The focus must be on a Covid vaccine

As the country enters five days of mourning for those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, South Africans still seem deeply divided about whether the government actions to tackle the problem were appropriate … and whether they worked.

Those supporting Health Minister Zweli Mkhize – and they tend to be scientists and medical experts – largely believe that the actions taken at the outbreak of coronavirus in March this year were justified, at least on the basis of information available at the time.

Of course, in the months since, a lot more has become known about the virus and even scientists acknowledge that it is an evolving scenario.

On the other hand, the statisticians and actuaries believe – correctly – that initial estimates of the likely impact of the disease were greatly exaggerated.

In the beginning, worst-case scenarios were projecting that up to 400 000 South Africans could die from Covid-19.

Though we are undergoing a surge in new infections and deaths, it seems probable that with the toll at just over 20 000, Covid-19 will claim far fewer lives than initially thought.

Critics of government policy claim also that the harsh lockdowns, which initially severely restricted movement and economic activity, will have cost the country far more than the deaths.

Certainly, thousands of jobs have been lost and businesses closed – crippling blows to an already battered economy.

However, perhaps the restrictions did prevent us seeing the sort of horrible scenes experienced in emergency wards across the world, as Covid-19 patients overflowed into corridors, many of them dying there.

The jury is still out on how South Africa and the world in general dealt with the coronavirus.

We now have hope – in the form of a vaccine – so maybe we should focus on that.

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