CORONAVIRUS: THE LOCKDOWN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

On the 23rd of March 2021, South Africa went into hard lockdown where jobs were lost, loved ones were lost and livelihoods were changed and things have not been better since then. This is because the lockdown was poorly conceived and declared without preparation here in South Africa. In trying to limit the spread of COVID-19 and save lives, policymakers globally have the difficult task of balancing the positive health effects of lockdown against their economic costs.

The lockdown had two components. Firstly, people were restricted their movement outside their homes and engaged in physical distancing. This led to a lot of people being isolated or living in isolation, especially those who at the time the lockdown was implemented were far from their families. Secondly, the government shuttered operations of non-essential industries to prevent the spread of the disease at the workplace and at gatherings. This led to many people in the non-essentials industries losing business, thus losing money, employees losing their jobs and families losing breadwinners. The loss of a job caused stress on the breadwinners because they could no longer provide for their families. In some families, this exacerbated the risk of Gender Based Violence. This means that during this time, the country experienced high rates of GBV. This is because many victims of domestic violence were trapped with their abusive partners. Children were forced to study online from home but, the less privileged were left out. Vulnerable populations such as low income earners in informal and precarious employment have been the most affected by job losses and the resulting income loss. The loss of jobs and income resulted in reduced ability to access healthcare and a nutritious diet. This in turn, negatively impacted on people's health. Many people have not recovered from the effects of the lockdown. Those from the low income class who were already struggling became even more poorer when they lost their jobs. 

The governing body of the country and all those who were involved in the decision to implement the lockdown did not think their decision through. We cannot dispute that the lockdown was implemented so as to save lives, but in so doing many other lives were changed for the worst and they were changed for good. As hard as it is to get a job in this country, people lost jobs and have not found jobs again. Poverty is the new norm that people have to get used to now