On the Friday before last, I was at home when I heard loud music coming from the house next door. I am new to the neighbourhood, so I had reservations about going outside to inquire, but it was clearly a party.

As people have slowly come to realise that the outbreak might not get as bad as initially suspected, they have begun pouring outside. My neighbours took it one step further: they threw a party with loud music and rolled out the alcohol.

The need to want to disengage from all of this stress is understandable. This pandemic has turned into a collective traumatic experience for people across the world. While the emotional distress varies from person to person and country to country, the uncertainty about what lies ahead is almost universal. This has been a distressing moment, no matter our profession, the kind of business we own or even if we are going to school.

Everyone deals with this trauma differently, but holding get-togethers is the wrong way to go about it, especially when it is so early and it is not completely clear if Ethiopia has escaped the worst of the virus. This is naïve, irresponsible and endangers the safety of us all.

While awareness creation campaigns are ongoing, many people have begun defying them. No doubt, religious festivities such as Easter and Ramadan help people cope with the dire circumstances of a pandemic, but it is unfortunate that this is emboldening some to take measures into their own hands.

This is unfair, especially as we put enormous pressure on health professionals by failing to take preventive measures seriously.

Doctors and nurses are at the front of this battle, and the anxiety and pressure they feel is nothing compared to what most others feel. While they have been trained to deal with unusual experiences, a pandemic is a rarity that they could not have been fully prepared for.

Their battle is not just in the hospital. Some of the young health professionals are finding it prudent to find temporary homes so that they do not infect their elderly parents, spouses or children when they go home. These are realistic measures that they are taking, because they understand the severity of the unknown with this pandemic. This is a sacrifice they are making for our well-being.