Ending State of Disaster: Lifting restrictions too soon?

Following a crescendo of calls to end the national State of Disaster, health experts have differing views on whether or not it’s too soon, or if it is time to finally scrap masks outdoors as studies prove there has been a high level of protection against the virus.

According to vaccinology professor at Wits University Shabir Madhi, it has been unclear what metric the national Department of Health was using to determine when it would be more comfortable with lifting restrictions, most of which were not fit for purpose.

“More than 75% of the population now have protection against severe Covid due to a combination of past infection and vaccine-induced immunity,” Madhi said.

“Attempting to prevent infections have been unsuccessful in South Africa thus far and will not change as we move ahead.”

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This after the Minister of Health Joe Phaahla said SA could not end the state of disaster until it had enough measures in place to handle future waves of Covid infections.

He said the government should not be pressured into ending the state of disaster.

“As we are exiting the fourth wave of infections, everyone is eager for the pandemic to come to an end,” Phaahla said during the State of the Nation Address (Sona) debate.

“The reality, however, is that while we have learned more about the virus – and we have more weapons – and the virus is seemingly getting weaker, the war is far from over.”

However, epidemiologist Dr Jo Barnes said while the pandemic had taken a heavy toll on people’s lives, incomes and the prosperity of the country, it was understandable there would be growing calls for all restrictions to be lifted every time there was a silence between waves of the outbreak.

“Unfortunately, such calls are based on hope rather than on hard facts. The assumption is that since the last variant, omicron, produced less severe clinical symptoms, that the possible next one will be even less significant,” she added.

“There is no solid evidence for that. Omicron did not originate from the Delta variant and delta did not arise from beta. Omicron came from a completely different part of the family tree.”

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Barnes said her other concern with lifting restrictions too soon was that should another variant with serious consequences arrive – as it likely will – then getting the population to renew the irritating but practical restrictions such as wearing masks, maintaining a safe distance and restricting numbers in indoor venues would be next to impossible.

“I am concerned that the education campaigns for complying with the calls for vaccination and personal protection measures have fallen far short of what was needed, especially in our low-income communities,” she said.

Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s Professor Glenda Davison also said she believed the country was not quite out of the woods yet.

Although SA had exited the fourth wave, with lower hospitalisations and deaths, the risk of new variants was there.

“The fact is while there are still large numbers of people not vaccinated, there is always a risk.

“However we are slowly moving into an endemic phase and learning how to live with the virus,” Davison said.

“At the moment, though, I think we should still wear masks in public and encourage everyone to get vaccinated. I think once we have high vaccination rates it may be time to relook regulations.”