Monica Mahlangu of Khutsong, Ext 1, is a worried mother of two – a girl (15) and a boy (25) – because she feels parents cannot know whether their children are at risk of being badly affected by COVID-19. Speaking on this, Mahlangu told Karibu! that she does not “want to make assumptions about children until we know more.”
“They are not safe,” Mahlangu said. “Let’s help our children put some distance between them and stop the threat by giving information about how coronavirus is spread and what we can do to help minimise the risk, such as using loads of lovely bubbles when washing our hands”. She repeated that physical distancing should be adhered to when we are in our homes, as well as outside homes.
Mahlangu also warned that there are people making decisions for them [the community] and who think they have all the information they need. “People should be aware that they do not know all of the answers”. She further said she felt the public is not taking the threat of COVID-19 seriously enough, and that local government is “not doing much, either”.
“When COVID-19 first broke out in China, it was hard to imagine what would follow. All of us do not know how long this will last and this is obviously scary for everyone”. “But,” according to Mahlangu, “let’s be in no doubt that… if we comply with the measures that we’ve embarked on together, then… we will begin to start to push these numbers down.”
This article was submitted on 2 April 2020. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
