Dear Kenyans, Do Not Worry About The Infection But The Economy

The deadly Coronavirus is now in Kenya. Kenyan journalists seem excited and they have already started talking about it and how lethal it is, sending shivers down the spines of millions of Kenyans.

It has been confirmed that the first case in Kenya is of a woman who jetted into the country from London on March 5, 2020, left to go home and interact with her family, only for signs to emerge 7 days later. She has since given names of the people she was in contact with.

Chances are that we might be having more cases that are yet to be detected given the laxity on the part of the government with its meaningless song of “self-quarantine.” Truth is, self-quarantine will not work in Kenya and the government should impose mandatory quarantine on any suspected case.

As the virus continues to spread like a bushfire, people are more worried about being infected but no one is talking about the economic impact in Kenya. The hotel industry is already on its knees. Already there are reports of five-star hotels firing employees because the rooms are literally empty. There are no more visitors.

The PR sector is going down. Most of the events that had been scheduled have been canceled and clients are rethinking their budgets and new timelines. There are reports of one PR firm that has already informed employees of the “drastic changes that are prone to happen” if the pandemic will continue.

The tourism sector is already feeling the heat. In Malindi and Lamu, tourists have stopped coming. Most of the tourists in the two places are Italians. Italy is currently on lockdown. People have lost jobs and hotels in the region are contemplating closing down.

The aviation industry was the first one to feel the heat. Word has it KLM is considering laying off employees because planes are landing at JKIA with less than 20 passengers and going back without any passenger. Taxi providers at major airports are having a rough day.

Truth is, with Coronavirus, people are going to lose jobs and so many families are going to be affected. Stay tuned for more updates on how the economy will be hit. We are going to analyze every sector starting this Monday.