It was a little after 1pm yesterday.
There was a slight drizzle over the Nasinu suburb of Kinoya.
Three men sat at a bus shelter as others stood around them.
They were all dressed in uniforms, with blue plastic covering part of the clothes worn by the others.
The three sat with their heads resting on their hands.
A minibus arrived and appeared to bring in supplies for the contact tracers. You could see and feel the emotions they packed. They were tired!
Walking around a suburb isn’t a job for the faint- hearted.
Some of these men and women have been doing this for many hours.
It’s obviously tiring work. Understandably sceptics will insist this is work they are expected to do.
We are reminded about our roles as individuals though, and why that role, or lack of concern for what must be done, will contribute to these men and women being asked to do their rounds.
Everyday, our men and women of the security forces and health services are expected to go on contact tracing assignments when a new case is discovered.
The permanent secretary for Health and Medical Services Dr James Fong confirmed there were no new cases to report last night.
He said 12 patients had recovered, leaving 37 active cases remaining in isolation facilities.
Eight are border quarantine cases, 23 local transmissions, and six are under investigation to determine the source of transmission. In the face of this announcement, contact tracing work continues.
Our frontliners are out on the field in their designated areas.
It can be a risky job and they know that. Dr Fong said: “My teams are stretched very thin at the moment.
But even if they all had every hour of the day available – that is still not enough time to send them into every home and community to make doubly sure our measures are being enforced.
We are giving you – the members of the public – the information about how this virus spreads.
We are telling you what each of you can do to stop it.
That knowledge is our advantage, and God has given each of us the good sense to put that knowledge into practice. Those good choices rest with you.”
We acknowledge the effort of the frontliners on the field. Thank you for the work you do.
But we also should be reminded about the value we must place on doing the right thing as Fijians.
We must be part of the war against the virus.
There is no other way. Lives depend on that! Sharing may be part of our culture and tradition.
However, it is also time for us to be mindful of why the norm must be broken, why we must adhere to social distancing rules.
It makes sense that we should be cutting out hand shakes, and hugs.
It makes sense that we should not be sharing a bilo, or taki.
In fact it makes sense that we should not even be congregating with others outside our own bubbles at home.
In saying that, we also take this opportunity to wish all our mothers a very happy Sunday. Happy Mother’s Day.
