Lockdown. Who would have thought? In some ways it still feels like science fiction.
In other ways it is astonishing how quickly we are adapting to staying at home to “flatten the curve” of the new coronavirus. For instance, I have just come in from a new way of “having lunch” with neighbours here in Kalk Bay. At 1pm we move onto balconies and back gardens with our salads or saamies, and have lunch “together” by chatting rather loudly across the distance. We share news and views, good and bad. Today I heard from one that she had just got a call to say she had been retrenched. It is tough out there, and will get tougher. A friend who runs a gift shop got her last salary this morning, while her tour-guide husband has not had work for weeks. “We are all about to find out what we are made of,” she said. As I drove out of Knysna the day before Lockdown, the queues outside the banks were so long it looked like voting day in 1994. Along the N2 people with luggage at their feet held up R20 notes, desperately trying to get home before the Lockdown. Here is a question: What do you feel about wearing a facemask? By now we all know that social distancing and frequent hand washing are essential to help slow the spread of the virus, but the messages about facemasks are conflicting. The World Health Organisation says you need wear a mask only if you are coughing, have a fever or difficulty breathing, all symptoms of COVID-19, or if you are looking after someone who is sick. However, I saw a very convincing video this week where data scientist Jeremy Howard from the University of San Francisco says the opposite: wear a facemask whenever you go outside. Check it out: https://youtu.be/BoDwXwZXsDI Howard says although there is no proof at this stage from controlled trials on the beneficial effect of wearing facemasks because the coronavirus is too new, he has nevertheless found that “the evidence is so incredibly strong that this is a good idea. The cost is so low, the upside is so huge in terms of lives saved …it seems like madness to me not to do this.” Also check out Masks4All.org or #Masks4All about how the Czech Republic slowed down the spread of the coronavirus. Like other countries they did social distancing, staying at home and hand washing. But here is the thing: the government ruled that wearing facemasks outside your home was compulsory. Because masks were in short supply worldwide, people in the Czech Republic starting making their own. In three days they had made 10 million masks and were giving them away free. The country claims this was one of the reasons why they managed to slow the spread of the virus. Watch the videos and see what you think. Made me into a born-again face masker and I am hand-sewing my own from an old T-shirt. What have we got to lose if they don’t work? And if they do, well, hallelujah!
