An extraordinary journey to....our HOMES

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“Life is filled with unanswered questions, but it is the courage to seek those answers that continues to give meaning to life. You can spend your life wallowing in despair, wondering why you were the one who was led towards the road strewn with pain, or you can be grateful that you are strong enough to survive it.” – J.D.Stroube

2020 rolls on towards its inevitable end but for many, many people around the globe, it will be a year best forgotten given the turmoil unleashed on humanity by Covid-19. Whilst it is no longer centre stage, this pandemic remains on the radar screen and will be there for some time into the future. How long? Well, the reality is that no one knows which in itself is scary as we humans would rationalise that by now, we should have figured out everything about this virus. Not quite! No vaccine in sight, no one size fits all therapeutic remedy and the virus continues to spread on a wide front across many countries.



The one certainty is that conversation around that camp fire at some point down the line, in some remote bush setting, will be fuelled by many conversations about Covid-19. One question will be; so why did Africa experience such low levels of infection? After all, the continents relatively poor and overburdened health care facilities were predicted to be a major constraint in dealing with a deluge of infected people. Dire predictions were being made that Africa could see more than 300,000 deaths this year. But here’s the thing; with the World now past the 1 million Covid-19 death count, Africa has racked up about 35,000 deaths in an infected population of 1.4 million. Africa’s 2.4 percent death rate compares favourably against Italy’s 11.9 percent and Britain’s 9.6 percent. Complicating the numbers in many African countries is undoubtedly the accuracy and recording of Covid-19 related deaths but nevertheless, the key question remains; how did Africa dodge the disaster which was forecast to unfold? Scientists have provided a number of possible reasons. Firstly, there is the youthful population factor (62 percent of sub-Sahara Africa’s population is under 25 years of age and only 3 percent over 65 years of age) and then many people would not have been exposed to foreign travellers at airports and other ports of entry to the extent of most other countries and regions. It is also speculated that the TB vaccine administered to children may have helped to reduce deaths. Another key factor is that the virus hit Africa later than other regions providing time for health authorities to prepare field hospitals and learn from treatments being applied elsewhere. It was also evident that many African countries, South Africa in particular, imposed harsh lockdowns. No clear answers when one considers that more than half the continents population live-in high-density slums where sanitation is mostly very poor. Did previous disease outbreaks result in improved resistance to the coronavirus?

Recently a whole bunch of medical scientists, actuaries and the like have signed a document entitled “The Great Barrington Declaration.” In essence these eminent scientists are proposing an alternative to the lock downs in place at the behest of often, out of touch politicians. They do not down play the seriousness of the pandemic but state that for those people considered as low risk, every effort needs to be made for them to revert back to normal lives. School kids need to be back in school or charging around the playground and sports fields. All vital for their development. Their basic thesis is that this virus targets the vulnerable (people with comorbidities, respiratory problems, obesity and folk over age 70) and has little impact on the rest of the population. The lock downs served their earlier purpose but the fall out in terms of collapsing economies, unemployment, starvation and massive health and death complications unrelated to Covid-19 has far exceeded the direct impact of the virus. By way of example; lower vaccination rates for children, worsening heart related problems, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health are the direct consequence of the medical fraternity being compelled to focus on Covid-19. As one of the medical doctors’ states; “to send sick people home to accommodate often asymptomatic Covid-19 patients is diabolical.” At the heart of their declaration is “to minimise mortality and social harm until herd immunity is reached.” The current political thinking that lock downs need to continue until a vaccine is discovered makes no sense at all. Herd immunity is at the heart of their thinking; “it is a threshold that is reached where there are sufficient numbers of people who have recovered from the disease and have a level of immunity so that the disease stops circulating and gradually wanes to zero.” According to their website, 50,000 people have signed the declaration but don’t expect anything to change anytime soon. Many politicians around the globe would have little understanding of the devastating impact of lock downs on their economies given that not many of them have never actually held a proper job in the cut and thrust of the real business world. In sun drenched South Africa, our economy is in tatters and it is ironical that the ANC, who have engineered our economic implosion for many years, are trumpeting plans to “revive the economy.” The cliches flow, the talk is endless but the fact that everything this Government has touched is broken, is lost on a population that stumbles about having to confront daily doses of appalling theft and corruption and mismanagement on an industrial scale. As someone quite rightly stated, South Africa has been run by a coalition Government for a number of years. The coalition being the two factions in the ANC which leads to few bold decisions being made and “consensus” being the order of the day (or weeks depending on how long the factions talk and talk and talk…).

China has, in a manner of speaking, dropped off the radar screen for the time being in the context of the virus. What we tend to forget is that the virus first appeared in the city of Wuhan in December 2019 but it was not until 20^th January of this year that the Chinese allowed WHO officials in to investigate origins, spread etc., These delays were behind the WHO only declaring a global health emergency at the end of January. Valuable time lost! To make matters worse, the Chinese have still not approved a follow up visit by a group of WHO led scientists for further investigation on its origins. Too early to call but China may just face some harsh retaliatory actions in the future for its role and behaviour in the face of this pandemic. America has upped the ante and is looking to drastically reduce its dependence on China as a supplier of many products. The best example is in the realm of rare earth metals where China controls global production and supply. This may be short lived as America has enacted policies to find alternative supply sources.

With the flames still flickering in that camp fire, there is no doubt the conversation will drift to the indisputable fact that the week of 5^th October 2020 was momentous in the sense that finally some of our thieving and corrupt “comrades” were arrested and charged for the great VBS Bank heist which saw these thieving morons steal R2 billion from a wide range of depositors (including the poorest of the poor). How incredibly, insanely stupid does one need to be to think that they can steal on that scale and not get found out. The nation needs more arrests to follow which now seems likely. The sooner we see these politicians and cadres charged and found guilty and sent to prison in orange jump suits, the better. The State Capture commission grinds on and will hopefully, add fuel to the growing inferno of criminal arrests. Clearly, faith for millions of South Africans in our justice system will be restored when one of the big political leaders is arrested. There is a complication! The factional split in the ANC will dictate the extent to which justice is seen to be dispensed. The rats are emerging from the sewers and desperately seeking an escape route so things could get ugly. Rats are rats and survival will often mean eating your so-called best mate if needs be.

America continues on its crazy heading to the Presidential election on 3^rd November 2020. In the interim “The Don” contracted the pesky virus and had a super quick recovery. In the process his tweets continue to infuriate large swathes of the US media who despise Trump with a passion. There is no doubt bad news works for the media and their large viewership then ensures their advertising revenues are maximised. They are exploiting this to the hilt and I am amazed at how much negativity the media portrays about America. Apart from Trump, they trash the economy and just about anything that suits their warped agenda. No doubt that Covid-19 has reshaped the manner in which the media and social media manipulates the news with an emphasis on negativity. It almost seems as if sharing good, positive news is banned in the newsroom.

The camp fire flickers, conversation slows and, as was the case whilst Covid-19 was raging on wildly back then, there remain more questions than answers.

“Let go of the people who dull your shine, poison your spirit, and bring you drama. Cancel your subscription to their issues.” – Steve Maraboli

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Photos

Covid-19
A variation on the herd immunity!
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Covid-19
This is how our dudes see the difference between right and wrong! Key question...will he be arrested?
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Covid-19
The jury is out??? What to believe?
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Covid-19
"The Don" in deep pooh again!!
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Comments

[Megan]

Oops! I put my entire comment in the title...not sure if you will get it ??

[Timgray]

Covid-19
Hi Megs You will need to resend.