We are in the throes of the third wave

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa told us what we had already come to accept and knew when he stated in his weekly newsletter to the nation: “We are now in the midst of a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. We may be tired of this persistent enemy, but it is not yet tired of us.”

It’s now official. We are indeed in the throes of the third wave we have been dreading and hoping we could avoid. While the infection levels may be slightly less severe in some lucky provinces like KwaZulu-Natal compared to flashpoints like Gauteng, there is now no debating whether the third resurgence has arrived or not. What remains to be seen is how we – each one of us individually and together as families, unions and so on – react to stem it.

Ramaphosa was correct in stating that by now we all know what we have to do to fight the virus. While some of us may have grown tired of being told about this, we have to repeat the now well-known non-pharmaceutical strategy. But by the same token of following simple strategy, it must be stated the government simply needs to ramp up the vaccination campaign as it has fallen way behind its own targets in this regard.

It was good to learn from Ramaphosa that the government was planning to vaccinate “the vast majority of adults” in South Africa by the end of the year and this week it would start inoculating the nation’s teachers and other school staff who number more than half a million.

The news of the deployment of South African National Defence Force members to help in the fight against the pandemic in Gauteng and other areas was also welcome. Indeed, the government needs to throw everything it has to fight this virus.

And, indeed Mr President, we agree with you. We will only be able to effectively contain this disease when we succeed in rolling out vaccinations on a large scale. So, please play your part in securing as many vaccine doses as soon as possible. You cannot rely on that blunt weapon of lockdowns and bans.

In the meantime, in the remaining six months of this year, before the government’s “vast majority of adults” vaccination promises become a reality, you and I, fellow South Africans, can do well to heed what Ramaphosa says in his latest newsletter about what ordinary citizens can do. While many of us may have grown tired of being told to wear masks, wash hands, avoid gatherings and so on, the harsh reality is this remains the only weapon available to the majority of us.

So let’s focus not on what our imperfect government is doing or failing to do, but watch what each of us individually and as families, communities, workforces, religious communities and so on do or avoid doing during this challenging remainder of the year. We cannot afford to be tired of this virus until we’ve conquered it.