Is alcohol the real cause of covid 19 new infections?

Tshepo Mmusi

Klerksdorp, Jouberton Township

27 January 2021

After the state president Cyril Ramaphosa announced that selling of alcohol and consumption onsite was prohibited, many people were left distraught during the festive season. The argument behind the decision was that alcohol was seen as a contributing factor because taverns, night clubs, festivals and bashes were seen as super spreader events where revellers were said to be not abiding by the lockdown regulations of wearing of face masks and keeping social distancing.

Weeks after the announcement on banning of alcohol we still see new infection numbers sky rocketing. Now there seems to be a shift of factors to be blamed on. Funerals are now seems as a contributing factor to the pandemic, and others think that transportation of people by taxi’s are a problem as people are sitting next to one another and there is no social distancing.

With the virus having taken a new shape in the second wave, that leaves a lot of questions to be answered. What are we exactly facing as a nation? Many South Africans have been compliant to the Covid 19 regulations, and why are so many people succumbing to the virus this time around? Are we being experimented with by World Health Organisation? Why is virus attacking us different from what affects others globally different?

Meanwhile, the country has no clear and definite plan on which vaccines to purchase to treat the kind of virus is killing our masses and a worrying factor is that the government is not prepared logistically to roll out vaccine as it says to the people.