Don’t want another lockdown? Then stop behaving like defiant teenagers

There is no reason to believe that South Africa will fair any differently than Europe or the US unless we can actually do the two things proven to slow down the infection rate – wear masks and sanitise our hands.

I spent the last few days in a beautiful coastal village about an hour from Cape Town. Since I hadn’t taken a day off since January, it was bliss to be at the sea and re-charge.

However, walking around the little town, you would be forgiven for thinking that COVID-19 never existed. Masks were few and far apart. In restaurants, staff would have them draped around their necks while serving customers.

When I gently told them that I had had a personal -  very unpleasant -  experience with the virus and that they should really wear the masks, I was glared at as if I was some Victorian school teacher.

Ironically, the friend whose house I was staying in is stuck in the Netherlands waiting for the epidemic to pass. This won’t be soon, since the Netherlands has recently gone into another round of lockdowns, with a surge of new infections. In late August they had less than 500 new cases per day. Currently, there are over 8000 new cases daily, with the death rate climbing steadily.

Together with other restrictions, the Dutch have now been advised to wear masks in public, including in shops for the first time. Earlier the Dutch followed a policy of “intelligent lockdown”, basically giving people free choice. The Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, said at the time that the Netherlands was a “grown-up” country where people were happy to be treated as adults.

To quote that famous Afrikaans advertisement: “Jaaaa, boet!”

During our hard lockdown, I was almost daily confronted by angry South Africans who objected to the fact that the government did not treat them like adults. 

So here is the thing: People don’t!

Look at the Dutch, look at my holiday town, and look at what happened in the southern suburbs of Cape Town recently.

In case you have missed it, a big group of mostly teenagers – many in matric – congregated at a night club in Claremont, called Tin Roof. Following this event, 83 people who had been at the club on the night were diagnosed with COVID 19.   

I should mention that the owners claim that they are operating as a bar at the moment and not a night club and that they can’t be blamed, since many of the kids had been at other parties before they arrived at Tin Roof. (Just as an aside: why were these young people even allowed into the bar since presumably most of them were under 18?)

Of course, I’m also really puzzled why the parents allowed their children – especially matrics whose exams are now going to be affected - to go out and socialise in this manner.

This is a perfect example of how a super spreader event develops. Each of those 83 people could possibly now have infected everyone else in their households, more children at school, and of course possibly older people and people with co-morbidities.

I wonder if any of them have thought about the fact that their irresponsible behaviour could cause someone’s death?

Tony Green recently movingly spoke to Anderson Cooper on CNN about his experience. Tony is from Texas and was originally a bit suspicious about the COVID-19 epidemic and didn’t agree with the wearing of masks. In June, he and six immediate family members got together for a dinner party at his home. Within 72 hours all of them started feeling sick and within days two people including his father-in-law had died. All-in-all 14 people got infected from the small gathering.

Afterwards he said: “I feel like a drunk driver who has killed his own family members”.

Which is exactly the point. By not wearing a mask, by not following protocols, you are as bad as a drunk driver who kills people. You might be symptom-free, but you can still have the virus and give it to someone who might die….Which is of course exactly why it’s the law that everyone should wear a mask in South Africa when out in public spaces. 

However, a growing number of South Africans are behaving like defiant teenagers and not wearing masks or draping them around their necks in case they are confronted by law enforcement. People are throwing parties and socialising as if there is no risk anymore.

Europe has taught us that this epidemic is far from over.

The daily new infections have over the last few weeks been higher than the original peak in mid-May. This has led the WHO’s Hans Kluge to warn that “a very serious situation is unfolding before us”. 

France, Ireland, the UK, Spain, Germany, Greece, Italy and Portugal have all had to enforce new restrictions recently. Scientists have warned the USA that it is entering its “darkest months” yet. 

There is no reason to believe that South Africa will be different unless we can actually do the two things proven to slow down the infection rate – wear masks and sanitise our hands.

Our country’s economy would not easily survive another lockdown. However, unless we start behaving like responsible adults – that is exactly where we are heading.