It’s a dance with death in the Eastern Cape

The resurgence of Covid-19 infections in particular parts of the country should be a cause for concern.

The news that the government was considering re-imposing the stricter lockdown restrictions in parts of the Eastern Cape, such as Nelson Mandela Bay and the Garden Route, should be welcomed by all. I say this because during a recent visit to my home province, I was disappointed to see how careless and even ignorant many were about this virus.

I had the opportunity to visit Nelson Mandela Bay townships, touching down in New Brighton for the memorial service of my best friend, poet and playwright Reverend Mzwandile Maqina, and Zwide, where my niece, Fikiswa Makasi, lives with her husband and children near Njoli Square taxi rank. It was business as usual all over, with a few wearing masks on the streets and inside buildings. However, many businesses insisted on masks and sanitising their customers.

Later in King William’s Town, East London and my birthplace of Stutterheim, I saw the lack of care many displayed when it came to preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

People behaved as if there was no virus and masks had not been prescribed as the best method to prevent the virus from infecting others. Some were surprised when I appeared wearing a mask.

They casually enjoyed themselves at drinking holes, parties, traditional functions, weddings and other gatherings. To them, lockdown Level 1 gave them licence not to respect the restrictions designed to slow down the spread of the disease, such as wearing a mask, washing hands and keeping a social distance of at least 1.5m from the next person.

People hugged, danced, kissed and played at social gatherings as if Covid-19 had gone when lockdown Level 1 was reached. One woman said exactly that – the “coronavirus is no more” – contrary to the president’s warnings that the disease is here to stay and people need to continue behaving well to avoid contracting it.

Even some of my neighbours, old friends and relatives are guilty of not wearing masks or social distancing. When footage of sad cases of deaths and infections were shown on television this week, I was not surprised. I had witnessed the behaviour of people who believe the virus will never infect them everywhere I went.

Most rural and urban communities in the Eastern Cape and even here in Gauteng and elsewhere for that matter, believe that covering only the mouth makes you safe.

Yet dirty air and other impurities mostly enter the body through the nose. A mask below the chin, on the neck or the forehead is as good as non-existent.

I also noticed that long-distance buses and taxis did not respect the overloading rule as profit comes before passengers’ health. Often no law enforcement officials were to be found policing passenger vehicles disobeying the lockdown restrictions.

Unless stricter measures are imposed, the Eastern Cape could easily turn from an epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic to being the centre of mass deaths. Scarce health resources and no health education may have contributed to the situation, but human ignorance could also be a factor in the pandemic resurgence there.

Political journalist Eric Naki.

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