Glimmer of hope in Covid battle
And, undoubtedly, that hope will glow brighter as more and more vaccines, from all manufacturers, begin to arrive.
Nurse Ruth Seikaneng (64) sits for a portrait at the Reivilo Health Centre in Reivilo, a town an hour away from Taung, North West Province, South Africa, on September 4, 2020. Seikaneng is one of two nurses on shift at any given time servicing the town of 4,000 people. When her colleague died from COVID-19 she had to work even longer hours to support the town. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Gulshan Khan
It seems, literally, an age ago. A different era, when we were free and not threatened.
But it has not yet been a year since the first coronavirus infection was identified in South Africa – in someone returning from holiday in Europe.
Now, just on 1.5 million people have tested positive for coronavirus and more than 48,000 South Africans have died from Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.
This is not something which can be dismissed as “just a bad flu” or minimised by playing games with excess death numbers.
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Covid-19 has turned this country upside down.
The lockdown restrictions which the government introduced via the state of disaster legislation have caused much devastation.
Many people lost their jobs and, in turn, houses and cars. Some people, without even those assets, were out on the street living a hand-to-mouth existence.
The emotional strain has been considerable – but few people are keeping count of ruined marriages, suicides and depression.
Today, though, we hope we have reached a watershed, a turning point.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccines – which have been found to have good efficacy, including against the latest variants of the virus – are starting to be rolled out to our front-line healthcare workers.
They are the unsung heroes of our struggle against Covid-19. They put their lives on the line to care for – and treat – everybody.
READ MORE: SA healthcare workers in the dark about impending J&J vaccine rollout
We owe them our gratitude and the least we can do is urge the government to move as quickly as possible to get them inoculated.
This is the first glimmer of light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel.
And, undoubtedly, that hope will glow brighter as more and more vaccines, from all manufacturers, begin to arrive.
But we must, nevertheless, not let down our guard. Covid-19 will be with us for a long time.
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