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Last night, in one of his 8PM addresses to the nation, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced further easing of lockdown restrictions.

It’s been dubbed ‘advanced alert level 3’ by many, and allows for the opening up of a number of businesses, with the exact date those changes will come into play still to be announced.

The headline grabbers are sit-down restaurants, hairdressers, tattoo studios, nail parlours, make-up technicians, body massage services and a few others, which will be allowed to reopen with certain restrictions in place.

Sadly for those whose cigarette supply has long since been demolished, there was no announcement regarding the tobacco sales ban, and also nothing about reinstating the alcohol sales ban.

In his first take on Ramaphosa’s address, News24’s editor-in-chief, Adriaan Basson, says that “lockdown all but over”, with government now shifting to individual responsibility.

Here’s some of that article:

…Ramaphosa has all but admitted the government’s lockdown strategy can no longer curb the spread of Covid-19…

The president has admitted sections of the economy, which have been shut down to prevent a rapid spread of the coronavirus, cannot be closed forever. So, as the country prepares for its peak in coronavirus infections, Ramaphosa was forced to allow more freedoms…

This is a significant change in strategy for Ramaphosa’s government. The president was at pains to explain only individual behaviour could now prevent the rapid transmission of the virus. Washing hands, wearing cloth masks and social distancing remain the most effective weapons in our armour.

I’m sure you need no reminding that both our confirmed infection rate (80 412) and number of deaths (1 674) are rapidly rising, with 44 331 recoveries at present.

Despite this, our patience with social distancing rules appears to be wearing thin, after more than 80 days of a national lockdown.

Following his address, Ramaphosa was praised for taking a hardline approach to gender-based violence, with some truly sickening murders making headlines recently, but talk is cheap, and until perpetrators are routinely held accountable, that pandemic will continue.

With regards to the other pandemic, we are also inadequately prepared:

Ramaphosa maintains the healthcare system has been beefed up during the lockdown, although it is still unclear how many extra ICU beds and ventilators the health department procured since the end of March. Available numbers show we are still woefully underprepared for a national surge in cases.

The Western Cape remains the hardest hit province by some margin, and healthcare workers speak of bodies piling up, exhaustion, and staff shortages.

If you take that into consideration, and you still want to flout social distancing rules and carry on with life as normal, that’s your prerogative.

One might say that the lockdown is “all but over”, but the responsibility now falls on individuals to police their own behaviour, and the enemy we have been fighting this whole time is still very much at the door.

[source:news24]