TV host Rashmi Gautam on COVID-19 crisis: People who can afford to stay home are not willing to, how can we
TV host Rashmi Gautam, who is quite vocal about societal issues, spoke her mind in her recent interaction with ETimes TV about the second wave of COVID-19. In this exclusive chat, she shared her concerns over the ongoing second wave, her observations on the outlook of the public towards the pandemic, the working conditions in the Telugu TV industry and much more. Excerpts...
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By Sriram Chelluri
What is the point of another lockdown?
I see no difference in the state of affairs from the previous lockdown. People have grown more negligent and egoistic. So, what is the point of another lockdown until the mindset and the outlook of the public towards the pandemic doesn't change?
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Curfews don't help
Curfews and punishments for negligence don't help much until the way we look at dealing with the pandemic changes. The virus is not going anywhere and we must act responsibly, the governments can't be blamed here.
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My parents and grandparents got vaccinated
My parents and grandparents have got their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. They are looking forward to the second dose as there is shortage for a few days. I'm also planning to get vaccinated soon. Talking about efficacy, it is all about belief, according to me. But I felt, government should have considered the working population in the first phase of the vaccination drive.
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COVID-19 is not as bad as Chickenpox
This disease is not at least as bad as chicken pox that you hate to even look at the patient. But the spread of this mutant during this second wave is really alarming. We must follow all the basic preventive measures that can break the chain which we are failing to do. There is a significant amount of individual responsibility that is involved in breaking this chain.
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Things are pretty normalised here
We are just trying to sail through each day and trying to stay healthy to the extent possible. Things are pretty normalised here. PPE kits and face shields for the technicians were gone until recently. We've started wearing masks again after news about this second wave. There was a phase where we behaved as if COVID-19 was non-existent.
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People who can afford are not staying indoors
Ours is not a centralized profession, we don't have PFs and stuff. Our industry functions when actors and anchors step out to work. How much charity can anyone do? People who can afford another lockdown, sit at home yet survive are not willing to stay back indoors, how can we actors and TV technicians who don't make money until we work, afford it? Not everyone has a second source of income and can have one.
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We've brought this pandemic onto ourselves
We brought this pandemic onto ourselves. This virus is evolving and growing stronger. We just have to keep up our immunity and spirits. People have to understand that we need to keep our stupidity aside, stop believing in myths and false information being spread on WhatsApp, act responsibly while going out to break this chain.
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