarachchi to the camera, gesticulating wildly while holding a medium-sized fish of unknown origin.
"I brought this fish to show you. I am making an appeal to the people of this country to eat this fish. Don’t be afraid. You will not get infected by the coronavirus," he said, before taking a bite out of the whole fish.
The fisheries ministry released a statement the following day, cautioning people to not bite into whole raw fish.
Most recently, the Ayurveda Ethical Committee of the Rajarata University granted approval of a traditional herbal syrup prepared by Dhammika Bandara as a cure for COVID-19.
The tonic reportedly contains honey and nutmeg. The unregistered Ayurvedic practitioner claimed taking a teaspoon of his potion three times a day for three days will make a person “immune from COVID for the rest of their lives”.
In response, crowds lined the streets in the Udumagama area of Kegalle after Bandara announced 5,000 samples of the serum would be distributed free of charge, creating his own mass-spreading event when the unmasked throng gathered, ignoring social distancing protocols, the Sri Lankan version of Sturgis.
While some of the headlines have been laughable, what isn't laughable is the spread of misinformation and paranoia, though we realize this phenomenon is not unique to Sri Lanka. Hopefully, the new year will bring more positive headlines.
Both Elise and I see startling parallels between today and this same time 100 years ago. It is after wildfires ravage a landscape, razing every living thing in sight, new shoots and leaves of green spring from the charred forest floor.
In an article written by Jessica Glenda for The Guardian, "Epidemiologist looks to the past to predict second post-pandemic 'roaring 20s'" Yale professor and social epidemiologist Dr. Nicholas Christakis brings cold comfort. He sees a pattern. Plagues and pandemics end. They always end. Then, once pandemics end, often there is a period in which people seek out extensive social interaction, and which Christakis predicts will be a second “roaring 20s” just as after World War I and the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.
It would be wise to prepare for the next Roaring 20s. A The world suffers a similar trauma now.
