When the world is going through a rough time and about to hit the worst wave of the pandemic, few countries unlocked their routine activities. Among such country, India is one of them, whereas countries like England has locked itself. Hot and humid summer did not chase the virus away, perhaps may have reduced the seriousness of the illness. Winter brings another dangerous wave of infection, and some countries are at the worst of the pandemic already. The risk increased with the emergence of another culprit — "pandemic fatigue". People have lost their fear and gave up being in the state of lockdown. For example, most people in India gave off wearing face mask and have the wrong notion of being able to recover from COVID-19 without the concern of damages it may inflict on some of the major organs including kidney, liver and lungs. The damage done by the virus is irreversible, and countries like the USA and India have opened up Post COVID Clinics. These clinics meant to deal with the aftermath of COVID-19. The long-term impact of COVID-19 includes breathlessness, fatigue, anxiety, depression for months and abnormalities in multiple organs after recovering from the disease.
India, with the diverse sets of culture and festival, is more prone to spread the disease super easy. Imagine the case, if an individual in a gathering turns out to be a "Super spreader". We must not forget that we all are still vulnerable to the disease and still holds the potential to pass on the infection to others. Ignoring the use of face masks, not only could risk yourself but also the entire family. Festivals and celebration can wait, but SARS-CoV-2 won't. To survive until a vaccine arrives, say "YES" to face mask and "NO" to festivals/religious gathering.
References:
Kidney manifestations of mild, moderate and severe coronavirus disease 2019: a retrospective cohort study by Daqing Hong et al., 2020, Clinical Kidney Journal.
Medium-term impact of COVID-19 revealed in a new study, The University of Oxford
As the Coronavirus Surges, a New Culprit Emerges; Pandemic Fatigue by Julie Bosman, 2020, The Newyork Times.