15 April 2020
Wednesday · Day 20 of lockdown
The South African government declined the request for a further R10 billion to support an ailing South African Airways. New York City announced that its coronavirus death toll had increased to more than 10 000. The UN started sending ‘Solidarity Flights’ with aid to countries that urgently needed medical equipment. The first flight landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) witnessed a new outbreak of the Ebola virus, with three new cases reported.
I have recently been seeing hundreds of posts on Facebook about how the matric class of 2020 have been affected by the virus. There is a strong possibility that matric pupils won’t be able to resume their classes or attend their matric dance, an event I know every grade 12 pupil looks forward to. […] I am so thankful that I have already matriculated and gotten accepted to the university of my choice, and that I do not have to stress about university applications now. These were already so stressful, even prior to the pandemic.
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Today, I shaved my head because I felt like it. It was a fairly impulsive decision, but so far, I have no regrets. I had a huge afro and now it’s all gone. Well, technically I still have an afro; it’s just in a bag until I can figure out how to incorporate it into an artwork or something.
There has been a surge in confirmed coronavirus cases in prisons around the country, particularly in the Eastern Cape. The government’s response is to increase testing, distribute protective equipment to officials and continue contact tracing. The situation in prisons is tricky because a lack of protective gear and because of overcrowding.
The US and some Middle Eastern countries have taken a less conventional approach. America has released hundreds of elderlies and terminally ill inmates, and Iran has released over 100 000 misdemeanor offenders. It’s true that the spread of the virus in densely packed and unhygienic prisons would be catastrophic, and even prisoners should be able to take responsibility for their health. Maybe extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary action, but at what social cost? I don’t know what the best solution to this problem is, but I think the South African government is acting in its citizens’ best interest.
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My parents put a piece of paper on the kitchen table today and told us all to add whatever groceries we think we need. I wrote a whole bunch of things, but I also tried my luck and added ‘Easter eggs’. IT WORKED. My sisters and I each got a Lindt bunny.
Even though lockdown does have this overarching gloom-and-doom feel, one of the things that I’ve really enjoyed about it is that I’ve really started to appreciate the smaller things again. I’m not referring to the things that I would be doing if it weren’t lockdown, but rather to the things that I am able to do because of lockdown (e.g. finally having the time to read some books that I bought two years ago but had yet to open, as well as catching up with good friends that I haven’t spoken to in a while).
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Today I woke up at 5:00 am, shared a coffee with my brother and my dad, and then accompanied my dad to work. My father’s work is centred around fresh produce, which has been deemed an essential service. We arrived at the fresh produce market before 6:00 am and performed various tasks. I was shocked at the volume of both food and people. Precautionary measures have been put in place – including temperature testing, hand sanitising and social distancing. However, much of the fresh produce was not enclosed or wrapped and was still susceptible to viral contact.
[…] My findings highlighted one main thing for me: the food we eat passes through so many hands and facilities before it lands on our plates. This process translates to nearly all industries. If we are going to go through the effort of lockdowns and quarantines, surely we should be paying more attention to the sanitisation of the products we consume and bring into our homes.
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I woke up to quite a lot of commotion. I went downstairs to find my parents busy putting up drapes for my sister’s birthday. She’s turning 21 tomorrow, and since we’re in lockdown, a party is not an option. So my mom thought she’d go to some trouble to make the dining room look fancier. My eldest sister and I have been making these origami birds to hang them above the dinner table. We’re also planning on putting up fairy lights.
Of course, my sister isn’t even disappointed about having her birthday during lockdown. She’s the introvert in the family so she prefers being alone. This will probably be her favourite birthday yet.
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As of yesterday, I have changed my entire perspective. I have decided to focus on the positive rather than the negative. The number of recoveries has stayed constant and the number of confirmed cases and deaths has grown, but I am still in control of how I take in this information and what I do with it.
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Corona has officially infected and killed someone I know. This gives me an eerie feeling of what is to come. My mother, ouma [grandmother] and gran are starting to run out of cigarettes and alcohol. My ouma and gran are the ones who need the alcohol. Both live on their own and my Ouma’s DStv has lost the bounce from its bungee and is not working. She stays in a home where access is not granted at the moment, and so none of us can enter and help her out. This is not good. I’m worried and would love for her to come and stay here. The only problem with that would be that she wouldn’t be able to go back to her home once she has left.
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I was very unproductive today. I could barely do an hour of work before getting distracted. I haven’t been able to fill my Ritalin prescription yet. I also was not really in the mood for exercise so I took the day off. I did watch an address by Professor Salim Abdool Karim who leads the Coronavirus Ministerial Advisory Committee, though. According to Professor Karim, if the average daily increase in the number of cases is greater than 90 from 10 April to 16 April 2020, we will continue with the lockdown. So far, this seems likely as a result of previous daily increases. What was also interesting to hear is that he said the virus comes in three waves; the first is the introductory wave from international travellers, the second wave is the people who those travellers have been in contact with, and the third wave is general community transmission. We have completed the first two waves and are currently in the third and most dangerous wave.
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While the rest of the world is trying to work together to overcome this pandemic, in an act of destructive nationalism, President Donald Trump has decided to cut funding to the World Health Organisation. This could mean that vulnerable countries in the global South will not be able get the medical supplies and help they need to fight the disease.
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As mentioned previously, my brother has begun his primary-school learning at home. While it will be my parents’ job from next week, it was my duty this week to help him with his work.
I have learned a lot this week, and I sure hope he has too. While his learning came in the form of grade 5 work, my learning was more abstract. It taught me how to be patient, self-controlled and how to reason. It taught me how to teach and interact, and my word, I had fun doing it!
You see I have always known deep down in my gut that teaching is my passion. The reason, however, that I am studying a BCom is because I have always wanted to be financially aware. And now, courtesy of the coronavirus and me having to teach my brother, I know exactly what it is that I want in life.
I am now deadset on doing my PGCE [Postgraduate Certificate in Education] at UCT after my BCom degree in order to teach senior phase (high school) in Accounting and Economics, and perhaps after a few years I could branch into the teaching of History, Mathematics and English. As a hobby, I am hoping to go into Forex and to create an account providing trade signals.
It turns out there is a silver lining, even amongst these dark clouds.
Cheers Covid-19.