Unstoppable Covid-19 marches on

The Covid-19 pandemic is on its relentless march and there seems to be little we can do to stop it dead.

As things stood on Wednesday, SA had almost 53,000 positive cases with 1,162 people dead.

Clearly the Western Cape is the epicentre of the virus as they account for 34,819 of the 52,991 positive cases and 890 of the 1,162 deaths so far.

There have been 26,006 recoveries nationally, which translates to just over one of every two people who tested positive.

Always keep in mind that only

968,070 people have been tested so far with most tests (57 %) being conducted in the private sector.

The reason for this is not too hard to understand - the private facilities have a turnaround time of about four days while the government-conducted tests have a

14-day turnaround time for results. The Eastern Cape was far behind when the pandemic started, but now we are second only to the Western Cape with 6,760 cases and rising.

We are also second with 138 deaths so far, but a healthy rate of

3,512 recoveries, which makes the situation less gloomy.

In Chris Hani district we are on

1,011 confirmed positive cases and

20 deaths so far, with 464 having recovered.

Last week when we went to test with my children there were scores of people queuing up to have themselves tested.

The lines of people going there daily to test has increased day by day, showing that we have yet to hit the peak of the infection rate.

The department of home affairs offices have been closed since last week and the staff members tested and I am sure by the time you read this some other institution will also be closed temporarily. We are told the Covid-19 virus loves cold weather. Since we are going into the coldest part of our winter and many people have gone back to work, we must brace ourselves for the worst. How many of you have tested positive for the coronavirus or know someone who has?

I am sure, like me, you know someone who has. This is no longer that mysterious bogeyman that we were told about when we were young, but no one had actually seen one. We have seen the disease up close and some have contracted it and have lived to tell the tale while very few have died from it.

Should we be alarmed and start fearing for the worst? I think we should - the pandemic has arrived and it will only get worse.

If this is the case should we go ahead and open up everything and learn to live with it? How long can we hide in the quest to avoid being infected? Can we survive economically in that situation?

The lockdown was never meant to be permanent but to slow it down to manageable levels.

I do not have all the answers. Maybe the answer is in the numbers. Over 53,000 positive cases and 1,162 deaths and 26,006 recoveries and counting.

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