Coronavirus: Most common activities and risk factors which made people catch COVID in the second wave

The second wave of coronavirus, which engulfed India's large population starting April was a grim encounter and marked a deadly phase of the pandemic. The Delta variant now said to be the most dominantly spreading virus variant across the world added severity in cases, increased load on hospitals and led to mammoth surge and reporting of cases.

Now, while the delayed availability of vaccines for the healthier age groups (i.e. 18+), fewer available healthcare resources and publically held unsafe gatherings were some of the prime reasons why the second wave turned out to be devastating, there were also many individual risk factors, and non-complacent measures which further exposed people to risks, and made many, catch COVID-19. Experts also have detailed that along with community-driven measures, people's participation, and efforts hold the same level of importance in curbing virus spread. As detrimental as they were, they are still the same mistakes that can cost us heavily- even as we speculate a possible emergence of a third COVID wave in the coming months and await the arrival of festival season.

With the second wave spiralling down, we tell you some of the mistakes and possible risk factors and activities which we must cautiously avoid:

The second wave of infections made many come face to face with an unexpected fact- reinfections, with COVID, can very much happen. While many cases of reinfection were associated with the surge of the Delta variant (and those with immuno-suppressant conditions), a very unfortunate risk that put many to the dangers of getting reinfected, or catching the nastier Delta variant of the virus was believing that an individual can only catch COVID-19 once, and hence, led many to not follow complacent COVID behaviour, including mask-wearing and social distancing. This is also a possible factor we need to count in with the third wave. Not only is it absolutely, and scientifically possible to catch COVID-19 more than once (there are emerging reports of people catching two variants at the same time), poor diligence with preventive measures and not taking steps to safeguard yourself, if you have been previously infected, can indeed, put you at greater risks.

When the second wave emerged, and during the time cases surged, there was still a wide gap between people at risk and coverage granted by vaccination. In the lack of proper knowledge, there were also people who let off their guards and lifted masks believing masks to be total protection. Not only did cases of COVID-19 post partial vaccination, full vaccination come up in such scenarios, this is also being currently seen as a primary cause for the spurt in infections in places such as the USA, where mask mandates were rather publically lifted.

Now, while vaccines do offer a sense of assurance, it is imperative to remember that vaccines aren't a complete cure- they do protect from severe sickness and lower risk of infection, but to minimize the risk of catching COVID-19 to the bare minimum, we still need masks, distancing and disinfection for a foreseeable future.

While COVID-19 has a lot of symptoms in common with respiratory infections and is seldom difficult to draw distinctions between the two, it is quite evident that COVID-19, unlike a cold or the flu is much more severe, spreads faster and can have devastating consequences. This, again, has been one risk factor held responsible for the spread of COVID-19 during the second wave and is still as likely a risk measure to cause a spurt of cases. Experts have long suggested that in the lack of awareness, people can often mistake their 'mild' COVID symptoms to be that of a cold or the flu, or go for COVID testing at a much later stage- becoming susceptible to the severity and poor consequences, including critical hospitalization or death.

Again, delaying diagnosis, or avoiding testing is a costly mistake during a pandemic of such proportions. Not only does it prevent people from getting timely help and management of the disease, but it can also contribute to the spreading of the infection, especially the Delta variant, which is also said to spread a lot faster, and have high infectivity, in comparison to the original strain.

Not only were kids at a higher than ever risk of catching COVID-19 during the second wave, with many asymptomatic and symptomatic cases reported, it also became evident that kids, in a lot of cases acted as superspreaders of the infection. As for children at risk, the opening up of schools, less meticulous preventive measures and lack of safer activities for kids made them a lot more vulnerable to the risk of catching COVID-19. Detection of COVID-19 amongst kids also made them often pass on the virus to adults, in close family circles. Even today, the unavailability of vaccines makes many believe that the third wave could be quite consequential for kids under the age of 16 and press on strict measures to keep them safe.

Post the first wave of the virus, and around the start of 2021, when COVID-19 cases were at their lowest in the country, there was a staggering rise in the number of gatherings, public events and crowds, which, again, unfortunately, became COVID spreader events across the country. This again spears off alarms post the second wave, when festivals, crowding and revenge travel trends pick up the pace. Large gatherings, such as weddings, processions, crowded events, where there could be little to no following of appropriate COVID norms were established as a big risk for COVID spread since the pandemic first emerged- and very much responsible for the high spread of COVID in the second wave of the pandemic, some months before. Since the virus has the capability to spread fast amongst mass crowds (which could have a mix of vaccinated, and unvaccinated people), gatherings can fuel the spread of the disease and must be limited, and carried out in a safe manner ( preferably small gatherings, held outdoors, amongst vaccinated people with the proper following of protocols) to mitigate risks.

There's yet another important reason, or rather limitation which exposed people to graver risks during the second wave, and still continues to be a factor to tackle in countries battling with fresh surges of the virus- vaccine hesitancy.

Even as many battle to have access to skewed vaccine resources, refusing vaccines, or hesitating from getting the vaccine shot in fears of experiencing side-effects, complications or distrusting the vaccine manufacturing made many fall prey to COVID-19, and serious symptoms. The Delta variant, particularly, has now also been found to be more serious for those who are unvaccinated/ partially vaccinated, than those who are fully vaccinated. Hence, before the third wave comes, entrusting awareness about vaccines, and immunizing masses would be a crucial task to keep the virus's severity at bay and prevent worse outcomes.