SHOULD BANNING OF RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES BE A MEASURE TO MITIGATE THE GLOBAL EPIDEMIC OF COVID-19?

Quite a lot of people have been saying that shutting down of religious activities and gathering have nothing to do with the spread of COVID-19. ‘We are only worshipping and calling onto our Lord and the global epidemic of coronavirus can’t stop us from religious gathering__so the saying goes’.

Well, as an amateur writer I can't give food nor money but can offer some clarity to issue such as this.

Back then in the Stone Age, when globalization and scientific discovery were still in their infancy, humanity suffered greatly from the epidemic of a plethora of an infectious diseases. One of such global epidemics which accounted for massive deaths was the global outbreak of Black Death which erupted from China back then in the 14th century, people had no idea about the cause and the cure, they actually blamed the epidemic on the wrath incurred on them by some angry gods and malicious monsters like Minotaur, Sphinx and Cerberus while saints believed it to be a wrath from God as a means of atonement for their sins. They had no idea about what bacteria and viruses look like. They were too ignorant to realise that the epidemic might have been caused as a result of armada of microorganisms colonizing their water source or food. People started offering sacrifices while also organizing a mass gatherings of prayer to appease their gods and God. Unfortunately for the medieval people of then, the epidemic kept increasing with increased gathering of mass prayers. For each gathering of mass prayer, high numbers of infected cases are reported. Someone would be smart enough to say their gods turned their back on them but NO, they didn’t. The epidemic was caused by microorganisms and not by some some angry gods or malicious monsters while gathering together for mass prayers serve as means of increasing the epidemic and not the antidote. The epidemic which spread rapidly accounted for the death of about 70–500million peoples.
This is huge!

With the gradual maturity of scientific discovery of 21st century. Scientific researchers were able to identify the cause and preventive measure to avoid spreading of epidemics. We were made to understand that increased gatherings either social or religious will definitely increase the spreading rate of an infections.

In order to curtail the spread of COVID-19, there is need to avoid gatherings temporarily pending the time the epidemics will die down.

We should always remember that social or religious gathering will definitely cause mass infections. The virus only need a susceptible host for it to thrive and once it gain access to the host, it replicate at a constant rate. A single host can harbour billions of viruses replicating at a geometric rate. In the likes of this, a single infected person gives a single viral strain billions of opportunity to spread to other healthy host. A single infected person can transmit the virus to billions of people in a gathering at alarming rate.
I’m not convincing you not to attend social/religious gatherings, just offering some clarity.

A single infectious droplet is capable of causing massive death of people in a population. The probability of a positive host in a social/religious gathering is imminent and coming in contact with such an infected person will definitely cause mass infections and great epidemics.

However, while short-term quarantine is essential to stop epidemics, long-term isolationism will affect some religious activities like Congregational prayers but the real antidote to this present day malady is to avoid colonization and opt in for isolationism.

Going back to the theme of the article; Should banning of religious activities be a measure to mitigate the global epidemic of COVID-19? The answer lies in your hand.


©Tajudeen Yusuf Amuda.
Voice of the pen....