(1)

It is quiet, too quiet to ever recall having ever been this quiet. Only several cars and motorcycles seem to pass in a day on this what once was an extremely busy road. 

Most stores remain shutter in the middle of town. It must take courage for some restaurants to even open up their doors with a small rope barring entry.

In front of the restaurant is the ever present handgel (sanitizer) bottle. The owner herself and a helper was dressed for safety; a shower cap on their heads, N95 masks and rubber gloves. Besides them was a table solely dedicated to spraying down cash handed over to them by customers with disinfectant. 

The third wave of Covid-19 struck Lashio, more than it ever did previously. Lashio never swayed much. It was rare to even find just one Covid-19 positive patient. Rules were strict even compared to the rest of the country. Health and safety check gates were plenty throughout the city, as well as on routes leading up to or out of the city itself. 

Thus Lashio saw quick recovery in the past. When the rest of the nation saw much Covid-19 cases, Lashio residents could move about freely. Restaurants were allowed to reopen as per regulations. Markets were open on alternate days. Wet markets had their only daily shifts and schedules. All in all, regular business maintained.

A far cry from the current situation now. Perhaps there were some differences, perhaps the virus changed.

(2)

The official figures state that in Lashio, from June 9 until July 15, there were a toatl of 41 deaths out of a total of 927 new Covid-19 cases. However, the actual amount of deaths could be much higher, according to volunteers and charity workers.

"We from the Covid-19 Operation Team send Covid-19 patients to designated hospitals. If we get emergency calls for testing, we will go there if health (department) calls us. If the testee is negative, he or she will be sent back. If positive, we will send him or her to designated hospitals. The other thing that we do is we help cremate bodies that died under suspect case of Covid-19 so that it doesn't spread. There are daily deaths of suspected Covid-19 cases. Four our group alone, there were 18 deaths that we handled that were both from Covid-19 positive and suspected Covid-19 groups. But those numbers wil lnot be included in the list for Lashio's Covid-19 Prevention, Control and Treatment Committee," said Ko Myint Maw from Lashio's Covid-19 Operation Team.

It began on June 9 on Lashio when a person was found positive from Covid-19. A month later, the pandemic had spread and people are suffering from a lack of oxygen. 

In Lashio, there are only around three stores that sell oxygen with only two that are able to refill, made even worse by the fact that many out of the 20 towns in Northern Shan State that have been hit with Covid-19 rely on Lashio for their oxygen supply.

"Most towns from northern Shan State rely on Lashio to refill their oxygen. There are no place else. There are none in Thibaw or Kyaukme. I heard there is one in Naung Cho but the rest like Tanyan, Mongyal, Muse, Kutkai, Thani, Hopan, Chin Shwe Haw and Laukki all rely on Lashio for their refills. And Lashio only has two places that can refill their oxygen. One of the two places are attempting to reduce further spread of Covid-19 by selecting a large area as meet up point to distribute oxygen. The ward administrator and other well-wishers have also been refilling oxygen at Salant Village in between Muse-Nantkham and distributing for free for those that needs it," said Ko Nay Myo, a volunteer that has been helping with Covid-19 related matters.

"Yesterday...someone needed oxygen and asked for help procuring some. I asked the Spo2 levels and I was told 33. I knew it was too late but I couldn't say those words. I finally found the oxygen that was needed but when I called back, the patient had passed. If there was oxygen given since at Spo2 was around 90, a life could have been saved," said Ma Mu Mu Htike, a charity worker that has been helping out with oxygen related matters.

Early this morning, an unknown number called my phone. The voice on the other end immediately requested my help in a shaky voice, explaining that her grandmother of over 80 years of age has been hospitalized with Covid and is fighting  for her life. Her request for help in procuring oxygen initially puzzled me as I have been reporting Covid-19 related news on my Facebook account but has never posted anything about donating oxygen. But it hit me a little while later that, the problem of oxygen supply must be getting worse.

"My dad went to Salant Village to refill oxygen so that people can get th eir oxygen. It was supposed to be a day trip, leave in the morning and return at evening. But the car broke down and it became late so some people did not manage to get their oxygen but some did," said Ma Chaw Lay from Cherry Hearts Blood Donation group.

Before July 15, the oxygen supply for Lashio itself relied on that particular village of Salant but from July 15 onwards, the East-Northern Military Command began refilling oxygen from their oxygen plant.

The military-owned oxygen plant will be able to refill, free of charge, up to over 30 cylinders that were of 40 liters capacity.

Similarly, Lashio General Hospital is also preparing an oxygen plant that could produce a similar amount as the one in the East-Northern Military Command. The Medical Superintendent had said that it will operate starting from July 17.

Those two combined will hopefully take care of much of Lashio's oxygen needs.

(3)

A month into Covid-19's third wave, Lashio is quiet. Stalls, pharmacies and homes are shuttered. The market that everyone relies on continue to be dead silent. 

As every day passes, normalcy passes Lashio by. It isn't surprising as normalcy at a time of detriment across all sectors isn't easy. Clinics to cure simple ills have become rare. Pharmacies that opened up are treasure troves of daily use, general medicines. Even traditional medicine becomes rare to be seen on shelves.

"We're not okay. We cannot buy medicine. We cannot easily seek treatment at hospitals because private hospitals had stopped admitting patients. Clinics have shut down. Whatever clinics or pharmacy that opens will be swarmed by the whole city. Medicine prices have skyrocketed and that's after having to queue up for a long time," said a Lashio local.

The Covid-19 committee had placed Lashio under the Stay-at-home program since July 14. Restrictions such as cargo trucks only being able to enter the city at scheduled hours with a driver swap or severely limiting entry/exit to and from Lashio unless for extremely urgent matters have been placed.

Long periods of being holed up in homes may be okay for those in the higher runs of society but basic income and daily wage earners must leave their homes every day to put food on the table. 

Lashio and Laukkai are the two most towns with highest cases of Covid-19 in northern Shan State with smatterings of infections across the other 19 towns.

According to official data from the state public health department, as of July 12, there have been 3794 total Covid-19 cases in townships across northern Shan State with 1200 discharged from hospitals. Fifty people had died while being hospitalized.

When the third wave first truck in the first week of June, it struck quiet but hard. It took less than a month for oxygen supply to run out.

Now that two oxygen plants have began to run, I can only hope that it will be able to save some, if not most, lives that could be saved with a steady oxygen supply.