Covid hike could be our festive kopseer
Traditionally, yesterday we would all have gone into town for the festive lights carnival on the Grand Parade.
Every year it signals not only the start of the festive season, but also the start of summer, the big days.
Tomorrow is exactly 25 days to Christmas and I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to write about a resurgence in the Covid-19 numbers, but yet here we are.
There’s now a genuine fear that – like elsewhere in the world – we could have localised lockdowns in the coming weeks.
And that’s because too many of us have been acting selfishly.
It’s like that kid in the class who won’t stop making a noise and then the principal walks in and the whole class gets detention.
The numbers are looking particularly bad in the Eastern Cape and in the Cape Metro.
I have been monitoring it and at one point it looked excellent, with overnight infections dropping to well under 500.
But last week, in one 24-hour cycle, the numbers reached almost 3 500, which of course is great cause for concern.
And making it a whole lot worse is the fact that it’s the festive season.
The time of the year when we all like to go out and spend our free time and our extra money on socialising and having fun.
So while we were all hoping that this pandemic would be a distant memory come Christmas 2020, it looks like we are going to have to bite the bullet a little longer.
And there’s now also the very real chance that we will go into the new year with the Coronavirus still very much among us.
Covid-19 has turned into the Grinch that stole Christmas.
Although there are four possible vaccines that look very promising at the moment, none of them have been approved yet.
And even if one is approved by the end of the year, which is very likely, it could take months before it reaches us.
And even then, not all of us will get it.
Government will obviously prioritise frontline and healthcare workers.
So we still have a long haul ahead of us, people.
What’s required now is a lot of patience from each and every one of us. It’s not really all that difficult when you think about it.
So I am urging you to speak to your family and friends, especially the young ones and the teenagers.
With their natural bravado and sense of invincibility, they seem to be the ones most reluctant to remain safe.
They are stealing every opportunity to hang out with friends at bars and clubs and even each other’s houses.
And with every moment that passes, they get more and more lax about keeping their masks on; and as the volume increases, they get ever closer in conversation and laughter.
The rest of us will also be forced to have our tongue, corned beef and trifle, without all our extended family members in one house this year.
More leftovers for you, right! This is one year where we simply cannot afford our favourite cavalier phrase “Dis f*kol, dis festive.”
The so-called Covid-19 fatigue is something we must resist. Sure, we are social creatures and we need to interact with others, but foregoing it for another few months is a small sacrifice when you consider the rewards.
And in this case, the reward is staying alive and keeping your loved ones alive to see another Christmas.