RAZINA MUNSHI: SA’s Covid-19 exit strategy won’t be easy
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The parks are full, the coronavirus is on the retreat, and the optimism hanging over SA’s cities is palpable for the first time in months. Its spring!
But is this joy inappropriate? Are our hopes for a vaccine, for a return to the social lives that we knew, for a return to school and work, and for a well-deserved December break misplaced?
The pandemic, after all, is far from over. As soon as SA takes a decision to open borders, the country will import more cases. Once more people opt to work from the office, community transmission of Covid-19 will flare up. And if people relax enough to ditch their face masks and abandon social distancing guidelines, we may see a second wave.
Still, there are reasons to be optimistic, as this very short list sets out:
The virus has proven to be far less deadly (especially in countries such as SA) than models suggested.Targeted treatments (such as dexamethasone) have already brought down fatality rates.Local hospitals appear to have coped (even if that statement can’t be applied equally through the country).The world has learnt a lot about the novel coronavirus in this time, and that knowledge is expanding at a rapid rate.And a number of vaccines — our best hope of putting the pandemic behind us — are in various stages of development.
This last point is top of mind for most people looking ahead to a post-Covid future. Yet, there are already worrying signs that trust in Covid-19 vaccines is diminishing, according to Sir Jeremy Farrar, who is an advisor to the UK government and director of the research-charity the Wellcome Trust.
“Polls suggest that in countries with some of the highest global case numbers, such as the US, there could be low uptake of any Covid-19 vaccine, no matter how effective,” Farrar writes in the Guardian (
Shortly after his opinion piece was published, the results of a CBS News poll was released, which reflects this diminishing trust.
The poll shows that just 21% of US voters would get a vaccine as soon as possible, down from 32% in July. The majority of people, 58%, would “consider it and wait to see what happens”, while 21% would never get vaccinated.
(Read this Bloomberg article ( on the speed bumps that a Covid-19 vaccine could face when it comes to public trust.)
Farrar says the fact is, a vaccine, ...
But is this joy inappropriate? Are our hopes for a vaccine, for a return to the social lives that we knew, for a return to school and work, and for a well-deserved December break misplaced?
The pandemic, after all, is far from over. As soon as SA takes a decision to open borders, the country will import more cases. Once more people opt to work from the office, community transmission of Covid-19 will flare up. And if people relax enough to ditch their face masks and abandon social distancing guidelines, we may see a second wave.
Still, there are reasons to be optimistic, as this very short list sets out:
The virus has proven to be far less deadly (especially in countries such as SA) than models suggested.Targeted treatments (such as dexamethasone) have already brought down fatality rates.Local hospitals appear to have coped (even if that statement can’t be applied equally through the country).The world has learnt a lot about the novel coronavirus in this time, and that knowledge is expanding at a rapid rate.And a number of vaccines — our best hope of putting the pandemic behind us — are in various stages of development.
This last point is top of mind for most people looking ahead to a post-Covid future. Yet, there are already worrying signs that trust in Covid-19 vaccines is diminishing, according to Sir Jeremy Farrar, who is an advisor to the UK government and director of the research-charity the Wellcome Trust.
“Polls suggest that in countries with some of the highest global case numbers, such as the US, there could be low uptake of any Covid-19 vaccine, no matter how effective,” Farrar writes in the Guardian (
Shortly after his opinion piece was published, the results of a CBS News poll was released, which reflects this diminishing trust.
The poll shows that just 21% of US voters would get a vaccine as soon as possible, down from 32% in July. The majority of people, 58%, would “consider it and wait to see what happens”, while 21% would never get vaccinated.
(Read this Bloomberg article ( on the speed bumps that a Covid-19 vaccine could face when it comes to public trust.)
Farrar says the fact is, a vaccine, ...