Keep calm and carry on fighting COVID-19

Too many in our community are contracting COVID-19, and too many are dying from it. What’s too many, you might ask? One person is too many, and the numbers are so much higher than that (see Dr Daniel Israel’s story on this page). What’s worse is that they keep growing.

At this point, I don’t know anyone who hasn’t got someone they care about who is sick with this dreaded coronavirus. This week, my best friend contracted it. Now, you don’t get closer to home. She is my confidante and is super-precious to me. She was as careful as most of us and has no idea how she got it. That’s so often the case – how do you tell where you contracted it unless you attended an event that became a super-spreader or you found out that someone you spent time with had contracted the virus before you?

For the most part, we’re all running blind. We’re also all so tired of this seemingly endless pandemic that keeps resurging just when you think it’s about to die down. And we all – I believe this to include every one of us, young, old, male, and female – just want to get on with our lives. We all want some kind of normality again, whatever that’s going to look like.

But we can’t escape this clever coronavirus unless we are meticulous in observing all the protocols. Trust me, I know how hard they are to maintain. We have to do it, no matter how sick and tired we are of sanitising, wearing masks and, hardest of all, keeping our distance from people.

I don’t know about you, but I love hugging people I care about. Not being able to connect with people is unnatural for human beings.

Nevertheless, we have to persevere and live our lives like this until this pandemic subsides or until we are all vaccinated.

Many in our community are vaccinated, and so many more wish they could be. A while back, we ran a story about people jumping the queue for vaccines. Some people commended us for this piece because they felt it wasn’t morally acceptable to jump a queue if there is one. Others were angry with us because apparently, we made people feel bad for legitimately wanting to be vaccinated, thereby stopping those who would have had an opportunity by now. As I understand it, many vaccines have been thrown away because there weren’t enough arms to put them in.

In hindsight, seeing the devastation caused by the third wave that is upon us here in Johannesburg, I apologise for dissuading anyone who honestly went about getting their vaccine as soon as possible. I am now of the belief that the more people who are vaccinated, the sooner we move from this pandemic.

I don’t subscribe to people lying their way to a vaccine, but I certainly believe that whoever you are, every person vaccinated takes us one step closer to what used to be called herd immunity. It’s also one step closer to freedom from this prison the pandemic has created for us. And it’s a tad closer to ending the madness and sadness that COVID-19 leaves in its wake.

In our newspaper last week, we had a page one story about a phenomenal woman who passed away. In truth, we put the story about the late Zoe Cohen on our front page because her daughter is married to the son of the United States president. And, in spite of criticism of our choice to use it on the front page, I’m so glad we did. Here’s why. Cohen was a true unsung hero. She wasn’t just involved in adoptions, she was responsible for hundreds and maybe more of Jewish children finding beautiful families. She was renown in the country as being one of the top in her field, and because of the selfless work she did, she was buried in the section of honour at West Park Cemetery.

After her death, the Chev was inundated with letters and tributes from children and families she had helped.

So, why didn’t we know about her, and why didn’t we honour her before she died in the Absa Jewish Achiever Awards or something like that? Well, it’s simple, says Saul Tomson of the Chev, “That’s the thing about heroes, you don’t how special they are unless you know.” He went on to tell me, “Even her husband came to me after her funeral and said he really never understood the scale of her impact until now. She didn’t shout it out, she kept a low profile, but there was none like her.”

Life works in mysterious ways. Whatever the reason we chose to put her story on our front page, it was important that she got the kavod she got because of what she did for others.

Our community has come under a lot of fire recently, what with the pandemic and issues around Israel, creating a lot of anger. I have felt it sitting in this seat. People who normally wouldn’t be critical of what we do are hypercritical. And not just about our newspaper, but as a general rule. People are hurting and angry because of what’s happening, and need a place to direct it. I understand that.

And I appreciate that on this newspaper, we can make mistakes, but we give our absolute best to keep you informed.

We make choices that in hindsight may not be the same choices you would make, but we make them and so we carry responsibility for them. Suffice to say, we make the decisions with our readers’ best interests at heart, and we don’t make them lightly.

Last year this time, our newspaper was practically filled with stories about COVID-19 and lockdown. It was like that for a substantial amount of time. Why aren’t we doing the same now, you might ask, especially in light of the impact on our community? It’s simple, I believe we have COVID-19 fatigue and no desire to read a newspaper full of COVID-19-related stories, so we keep it to a minimum. Also, there are other issues that are having a significant impact on our community, and we need to focus on them as well.

However, having said that, I implore you to take every precaution you can to avoid contracting this potential killer coronavirus. There has been too much death and destruction in its wake. Let’s avoid parties, gatherings, and places where we might be at risk. Let’s stay home if we can. Please, let’s do whatever we can to avoid this virus and save lives.

Shabbat Shalom!