Step up Covid-19 vigilance

LAST week, South Africa’s Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize declared that the country was now in a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. South Africa has now taken steps in acknowledgement of this new reality. Yet here in Lesotho, Basotho are relaxed and are no longer following any safety measures. We have opened our economy and it is now business as usual for Lesotho. The declaration of an emergency is happening at a time when Basotho who are based in South Africa are intending to come back home for the Christmas holidays. My fear is that this Christmas break will see Basotho coming home in huge numbers. I am not a prophet of doom but I think we are also heading into a second wave. My fear is that Covid-19 could return as a second wave in the beginning of 2021 with peaks in January and February. A second wave would be similar to what we experienced in the winter of 2020. However, it could be harder to control in 2021 given the fact that people are tired of social distancing. Besides we have opened our economy and people are starting to gather in big numbers at festivals, funerals, sports events, night clubs, churches and political gatherings. If the truth be told we were never ready for the first wave. How then can we cope with a second wave? I am praying that God intervenes like he did during the first wave. Basotho are not ready for the second wave. The next wave of Covid-19 will likely be unpredictable because there is still a lot about the virus that we don’t know. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought many changes to life as we know it. There are restrictions on our day-to-day interactions with our loved ones. There are restrictions in business and in our daily routines. After having made all these adjustments to suppress this pandemic, fatigue has kicked in and we are no longer as particular with observing Covid-19 precautions like the wearing of masks, washing hands, sanitizing and keeping social distance. Now this is bound to become problematic because of the festive season which unfortunately has coincided with a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases in South Africa. This is a worrying situation because many Basotho work and live in South Africa and are expected home for the festive season. Ordinarily the festive season is a time filled with partying and celebrations. For people living and working in South Africa this is a time to let their hair down. It is also a time to relax and enjoy their hard-earned money with their loved ones. We should expect that they are likely to take part in activities they are accustomed to pre-Covid-19 especially if the responsibility to protect themselves and others lie solely with them rather than when it is enforced by the law. This is more worrisome as most of the restrictions that were meant to protect us from harm have been relaxed. Moreover, even law enforcement agents have become uninterested in the whole Covid-19 issue. I have noticed that people no longer walk around with their masks and are not even held accountable. We even hang out with police in bars in close proximity, whereas a few months ago those that went to bars feared being arrested by the police. In fact, my observation is that the only Covid-19 preventative measure that is still being observed is sanitizing of hands at shops and the wearing of masks. However, in our village stores, this is a different story. It is unsettling that our brothers and sisters who work in South Africa will be leaving a country that is currently experiencing hiccups in their fight against the virus. They are coming to Lesotho, a country wherein a big proportion do not even believe in the existence of the Covid-19 virus because they have not encountered it first-hand. Sometimes I think that in the long run the fact that Lesotho has been spared will be our downfall. This has resulted in us not taking this pandemic seriously. Another challenge that will be posed by the return of Basotho migrants to Lesotho is that our hospitality sector is now open. Currently it is business as usual in this sector. I have noticed that the Maseru nightlife is as active as ever and people go to nightclubs and festivals just like before. Moreover, we must acknowledge that the lockdown has posed a big threat to this particular sector. You even saw the spirit of camaraderie between owners and patrons in their yearning that government relaxes restrictions on restaurants and pubs. Hence after months of stringent regulations barring restaurants, pubs, bars and nightclubs from operating, people flooded their favourite hangouts when the restrictions were relaxed. Opening the hospitality sector was not only necessitated by the thousands the sector employs but it was necessary to revive the sector. In my opinion the only solution to this predicament is strengthening Covid-19 regulations over this festive period to minimize the spread of the disease. I think Lesotho’s coronavirus story so far is a clear depiction of sheer luck. At a point we were one of the few countries that had not reported a single case of the virus. Furthermore, since Covid-19 landed, it has not wreaked the havoc we saw on our television screens in other countries. I remember seeing new infections and death tolls rising when this disease hit Europe. At that point my thinking was that this disease was going to kill us like flies if it got here. That was because we have a very weak health delivery system. Yet despite being spared, we have not been on our best behaviour, both as the government and the people. We still have difficulty complying with even the most basic of regulations like the wearing of masks. The government has also been lackluster in its efforts to fight the disease from the very beginning to the extent that even acquiring protective gear for essential healthcare workers has been a problem. If we carry on as we are currently doing, we should certainly expect unpleasant repercussions. Vigilance and changed behaviour are critical to ensure we don’t regress from our current Coronavirus narrative. If we do not do things differently, I doubt we have a chance at keeping the disease at bay. There is no way we can stop our brothers and sisters from coming home. Most of them have not seen their families in a while because of this disease. Furthermore, we must also keep in mind that they are not in South Africa because they want to. They had to seek employment in the neighbouring state in search of better prospects. This of course is just a call for caution. I am merely stating that it is up to us to do things the right way to ensure our own survival and continuity as a country. This is not an advocacy for stigmatisation of our brothers and sisters that work in South Africa. We just need to revisit how we do things even if it’s for this short period. So, what can you do? For starters, you should continue to stay away from people and practise hand hygiene. But perhaps most important is wearing a mask when you go out in public, even outdoors. Beyond maintaining social distance and wearing a mask when you go out of your home, the only other thing that will change or mitigate the severity of a second wave is when and if vaccines become available. But we all know a vaccine will only be available for Third World countries in 2022. So, the best thing that we can do right now is prevent infections until a vaccine is available. May God keep you and protect you during this festive season. Ramahooana matlosa