Fears and thoughts in South Africa

Interesting observation Bob - I have only 8 friends/relatives who live in England and they have ALL had Covid.

mikesack wrote: "Indian community" prevalence possibly due to pre-existing conditions like diabetes and cholesterol...also density of people in some areas...high infections in a place called Flamingo Heights in Tongaat...lots of people living in flats in that area...

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Ok but what happened to the fears that it will spread like wildfire through the informal settlements...….like the Khayaletshas Orange Farm, Alex,
Bottlebrush etc?

Not happened.

p.s. These citizens the majority
cannot be on Medical Aids and therefore can't get access to private hospitals I suppose.[/quote]

The reporting of infections and deaths, I believe, has been massaged to portray government competence in the handling of the virus...see @peterd's post about excess deaths...if the real, unfiltered truth were to be revealed, it would provoke much more anger and closer scrutiny of the 20+ years of theft that has brought about the actual situation rather than the perpetuated narrative...

Sorry guys did watch the news again 😢

The ANC are a disgrace and very difficult times ahead for all.

I better get my mind concentrated on racing and forget the news.

Dave Scott wrote: Sorry guys did watch the news again 😢

The ANC are a disgrace and very difficult times ahead for all.

I better get my mind concentrated on racing and forget the news.

Dave, I have not watched the news or listened to radio for more than a decade now. Keeps me sane, cheerful and blissfully unaware.

Sent from my Ferrari using Tapatalk

With 2021 finally here, these are some of my 2020 Thoughts & Observations

1. The dumbest thing I bought in 2020 was a planner.
2. 2019: Stay away from negative people. 2020: Stay away from positive people.
3. The world has turned upside down. Old folks are sneaking out of the house and their kids are yelling
at them to stay home!
4. This morning I saw a neighbour talking to her dog. It was obvious she thought her dog understood
her. I came into my house and told my cat. We laughed a lot.
5. Every few days try your jeans on just to make sure they fit. Pajamas will have you believe all is well in
the kingdom.
6. Does anyone know if we can take showers yet or should we just keep washing our hands?
7. This virus has done what no woman has been able to do. Cancel sports, shut down all bars and keep
men at home!
8. I never thought the comment, “I wouldn’t touch him/her with a 6-foot pole” would become a national
policy, but here we are!
9. I need to practice social-distancing from the refrigerator.
10. I hope the weather is good tomorrow for my trip to the backyard. I’m getting tired of the living room.
11. Never in a million years could I have imagined I would go up to a bank teller wearing a mask and ask
for money.
12. Not sure if by body absorbed all the hand sanitizer but I have noticed that the toilet seems like it
cleans itself after I pee.

Excess deaths report for week ended 23rd January show clear signs of the peak having been reached mid January. The second wave has been much steeper and much higher than the first wave, it will be interesting to see if it abates quicker as well. Good news in WC where excess deaths down from a peak of 1500 per week to 1000. However, this is still twice the first wave peak level. EC also clearly on the way down. KZN is the big problem - still at 4000 of which only 1000 are in the official figures. The officialreporting everywhere except WC is abysmal - clearly there is way too little testing happening. Total cumulative excess deaths have now topped 125k vs the official COVID number of 42k.
Mortality rates peaked at 180% of normal in the first wave, and at 300% in the second wave, and this latest week were at 200%.

Given the lack of widespread testing in SA, an interesting question is -How many in SA have actually had the disease? There have been 1.4m official cases of COVID, with reported deaths of 42k. That implies a mortality rate of 3%. UK figures ( with an older population) estimate average COVID mortality of 1%- 1.5%. Given the steep rise in mortality rates from this disease with age, and our young population ( half are under 21), I would be very surprised if our average mortality rate from COVID is above 1%.
If our mortality rate is actually 1%, and we have had 125k actual deaths, then that implies that about 12m people, or 20% of our population have already had COVID, mostly untested and many with minimal symptoms.
Unfortunately, we are now seeing people who are contracting the disease for the second time- it appears from world data that the immunity effect is 4-8 months for those who have had it.

Thank you again Peter.

I can only talk about my own situation and you are correct in asking "how many people have actually had it"?

I really had no reason to have a test and it only caused me mental stress and no physical symptoms, there must be many in the same situation.

How many are going to pay R850 if they only have a slight cold etc. ( in fact have you heard of anyone with normal flu at this time of year).?

Anyway did not watch the news but did watch an excellent stand up show from Ricky Gervais. , subject Humanity? Along these lines...

I am sure you will be aware he has a unique sense of humour and does not hold punches.

Its really worth a watch, not for sensitive viewers but personally thought it was superb the way he handles difficult subjects in a very clever way 👍

Ps

RICKY GERVAIS
HUMANITY

NETFLIX

What makes NO SENSE, is why are the UK, USA and the rest of the world so scared of the South African variant and are taking extreme measures to keep it out, yet firstly SA don’t seem to worried or stressed and life seems fairly normal in SA compared to the UK for example who are in a severe lockdown and secondly the cases and deaths are way higher in the UK for example in comparison to SA, so I’m stunned why are they so scared of SA?

As with most things related to Covid, this makes absolutely no sense... maybe some experts can share more?

Zondo's Commision from my perception have been doing a very good job in discovering and informing us and the Legal authorities on what they find.
The further it goes and the wider the information learned it becomes incredible to comprehend let alone accept what has been going on.Particularly over the last 12 years.
I have worked with German companies and their staff and the ordinary guy and his family were genuinely unaware what the Nazi government was up to during WW2.
It seems we could be in a similar situation with what is being revealed now to the commision.
I note that the cost of this commision does not come cheap and a lot of bellyaching from the Government benches but the cost pales in comparison to SAA who can be chucked a few Billion as and when asked for.