The government’s approach to the latest Covid-19 variant should be applauded. A sigh of relief rippled through SA as President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday no new restrictions would be imposed despite the arrival of Omicron. Ramaphosa’s criticism of other countries’ kneejerk reaction to the discovery of the new strain was justifiably loud and clear. SA seems to be keeping a clear head while “pandemic theatrics” (as The New York Times writer Zeynep Tufekci called it this week (https://www.theinsight.org/p/omicron-edition-open-thread-112821?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=copy)) played out in other parts of the world. 

Now is the time to stay calm. This is not to say the new Omicron variant should not be taken seriously. SA’s positivity rate has shot up dramatically. The proportion of Covid-19 tests coming back positive rocketed from two percent to nine percent in less than a week. The real problem, however, is our low vaccination rate, with just more than a third of adults fully vaccinated. At least the rates are higher in the older and more vulnerable age groups, but our population is not even close to herd immunity. ..