Collective action required to roll back resurgence
During his address to the nation last night, President Cyril Ramaphosa did not announce any new restrictions on the Western Cape, which remains under Alert Level 1.
We welcome this decision and the trust that he has placed in our government and our people to manage the resurgence we are seeing, particularly on the Garden Route.
We especially welcome that both the President and Minister listened to our input and advice during consultations this week. This commitment to consultation is precisely what is needed during this challenging time.
This decision to not impose additional restrictions allows us to protect our economy, and ensure that businesses are able to continue trading, tourism can continue and most importantly, that we save jobs.
However, as the President announced yesterday, we are not off the hook yet.
Currently, the National Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, is visiting the Garden Route and is meeting with our teams – led by our Provincial Minister Nomafrench Mbombo - to see the situation on the ground for himself and to relay his feedback to national structures.
The Western Cape will present our plans, as we have done in meetings to date, to manage the resurgence – in line with our three-pronged approach of continuing with our excellent health response, ensuring behaviour change in our communities and enforcing existing level 1 regulations effectively.
I have faith in our health response and in our continued ability to manage this resurgence, and I will be submitting a plan to the President, on his request on Monday.
We need the help of every person, business, civil society group and faith-based organisation to now deliver against this plan and ensure that we roll-back this resurgence.
Indeed, we need to show that we can get the situation control through our own actions. And this requires every one of us to change our behaviour and ensure that we do not get infected with Covid-19 or spread Covid-19.
Yesterday I launched our December Challenge, which requires all of us to play our part over the next 30 days, and I again reiterate my call for every citizen to join me in staying safe by:
- Wearing a mask so that it covers both your nose and mouth.
- Washing your hands thoroughly and regularly with soap and water or using hand sanitizers when out in public.
- Keeping a distance of 1.5 metres between yourself and any other person to reduce the risk of infection.
- Avoiding crowds and non-essential gatherings
- Ensuring you have good ventilation in any place that you go, by making sure the windows and doors are open.
- Keeping those essential gatherings spacious, and well ventilated.
- Always making smart, safe and responsible choices whenever you are out in public, so that you protect yourselves and others around you.
- Staying home if you feel sick and call our toll-free hotline on 080 928 4102 for information on what to do next.
I know we are all tired and we want this difficult year to be over. I do too. Let’s finish 2020 strong, and let’s show South Africa and the world that we can again flatten the curve in the Western Cape.
