The burden of Covid-19 has shaken every bit of our society and there is no community that has not felt its impact.
Since March 20 when the country recorded its first Covid-19 case, we have gone through fear, apprehension, shock, disbelief, complacency in some cases, and with the rising cases the cycle could be re-starting all over again.
It is important that the original message remains the original message and we dare not deviate from that path. It would seem when the infection first reared its ugly head on our shores the focus was on the preparedness of our health facilities. Indeed, this was an expected reaction since our health institutions have been plagued by years of underfunding, brain drain and general infrastructural inadequacies.
However, we are slowly but surely realising that it is not the buildings and the hospital machines that will save us ultimately, but our attitude and behaviour regarding the pandemic. It is not business as usual, and therefore we must never act as if it is normal.
With the continent having reached half-a-million cases and our own country lurching ominously towards the thousand mark in terms of confirmed cases, we have every reason to sit up and take notice of what is going on around us, and act accordingly. We also need to point out that the increasing number of cases attributed to local transmission is a source of great worry. It simply means there is something that we are not doing right as society. Washing of hands and constant sanitising of our surroundings is not optional and we also should not wear masks as a matter of compliance with regulations, but as a weapon against the pandemic.
Where in the beginning we considered hospitals as our first line of defence, we need to revise that perception since hospitals are the last place where you will land when the virus would have caused much damage to your respiratory system. This means that the greater responsibility lies with you as an individual, your family, your friends, the community and the nation as a whole to change our attitude as a people.
In neighbouring South Africa cases are rising exponentially and we are aware that there remains some level of traffic between our country and our neighbours. While governments strategise about increasing our hospital bed capacity, availability of ventilators, protection of health workers and graveyards carrying capacity, we should make their work much lighter by following guidelines that ensure we stay Covid-free.
Treat the next person as a suspect, wear your mask, avoid close contact and always wash your hands with soap appropriately.
Through strict adherence to these simple measures, we can help reduce the number of people that end up needing specialist care in hospitals, or worse still, competing for space at limited graveyards.
