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There isn’t a country in the world that hasn’t faced criticism for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some have been accused of being too lax, and you only need to look at the utter devastation in Brazil to know what happens with that approach.

Even New Zealand, which led the way in terms of taking a proactive stance, has come under fire for its hardline approach, and there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach.

South Africa locked down hard and locked down early, which bought us time to prepare our healthcare sector (whether that was wisely used is a story for another day), and today is day 392 of living under some form of lockdown.

If we focus on the last six months, as BusinessTech have, and look at a list of recommendations given to the Department of Health by the country’s top scientific and medical officials, a few discrepancies stand out.

President Cyril Ramaphosa and other officials have spoken about their decisions being guided by the COVID-19 ministerial advisory committee (MAC), but there are occasions where the government ignored that advice.

Firstly, there was the alcohol ban put in place toward the end of 2020, as a second wave swept the country:

While the increase in cases was recognised by the MAC at the time, it recommended that the country be moved to a level 2 lockdown and that the existing curfew should be maintained at 23h00 to 04h00 so that business could stay open for longer.

It recommended that indoor social, cultural and religious gatherings be limited to 50 persons, including reducing indoor dining or drinking in restaurants, bars, nightclubs and shebeens to a maximum of 50 persons or 50% of capacity.

No mention was made of a total alcohol sales ban, yet on December 28, Ramaphosa announced exactly that, along with prohibiting indoor and outdoor gatherings.

Over the same period, there were concerns about schools reopening in January, and the MAC recommended that schools with younger learners should open on January 27, as was planned.

The MAC did advise that high schools should open two weeks later than planned, but our leaders took the decision to keep all schools closed until February 15.

Finally, as Easter approached, and South Africans planned to travel across the country, the MAC recommended that we move to alert level 2, with limits placed on religious and other gatherings, and alcohol sales allowed only from Monday to Thursday, between 10AM and 6PM.

However, Ramaphosa’s ‘family meeting’ on March 30 saw the sale of alcohol for off-site consumption banned over the Easter weekend, with more lenient limits placed on gatherings than those advised by the MAC.

Let’s not forget the Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma saga, either, when she incorrectly stated that alcohol wasn’t allowed to be transported over Easter, only to backpedal and clarify hours later.

Given that almost 54 000 South Africans have been confirmed as succumbing to the virus (the real number could be triple that), and healthcare workers have shared tales of immeasurable grief and pain, one can understand taking a stricter approach to curbing the spread of the virus.

Ignoring the advice of the council appointed to inform your decision-making, though, seems like it might need some explaining to the general public.

[source:businesstech]