Breeding grounds: Why eateries pose a threat in fight against Covid-19

The sun is out, as usual and despite this, some Nairobians have worn their sweaters as they walk hurriedly along the busy streets.

As I leave my house for town, I realise that I have missed eating fries, not homemade but the ones that smell from a far on the streets of Nairobi.

I decide to take a matatu to town, go about my business and decide to drop by one of the renowned fast food joints in town.

From a distance, I realise that there is a queue and so I move closer to check if they have put notices for the one-metre distance or even if they have thermo guns.

“Madam, songa karibu niangalie temperature yako (move closer I take your temperature),” the security man tells me as I move a bit closer.

After a second, he removes the thermo gun from my forehead and without looking at it, he gives me a pink liquid soap to wash my hands.

Oblivious of all the posters put inside the food joint, I walk straight to the cashier.

“Nataka chips na tomato sauce lakini nitalipa na M-Pesa (I want fries and tomato sauce),”I say.

But it seems my request is being seen as a wall towards prosperity of the food joint.

“Hapa tunatumia cash tu si Mpesa (We only accept cash here, not M-Pesa) !” the waitress Atieno* says while calling in the next customer.

“Hamuogopi Corona (You do not fear the coronavirus) ?” I prompt her but then she just drives me away.

I then leave the vicinity, rush to an M-Pesa shop and come back to the same joint with Sh100.

Even after paying for my fries, I realise that we are expected to queue close to each other so that we can leave space for other incoming customers.

There was no distance between me and the person in front or the person at the back.

But that is not all, the food joint which has illustrations on social distancing does not adhere to what they preach.

Customers sat closer to each other irrespective of the signs of keeping distance as they went on with their stories oblivious of the rule.

“Is this an avenue to hatch coronavirus?” I asked one of the top government doctor and this is what he had to say.

“Kenyans should take responsibility to save themselves and the economy and the country as a whole,” Head of Public Health Dr. Francis Kuria told the Star on phone.

Kuria said that Kenyans have become indisciplined and do not adhere to the measures laid down by the government.

“The choice to follow the measures is yours, if you do not want to follow them, then you can as well welcome death,” he said.

He noted that the government cannot police everyone in Kenya.

“The ball is in your court. This is an individual responsibility. We cannot police the restaurants, boda bodas, leaders, churches…We cannot do that,” he said.

“Kenyans do not even think that Coronavirus exists. Wamejiachilia. Look at bars, they are open who opened them? This is indiscipline.”

The government in April said they will enforce the law and even threatened to de-register non-compliant eateries.

But Kuria noted this is not possible.

“If we close all these eateries, how will Kenyans survive? We opened the economy so that we can see how people can handle this virus rather than closing everything down,” he said.

In April, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said he does not regret reopening restaurants amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“I don’t regret reopening restaurants and eateries. It was an effort to see that Kenyans do not go hungry. Closing them all together is one of the measures on the table,” Kagwe said.

“I don’t regret the decision. The idea came from a good place. It was not a Mutahi Kagwe decision but governments effort to see people continue to earn a livelihood.”

As of July 26,Kenya virus deaths hit 280 after two more patients succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hrs.

At the same time, 960 more people tested positive bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 17,603.

This was the highest number of positive cases reported in a span of 24 hours since the first case in March.

The President is expected to address the country on Monday afternoon and issue the way forward in regards to the Covid-19 status in the country shortly after concluding a meeting with governors.