So Covid-19…South Africa has been in lockdown since March 2020 – and we are currently in our 3rd wave-exposed to a new variant called Delta. So, before we actually get into the effects of Covid-19 and the politics of everything – let’s understand exactly what Covid is and how it started.
According to WebMD, “A coronavirus is a kind of common virus that causes an infection in your nose, sinuses, or upper throat. Most coronaviruses aren't dangerous. In early 2020, after a December 2019 outbreak in China, the World Health Organization identified SARS-CoV-2 as a new type of Coronavirus. The outbreak quickly spread around the world. COVID-19 is a disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 that can trigger what doctors call a respiratory tract infection. It can affect your upper respiratory tract (sinuses, nose, and throat) or lower respiratory tract (windpipe and lungs). It spreads the same way other Coronaviruses do, mainly through person-to-person contact. Infections range from mild to deadly. SARS-CoV-2 is one of seven types of Coronaviruses, including the ones that cause severe diseases like the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and sudden acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The other coronaviruses cause most of the colds that affect us during the year but aren’t a serious threat for otherwise healthy people.”
Symptoms include:
Fever
Dry cough
Fatigue
Other symptoms that are less common and may affect some patients include:
Loss of taste or smell,
Nasal congestion,
Conjunctivitis (also known as red eyes)
Sore throat,
Headache,
Muscle or joint pain,
Different types of skin rash,
Nausea or vomiting,
Diarrhoea,
Chills or dizziness.
Severe Symptoms include:
Shortness of breath,
Loss of appetite,
Confusion,
Persistent pain or pressure in the chest,
High temperature (above 38 °C).
Other less common symptoms are:
Irritability,
Confusion,
Reduced consciousness (sometimes associated with seizures),
Anxiety,
Depression,
Sleep disorders,
More severe and rare neurological complications such as strokes, brain inflammation, delirium and nerve damage.
Patients of all ages who experience fever and/or cough with difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, chest pain or pressure, or loss of speech or movement should seek medical attention immediately. Contact your health care provider, hotline or health facility first, so you can be directed to the right clinic.
(Information directly referenced from The World Health Organization)
Covid-19 knows no gender, race, religion, orientation or cultural background. It is estimated that 184 million people have been infected and 3,99 million people have died worldwide. Covid-19 is a human battle and now more than ever, instead of using this as justification to attack and single out cultural or colour groups – we should be uniting together from a distance and practise safe living for ourselves and for those around us.
The outbreak began in Wuhan, a city in the province of Hubei in China. Reports of the first COVID-19 cases started in December 2019. No one could have ever imagined what was about to happen. Coronaviruses are common in specific species of animals, such as cattle. Although the transmission of coronaviruses from animals to humans is rare. However, this specific new strain is believed to have come from bats or pangolins. However, it still remains unclear how the virus first spread to humans.
Early cases are believed to have been traced to a seafood and animal market in Wuhan. SARS-CoV-2 may have spread to humans from here.
This unfortunate hypothesis has lead to extreme violence and brutality towards Asian communities and people. Headlines such as:
‘An elderly Thai immigrant dies after being shoved to the ground.’
‘A Filipino-American is slashed in the face with a box cutter.’
‘A Chinese woman is slapped and then set on fire.’
‘Eight people are killed in a shooting rampage across three Asian spas in one night.’
These headlines have become all too familiar and are on a surge since the start of the pandemic a year ago.
Numerous incidents of harassment and physical assault have been reported in recent months, ranging from being spat on and verbally harassed to being spat on. Advocacy groups say these are hate crimes that are frequently linked to rhetoric that blames Asians for the spread of Covid-19.
In certain cases, government leaders and senior officials have directly or indirectly encouraged hate crimes, racism, or xenophobia by using anti-Chinese rhetoric. In the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Greece, France, and Germany - certain parties have also used the Covid-19 crisis for their racist, xenophobic demonization of foreigners, refugees, political leaders, and white supremacist conspiracy theories.
And South Africa is not excluded from this. According to an article from Human Rights Watch - South Africa has been reported for discrimination and violent behaviour against Asians or people of Asian descent.
If you are interested, you are welcome to check out this article that references all the hate crimes that have resulted against Asian individuals where Covid-19 has been used as a justification.
While Covid-19 is a serious disease - it appears that it comes with a deadly ally that has been rearing its ugly head for centuries and yet again - it makes itself known and we humans are responsible. We are our own biggest enemy and we have created the most terrifying disease of all and it’s called discrimination.
The spike in xenophobia comes as a result of people being more aware of the effect that travel has had on the spread of the virus. Terms such as “the Chinese virus” and “South African variant” (or any other country that developed a variant) have been destructive in shaping peoples views of each other. This has affected the Asian community internationally as people have had the term “Chinese Virus” repeated to them incessantly. There are other factors at play of course, such as rampant conspiracies that question the origins of the virus.
In South Africa, a large portion of the black community has been affected with many people being wary of those who travel via public transport. This is especially ironic and unfair considering how common it is to see people with more privilege hosting parties and going to bars and clubs.
Terms such as “The South African variant”, “the Indian variant” and “the Chinese Virus” have thankfully, largely been disregarded by professionals and the terminology has changed to better suit our interests of getting along as a global community who are all fighting the same battle. Referring to variants by codes such as Alpha, Beta, Charlie, etc. help tremendously in removing specific ethnicities from the deadly and foreign variants. Therefore discouraging discrimination and treating the virus as what it is - a virus.
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