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| Click to enlarge and read. |
As I read it, I thought, “Oh, no, a conspiracy theory…”
Then I got to image of the valve stem – and laughed.
Phew, thank the gods! It’s a joke!
I Whatsapp’ed it to friends (South African).
So far, all have thought it serious!
I might have to text a disclaimer!
Dark humor. Another (American) friend enduring stay-at-home in New Mexico and commiserating with our Lockdown, texted, “Things are the same here: comfortable and voluntary house arrest. It’s like prison but without the sex.”
There are more than 200,000 minibus taxis South Africa, with full capacity at 15 seats (although more passengers are frequently carried). More than 15-million commuters use mini-bus taxis each day.
The growing industry is worth about R50 billion a year, with 69 percent of South African households using them. (More facts about this industry.)
Even as numbers of confirmed cases surge between 5,000 and 6,000 per day in South Africa...
Throwing tests away is one way to handle the lack of capacity to read them in a timely manner.
Hmmm, how long will it take America’s failing political leadership to figure out this tactic in response to their testing controversies?
I’m experiencing mood swings similar to those reported by my American friends.
One moment, we feel vindicated that our projections were correct: the pandemic is out of control and no one of substance is in charge, at least in the US.
The next moment, we’re plunged into depths of despair: our projections were correct, the pandemic is out of control, and no one of substance is in charge.
South Africa at least tried to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 and the surging pandemic. Ramaphosa shut things down quickly, and tried – despite monumental challenges – to respond effectively.
The United States did – continues to do – few of those responses.
Trump poo-poo’d Covid-19 as “the flu” that would disappear “like a miracle.”
Remember the emergence of HIV/AIDS in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1980s?
One day a colleague would fail to come to work, next day, he was reported sick, and soon after, dead.
That epidemic was associated with a specific group of people and those outside that group were relegated the role of helper or observer.
Observing allows distancing.
Covid-19 is an equal-opporrunity pandemic that disallows observation.
We humans are amid a horrific time. Few of us know how to grapple with – and hold – the horror.
Yet , grapple we must ….
Gardening is my solace.
I hear seeds calling….
Then I got to image of the valve stem – and laughed.
Phew, thank the gods! It’s a joke!
I Whatsapp’ed it to friends (South African).
So far, all have thought it serious!
I might have to text a disclaimer!
Dark humor. Another (American) friend enduring stay-at-home in New Mexico and commiserating with our Lockdown, texted, “Things are the same here: comfortable and voluntary house arrest. It’s like prison but without the sex.”
***
 |
| Typical 15-seat mini-bus taxi. Click to enlarge. |
The growing industry is worth about R50 billion a year, with 69 percent of South African households using them. (More facts about this industry.)
Even as numbers of confirmed cases surge between 5,000 and 6,000 per day in South Africa...
“Santaco - National Taxi Council in KwaZulu says government's R1-billion relief fund is not enough.With commuters jammed into taxis again, how long before numbers of confirmed cases surge above 6,000 per day?
The association says it has now resolved to load taxis to full capacity and it will hike fares [as of] Monday.
Santaco’s resolution goes against government’s COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines that stipulate that minibus taxis must load at 70-percent capacity during level three of the lockdown.
Government says there is simply no money to offer anything more.
***
Testing, testing…Hundreds of COVID-19 test kits have been found dumped next to the N2 highway near… East London [Eastern Cape].As of today, South Africa has conducted 1,596,995 tests. How many have been read in a timely fashion?
The used kits were discovered by a jogger late on Tuesday last week.
The tests were on their way from surrounding hospitals to a laboratory in Port Elizabeth.
It's not clear how or why they were disposed of.
The National Health Laboratory Service has now collected the remaining tests.
The jogger told eNCA that he normally sees the tests when he watches the news. "When I saw them I knew immediately that these were the sticks they use to test people for COVID-19. I didn't touch them.
"I shoved them away with my running shoes. I could open them up using my foot, and I saw that these were COVID-19 tests."
Western Cape healthcare workers have reported waiting up to 10 days for COVID-19 test results — and sources in Gauteng say they’re not alone. Delays in results leave many fearing that patients with the new coronavirus virus, who should otherwise be self-quarantining, could unwittingly be exposing others to the virus.Turns out, testing is the easy part.
“The delay is not only being experienced in the Western Cape… and indeed other provinces — ramp up testing, [the National Health Laboratory Services] are finding it challenging to keep up and process these tests, resulting in a nationwide backlog in the results.”
According to the provincial health department… it is currently testing about 1600 people daily for the virus.
Throwing tests away is one way to handle the lack of capacity to read them in a timely manner.
Hmmm, how long will it take America’s failing political leadership to figure out this tactic in response to their testing controversies?
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Months of stay-at-home/Lockdown prey on the mind and emotions – not to mention the body.I’m experiencing mood swings similar to those reported by my American friends.
One moment, we feel vindicated that our projections were correct: the pandemic is out of control and no one of substance is in charge, at least in the US.
The next moment, we’re plunged into depths of despair: our projections were correct, the pandemic is out of control, and no one of substance is in charge.
South Africa at least tried to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 and the surging pandemic. Ramaphosa shut things down quickly, and tried – despite monumental challenges – to respond effectively.
The United States did – continues to do – few of those responses.
Trump poo-poo’d Covid-19 as “the flu” that would disappear “like a miracle.”
Remember the emergence of HIV/AIDS in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1980s?
One day a colleague would fail to come to work, next day, he was reported sick, and soon after, dead.
That epidemic was associated with a specific group of people and those outside that group were relegated the role of helper or observer.
Observing allows distancing.
Covid-19 is an equal-opporrunity pandemic that disallows observation.
We humans are amid a horrific time. Few of us know how to grapple with – and hold – the horror.
Yet , grapple we must ….
Gardening is my solace.
I hear seeds calling….
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