This should not happen. why is it so

Our memory responses are lasting for at least six to nine months at the moment. The fourth issue conspiring against us being able to reach a herd immunity threshold any time soon is the inequitable distribution of vaccine across the world, the slow uptake and the sluggish rollout. Unfortunately, this provides fertile ground for ongoing evolution of the virus. No country is going to lock its borders perpetually. This means the entire global population needs to reach the same sort of threshold round about the same time.

This will require ensuring that we get the majority of individuals, especially adults, and particularly those at a higher risk of developing severe COVID and dying, vaccinated as quickly as possible. In my view this could be achieved in South Africa with 20 million people vaccinated — not the 40 million target set by the government.

If South Africa achieved this milestone, it could get back to a relatively normal lifestyle even with the virus continuing to circulate and causing the occasional outbreak. We are simply going to have to become comfortable with the idea that SARS-CoV-2 is going to be like one of the numerous other viruses that circulate that cause respiratory illness each day.

Usually mild infections, and less often a severe disease. However, in this case, it was easy to see from the outset that lockdowns would be unfeasible in much of South Africa, and in the region more generally. A hard lockdown was always wrong for Africa. Further, the contextual conditions of people living in Africa meant that lockdown strategies were unlikely to be very effective in curbing the spread of the virus, and the unintended health and non-health consequences of such interventions were likely to be more damaging than the virus itself.

We thus previously warned against implementing the kind of lockdown strategies that may be effective in the West, and to look for interventions more suited to the African context. It seems to us that South Africa succumbed to international pressure rather than considering what was best for its own particular circumstances. That is understandable, but it must not happen again.

The net number of South Africans in the workforce dropped by 5. GDP dropped by Businesses all over South Africa closed their doors for good, as lockdown restrictions made operations impossible, forcing them into bankruptcy. Indeed, some studies show that personality traits such as optimism and pessimism can affect many areas of your health and well-being.

The positive thinking that usually comes with optimism is a key part of effective stress management. And effective stress management is associated with many health benefits. If you tend to be pessimistic, don't despair — you can learn positive thinking skills. Positive thinking doesn't mean that you keep your head in the sand and ignore life's less pleasant situations. Positive thinking just means that you approach unpleasantness in a more positive and productive way. You think the best is going to happen, not the worst.

Positive thinking often starts with self-talk. Self-talk is the endless stream of unspoken thoughts that run through your head. These automatic thoughts can be positive or negative. Some of your self-talk comes from logic and reason. Other self-talk may arise from misconceptions that you create because of lack of information. If the thoughts that run through your head are mostly negative, your outlook on life is more likely pessimistic.

If your thoughts are mostly positive, you're likely an optimist — someone who practices positive thinking. Researchers continue to explore the effects of positive thinking and optimism on health. Health benefits that positive thinking may provide include:. It's unclear why people who engage in positive thinking experience these health benefits. One theory is that having a positive outlook enables you to cope better with stressful situations, which reduces the harmful health effects of stress on your body.

It's also thought that positive and optimistic people tend to live healthier lifestyles — they get more physical activity, follow a healthier diet, and don't smoke or drink alcohol in excess. Not sure if your self-talk is positive or negative? Some common forms of negative self-talk include:. You can learn to turn negative thinking into positive thinking. Even now people are realizing they can connect through technology.

They are not as remote as they thought. They are realizing they can use their phones for long conversations. I believe we will continue to find meaning now and when this is over. Keep trying. There is something powerful about naming this as grief. Emotions need motion. We can — we should — stop at the first feeling. I feel sad. Let me go for five minutes to feel sad.

Your work is to feel your sadness and fear and anger whether or not someone else is feeling something. The gang of bad feelings will overrun me. The truth is a feeling that moves through us. We feel it and it goes and then we go to the next feeling. Let yourself feel the grief and keep going. If our content helps you to contend with coronavirus and other challenges, please consider subscribing to HBR. A subscription purchase is the best way to support the creation of these resources. You have 2 free article s left this month.

You are reading your last free article for this month. Subscribe for unlimited access. Create an account to read 2 more. The coronavirus pandemic has led to a collective loss of normalcy. Read more on Psychology or related topics Mental health , Personal resilience , Emotional intelligence and Stress management.

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