Covid-19: It’s important to ‘be prepared’

THE BOY Scouts work under the motto “Be Prepared” which is attributed to the call of its founder, Robert Baden Powell. He wanted young people to be ready, willing and able to do what is necessary in any situation.

It is a good motto to adopt in the fight against Covid-19 in South Africa.

The number of cases passed the 50 000 mark, and the number of deaths topped 1 000 this week, with more than half of all cases since the start of the outbreak having been recorded over the past two weeks as lockdown restrictions eased.

The World Health Organization has also warned that the Covid-19 pandemic is far from over as infection numbers globally passed seven million and deaths reached 400 000.

The fact that more activities have been allowed to resume in level 3 should not lull us into a false sense of security when all the modelling points to the fact that the worst for South Africa, in terms of infections and deaths due to Covid-19, lies ahead of us.

In his weekly letter, President Cyril Ramaphosa, reminds us of a “life-anddeath war” against the virus, and that more will be required of all of us, individually and collectively, in the coming weeks if we are to “emerge victorious”.

“While these numbers are broadly in line with what the various models had projected, there is a big difference between looking at a graph on a piece of paper and seeing real people becoming infected, some getting ill and some dying,” the president said.

He has urged us to not be alarmed but to be prepared, by learning about the disease, taking relevant precautions and protecting ourselves and family members, especially the elderly or vulnerable, from the risk of infection.

As the president said: we should remember one simple, but fundamental, message: Don’t be alarmed, be prepared.