SA’s youngsters party themselves to death, instead of adhering to Covid rules

It’s a party now, die later mood as South Africans hit nightclubs under adjusted alert level 3 lockdown and throw health caution to the wind, ignoring rules on maskwearing and social distancing as they boogie the night away.

This was highlighted in a video shared on Twitter this week by DJ Tira which showed a large, maskless crowd dancing and shouting as the DJ – real name Mthokozisi Khathi – performed at The Cosmopolitan Lounge in Maboneng, Johannesburg.

Tira had previously announced that patrons would require a Covid vaccination card to gain entry to the Fact Durban Rocks December 2021 event, or any event he would be hosting.

On Saturday, Tira told his followers: “You don’t need a vaccine card, just come on time to party with Makoya Bearings”.

He also pointed out another club which had allegedly broken the Covid regulations.

The Cosmopolitan representative declined to answer questions.

While there was a slight decrease in infections, based on peoples’ behaviour, experts have warned we still have a long way to go.

According to experts, while vaccines are by far the best way to keep everybody safe, they were not completely safe because while vaccines work, new surges call for more protection.

Epidemiologist Dr Jo Barnes previously told The Citizen that another driver of the outbreak was the problem of young people who thought they were invincible and ignored social distancing, mask-wearing and hand-washing.

“That is a recipe for disaster,” said Barnes.

“It is no coincidence the present wave is spreading so fast among young people. Even though the young often do not get as sick as older people, they infect others, thereby spreading the outbreak.”

Barnes said while South Africa had only vaccinated a very low percentage of people, superspreader events will only make matters worse than they are.

“There have only been just more than 7.6 million doses of vaccine administered in South Africa out of the potential 40 million needed, so our population is still very far from a safe level of vaccination,” she added.

As the highly contagious Covid delta variant sweeps across the country and many people remain unvaccinated, South African Medical Research Council chief executive Professor Glenda Gray reiterated that it didn’t mean people were immune to the virus.

“Vaccines may impact on transmission by lowering viral load in the nose. However, with the delta variant, vaccination may be not as effective,” she said.

“We are not immune to the virus and breakthrough infections can and do occur. I’m not sure we will get to not wearing masks in the near future, unfortunately.”

Meanwhile, National Liquor Traders Council’s Lucky Ntimane said they were not going to protect anyone and as they had previously mentioned, whoever does not adhere to Covid protocols stands to lose their licence.

“We have constantly preached about the importance of responsible alcohol consumer trading and compliance to all Covid-19 regulations,” he said.

“Anyone who does not comply knows they stand to lose their licence. We do not have room for people who are not following the guidelines set by government to contain the virus.”

– reitumetsem@citizen.co.za