Madan on India's pandemic

Stack of folded newspapers

Humanitarian Studies Assist. Prof. Athena Madan, who researches health and inequity, joined host Gregor Craigie on CBC Radio One’s On the Island to discuss the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in India.

Here’s some of what she had to say:

“What I'm hearing of the difference in each of the waves is that the death rates were typically very low in the first wave and the symptoms tended to be manageable, and the people who did pass away in the first wave for we're not people that any of my friends, family, or colleagues personally knew.

“And then the second wave were acquaintances of the people that you knew, and then the third wave were people in their buildings, older people who did not have comorbidities but were typically very healthy 6 months ago. And then the young and healthy are also being impacted and dying.

“So the randomness of who will survive who perish… and I am hearing that people who have symptoms for five days and were very mild and seem to be getting better, and then all of a sudden they collapse. I am hearing the uncertainty and randomness is certainly cause for fear.”

Listen to the full interview on CBC Radio One’s On the Island.