by Dr. Atieno Mboya Samandari

 

   I spent spring semester in Nairobi, Kenya and just like my colleagues in Atlanta, was compelled to revisit my research plans due to COVID-19 and the lockdown that it entailed. The big concern among policy makers, when Kenya started logging coronavirus cases in March, was twofold: Firstly, that the country’s medical system would be overwhelmed by patients needing care, and secondly, that shutting down the economy could lead to civil unrest as out-of-work informal workers became increasingly desperate from not being able to earn their livelihoods.

 

As a result, Kenya’s government imposed a lockdown early in greater Nairobi and coastal Kenya, which were the hotspots for the virus. Nobody was allowed in or out of those regions, in order to contain the virus and give Counties that were still COVID-19 free the opportunity to prepare for coronavirus cases when the lockdown eased. Counties were to identify locations for isolating patients and to make arrangement to buy PPE for health workers.

 

In Nairobi and the Coast, schools were closed, a curfew was imposed from 7 PM to 4 AM and all but essential workers started teleworking. The first days of curfew, unfortunately, saw police violence against workers rushing to get home on public transportation after 7 PM with at least one death recorded. The “security” approach to the virus was immediately criticized by civil society and the general public. The civil unrest that had been anticipated in the wake of the virus was nowhere to be seen, but acts of violence by police, even by against health workers who were exempt from curfew, were reported. Eventually, the situation stabilized and universal mask wearing and hand sanitization before entering supermarkets became the norm. Infection numbers remained low and contained.

 

Kenya recently lifted lockdown and as expected, coronavirus cases have multiplied. Counties that were supposed to use the lockdown to prepare for reopening are not prepared, with governors stating that the funds they need have not been transferred from the national government. Schools will remain closed until January 2021, with students effectively losing a year of their education because of the virus. International travel to Kenya resumes this month and while the state is diligent about incoming travelers holding negative COVID-19 certificates, community spread within the country is already established. The relatively low numbers of ill persons, as compared with numbers of infections in the country, is attributed to over 60 per cent of the population being under the age of 25. Like other countries, the hope is that Kenya will weather the coronavirus storm and push on with life in a new normal.