Covid-19 is showing its teeth, plus 5 highlights from 'Vrye Weekblad'
Here's what's hot in the latest edition of the Afrikaans digital weekly
SA is now in its most critical stage of fighting Covid-19. What we do in the next few days and weeks will determine how many people will eventually die due to the virus.
Our numbers are doubling every 10 days and cases have exploded in Gauteng, while the Eastern Cape's health care system has more or less collapsed.
“Now is not the time to get ill,” says Prof Francois Venter from Wits. He is one of those fighting on the front lines.
This is serious, he says. “In three weeks, the picture will look much different. Protect yourself, especially if you have cancer, diabetes or any kind of diminished immunity. You HAVE to wear a mask and physically distance.”
We don't know yet if we'll see one large wave now or a bunch of smaller peaks stretched out over months, but we do know that numbers are rising, especially in Gauteng, and the Western Cape is far from out of danger. In the Eastern Cape, that wasn't delivering adequate health care even before corona, a catastrophe is unfolding.
Read more about our Covid fight, plus more news and analysis in this week's edition of Afrikaans digital weekly Vrye Weekblad.
“We are in the middle of a storm. The next month or two is going to be dire,” says Prof Alex Welte, a mathematician at Stellenbosch University who does modelling. “If our numbers keep doubling every 10 days, we'll quickly hit 30,000 deaths. It can get very bad; I hope not, but it could.”
He says SA is already at the point where every day is worse than the day before.
“We haven't overcome anything yet. We are already at the point where we can't provide care for all who need it. We are at ground zero. What we do now will determine how many people die,” says Welte.
But people are not realising this, or not believing it, he says. Because we live in an era where “people are against science. They are not taking this seriously, not analysing it and don't see it within context. Later on they'll say, 'Wow, we got caught with our pants down'.”