Vital that you have your say on Covid measures

The government wants the public's input into how to handle Covid-19 epidemic and other diseases after the national state of disaster has been removed.

There are proposed new regulations that were gazetted on Tuesday that seek to introduce control measures for the pandemic and other  “notifiable diseases”.  

The public has until April 15 to comment or make representations to the department of health before the legislations are implemented.

So, dear reader, this is your chance to have a say in how we move forward as a country after the state of national disaster ends.

As citizens, we have a tendency of not participating when opportunities to comment or make representations on proposed legislation are availed to us but are later outraged by how unfair a regulation is when it is too late.

According to the suggested legislation, travellers visiting SA with vaccination certificates will not be required to produce a negative Covid-19 test on arrival. And locally, all plane passengers would be screened and if found to have a high temperature or any Covid-19 symptoms they will not be allowed on the aircraft.

Some of the proposed regulations show a government that wants to implement lessons it learnt in the past two years as it battled to contain the disease... like the suggestion that we might be restricted in visiting healthcare facilities and only be allowed to host gatherings that would be limited to 50% of the venue's capacity during pandemics.

As part of the proposal, the department is also contemplating a complete ban of night vigils and funeral after-parties.

The above may ruffle feathers, as one of the main complaints during the peak of the pandemic was not being able to mourn loved ones properly. For decades vigils have been part of mourning and celebrating the life of a loved one by many of our cultures.

If you expected a complete return to normalcy when the state of national disaster ends, that will not happen as long as Covid-19 is still with us.

However, this is your chance to make an input into the decision on what control measures should be followed. Let your voice be heard.