There is no new normal

The third wave of Covid-19 is knocking on our door and a tightening of lockdown regulations, with the commensurate economic misery, is sure to follow. Right now, life is pretty much back to what it was before we found out just how dangerous Sars-Cov-2 was.

We have short memories and we have become inured to the existence of the virus, to the point where too many of us are ignoring the dangers this virus will pose forever. It is never going away, there is no new normal, this is life now.

Hollywood apocalypses often depict the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust with a taciturn lone hero haunted by his terrible past moving through a wasteland and finding a soul in trouble he can help and through his actions, redeem himself.

We know now an apocalypse can be far more insidious in nature and few of us have escaped it.

Friends, family, colleagues, too many people have died. And like HIV/Aids, it has no respect for a person’s station in life.

We know precious little about Sars-Cov-2, the actual virus which is causing worldwide mayhem. As an ordinary human, I understand it to affect everyone differently.

I understand it will find health weaknesses in our bodies and exploit it, especially around our hearts and lungs.

I understand it kills, I understand it often has long-term effects for survivors, I understand the virus is evolving because it is liable to kill its host and it wants to survive.

I also understand it needs our help in spreading from its host to another and just because you are asymptomatic, does not mean I will be.

I could be wrong but as a layperson, this is my opinion, these are my takeaways. I worry about being infected and asymptomatic. It is this last option which checks me.

The thought of unknowingly being responsible for the death of someone else is horrifying.

The idea of someone else’s recklessness around the virus because they have blindly drunk someone’s Kool-Aid on the matter passing it on to others because “it’s no more serious than flu”, is simply dangerous. Tell it to people in India.

Tell it to the families of the more than 3.3 million people who have died. See if they buy your flu story. There is little point in screaming at government. The louder we shout at our government leaders, the dimmer our voices grow.

We know this to be true, especially in South Africa, because if government listened to us, we wouldn’t have the likes of National Assembly speaker Thandi Modise admitting to the Zondo commission: “It is regrettable that the impression is parliament only woke up when things were really bad. For that we must apologise to the South African people.”

Governments drunken stumble towards a vaccination programme means it is up to us. It is up to us to stop listening to denialists and hoping government will save us.

We can help the front-line heroes, the doctors, nurses, health workers in the mortuaries and cleaners in hospitals by doing simple things.

Wear a mask which meets World Health Organisation specifications. Sanitise. Work from home if you are fortunate enough to be able to do so. Keep at least two arm-lengths from each other. We can all be heroes in this apocalypse.

We can help the frontline heroes, the doctors, nurses, health workers in the mortuaries and cleaners in hospitals by doing simple things.