Exhaustion drives rising infections
People move virus, warns a specialist
Mental exhaustion from continuously dealing with the deadly coronavirus is one of the contributing factors to the widely increasing cases in South Africa.
This according to the public health medicine specialist Atiya Mosam, who said people were letting their guards down and heavily engaging with the social aspect of their lives regardless of the hard-hitting consequences.
She said it was only normal for people to miss their loved ones and want to gather around them as it grants them a sense of belonging and emotional satisfaction, but this endangering move was the reason the country continues to have outbreaks.
A year later, citizens are yet again asked to avoid gatherings and work from home if possible under the strict lockdown level four restrictions.
“As the pandemic progresses, people are getting tired of adjusting to a different way of being and there are certain aspects of life that people are missing such as the social aspect. They miss recreational activities and things like going to the office,” said Mosam.
She said prohibiting the sale of alcohol was a major move to help people realise they needed to stop social gatherings because they are super spreaders of the virus – and because this has helped to lower the curve before it is also expected to save more lives during the third wave.
Mosam said even with the vaccine at hand, an effective way to prevent the spread of the virus was through following the regulations that are set by the government.
The appropriate wearing of masks means that less aerosols or droplets carrying the virus would be transferred to the next person. She said even persons that have taken the vaccine should understand that this did not mean they were entirely immune to the deadly virus.
“There may be, to some extent, a sense of safety brought by vaccination where people might think that they are completely immune and protected because of vaccine and so these things can lead to increased cases,” she said.