300 days on ... and we pray for a better tomorrow

If you think really hard, you can probably remember 27 March, 2020 – the first day of South Africa’s hard lockdown after President Cyril Ramaphosa had days earlier announced a national state of disaster due to Covid-19. 27 March was 300 days ago. That’s nine months and 25 days. Forty-two weeks and six days. 7 200 hours. So much has happened in that period. Little did we know how the country, the world, would change.

Schools, shops and how we work will probably never be the same again. Working from home for those lucky enough to have a job became the norm.

Zoom meetings became part of a daily routine. People lost their jobs or had their salaries cut. Children who were fortunate enough were homeschooled, introduced to online learning or attended school on a rotation system. Less fortunate children not only missed large chunks of the year, but also vital meals.

The gap between the haves and have-nots is glaring. During those 300 days, we have had the president visit us for many family meetings, extending, reducing and then extending the various levels of lockdown.

He has laughed with us when struggling to put his mask on, and been reduced to tears when reliving the pain that has hit families and people close to him.

He has had to face a barrage of criticism for the lockdowns, and the affect it has had on our economy and the livelihoods of many of us.

Some of it has been justified, some of it harsh, as government were initially praised for the swiftness that they enforced Covid-19 protocols and the lockdown, but then later shown up for years of neglect, particularly when it came to healthcare preparedness and forward planning.

In return, his National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC), led largely by Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Bheki Cele, would then tell us what we could and couldn’t do. From bizarrely not been allowed to buy closed-toe shoes, cooked chickens and pies, to bans on the selling of tobacco products and alcohol, it has been a turbulent ride.

Our borders were closed, then opened, and now the land borders have been closed again. Swimming on beaches has been banned, social gatherings limited and tourism shut and re-opened – with conditions. We’ve seen it all.

But most of all we have seen Covid-19 infections surge well past the one million mark in South Africa and deaths creep towards 40 000. Brothers, sisters, children, mothers, fathers and friends that we know have died due to the pandemic. We’ve had the first wave, and hopefully just negotiated the peak of the second wave. Experts predict further waves. There’s no let-up on the horizon.

Our respect for doctors, nurses, healthcare workers and teachers has only grown as they daily put their lives on the line for us.

We’ve had mixed messages from our government regarding the procurement of vaccines. People are questioning what procedures were followed in securing these vaccines. Some people are angry because other countries have already started rolling out their vaccine plans. We have not. Others are not convinced they will, in fact, take the jab.

In short, no country was prepared for a pandemic of this nature, but some have clearly handled it better than others. Where South Africa sits in comparison to the rest of the world, only time will tell.

27 March, 2020 feels like a lifetime ago. For now, all we can do is wear a mask, social distance and sanitise.

And pray for a better tomorrow.