That Covid-19 is now hard upon us is no longer in question.
The spike in confirmed cases in the past few weeks of this winter season is telling and has made all of us rethink and require restrategising. That also is not in question.
Some workers in our shops, supermarkets, our clinics, hospitals and little everywhere else we frequent for life-saving services have been hit by the virus and these places could prove to be the sources of our next local transmissions.
Several service providers and businesses have temporarily suspended operations to allow co-workers of infected staff to be tested while premises are being disinfected in line with Ministry of Health and Child Care guidelines.
The number of businesses and service providers — including OK Fife Avenue, OK Norton, OK Mbuya Nehanda, Pick n Pay Kamfinsa, The Avenues Clinic, National Social Security Authority (NSSA) and Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, among others — closed some units after some of their employees tested positive to Covid-19.
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Of course, the decision was taken to ensure the rest of the staff and members of the public remained safe.
And, yet, health experts have warned that we are not yet done, more might be coming our way, unless we do things differently. The big question we should all ask is: How different?
While the Government has done its part and continues to improve on its input in the fight to contain the spread of the virus through various interventions, among them lockdowns and restriction of movements, opening of selected businesses critical to the life of the nation, the ball remains, largely in our court as individual citizens.
The situation has reached another level and indeed, the fight against Covid-19 now needs our personal, individual and communal commitment as citizens of Zimbabwe.
Suffice to say, everyone has a critical role to play if we are to thwart the further spreading of the virus.
As individuals and communities we have a multifarious array of habits that have held us together over the years, but it is now time for a new normal; a normal that requires us to abandon some of the norms, values and beliefs that have held us together since time immemorial.
With our infection figures dashing to over 3 000 and the death toll hitting 53 by Thursday night, we have every reason to abandon many of our habits that promote the spreading of the disease.
Our shopping habits are a major factor going forward.
With critical shops not being spared from the spike in confirmed Covid-19 cases, shoppers must act responsibly to protect themselves and others.
We must avoid crowding in shops and funds permitting, it is advisable for people to shop once in a while, for, the more you frequent crowded places the more you risk getting infected or infecting others.
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For some reason or the other our people seem to be in a hurry and always huddle; for one reason or the other; our people like buying one small thing at a time and go into a shop three or five times a day.
For some strange reason, our people think masks are meant to avoid arrest by the police and yet they are meant to protect the next person from you, and thus you need to insist the next people to you is masked to protect yourself.
There some things we must do right as responsible citizens. Our personal hygiene matters in all this.
We don’t need police to enforce that we sanitise as we enter any premises and wash hands frequently.
If we were responsible enough we do not need police to enforce the wearing of masks.
We do not need police to ensure that we have our temperature checked upon entering any premises.
We surely do not need to escape from quarantine centres.
We surely do not need to avoid quarantine centres if we arrive from other countries.
Our good attitude and behaviour are a worthy investment to the good of our country and the well-being of all and sundry.
Our attitude must change.
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Our thinking must change. Wherever we are as individuals, we must take responsibility for the well-being of our country.
It goes without saying that very Zimbabwean must take responsibility for the future of the country and must not act or indulge in anything that defeats the fight against the virus.
The time to act is now.
The time to sacrifice all we have for the fight against the spread of the virus is now.
We can only be people when we have lived through the virus pandemic and survived.
Our attitude, our hygiene and our behaviour must speak to the national goal; the goal to fight the virus until it is past us.
Together we can make it.
– HERALD
