There shall be no dogs; Covid in South Africa

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MajGenl.Meade
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There shall be no dogs; Covid in South Africa

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South Africans will not be able to purchase alcohol or walk their dogs during the lockdown period, police minister Bheki Cele said at a press briefing on Wednesday (25 March).

Cele said that the decision was made to protect South Africans and encourage social distancing as he announced a number of other prohibitions.

“There shall be no food at restaurants. There is no need to be on the road. There is no need to move around. There was a little bit of a story earlier on that you can walk your dogs*. There shall be no dogs that will be walked,” said Cele.

He added that if people wanted to walk their dogs, they could do so around the house.
*the Minister of Health in the same meeting said that jogging and dog-walking were permitted. Bheki "I am God" Cele begged to differ and he has a hat and a gun.

I watched much of this "briefing" yesterday, having already learned from our local cash-store that all alcohol would be removed from the shelves on Thursday evening after closing. Not only shall there be no wines sold and no dogs walked, but also there shall be no jogs jogged. Thankfully, I am only affected by one out of three.

Avoid panic-buying, pleaded the government after Monday's announcement of the shut-down. Avoid panic-buying, they thundered yesterday. Oh, and we are going to ban alcohol sales from 11:59 p.m.Thursday because we've seen that some people have been having parties. Today, Thursday, will see panic-buying of alcohol like there's no tomorrow. (Don't worry - we panicked yesterday. No toilet paper frenzy for us!).

Oh and also, they said, we are going to publish limited hours of opening for the food stores - if we open for less hours, there will be less people going to the stores at the same time. But we don't have those times yet - but don't rush out on Thursday and buy things.

Also, we are going to restrict what the shops can put on their shelves. So, no cigarettes. All those who smoke, you won't find any packs at the stores so you don't need to leave your house on Friday or for the next 21 days to waste time in shops. We will also remove many other things so that only "essential" things are in the store - that will cut down on how long anyone will be in there. But don't rush out on Thursday to do panic buying of your decadent decaff, or bagels, or whatever else we think is "non-essential". Supplies for your printers - closed and gone, finish and klaar, unless you work from home which you all must do but you can't go out to get those.

Last night, the panel of ministers (impressive!) took questions from journalists. But it was done by allowing 15 or so journos to ask all the questions one after another while various ministers used their crayons to take notes. The first question was, "If the army and police are stopping people driving cars or walking to the essential food stores, what must the driver do to prove that they are going legally to buy groceries?". Bheke Cele, generalissimo of dogs and schnaps, waited patiently for the 25 minutes it took to listen to all the questions and then proceeded to talk about Uber, dogs, alcohol and how "we will stop you". But that key question, the one of most importance to all South Africans, was ignored. It still is today.

We've seen what appear to be talking points from gov't meetings: only one person per vehicle and he/she must wear gloves and a mask. No, you can have two people in a vehicle but the passenger must sit in the back and both must wear masks. But not gloves. Everyone will be issued a designated time and day to drive to the food store. No, it will be done by the first letter of your last name. Basotho people will be screwed - almost all last names begin with M. It's like saying in Korea that 9-10 a.m. belongs to all Kims and Lees. The only consistent article of agreement is "you will be arrested"

Journalist: "Where will the arrested people be put - all together in facilities marked for non-infected, maybe infected and definitely positive?"
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Lord Jim
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Re: There shall be no dogs; Covid in South Africa

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Yeah, ban the sale of alcohol in a situation like this because prohibition has always worked so well in the past... :roll:

Now in addition to being filled with Covid-19 sufferers, the hospitals in SA can expect a big influx of patients suffering the various serious conditions that result from consuming bad home-made hootch...

Brilliant...

Earlier today, Dr, Fauci specifically cited the outbreak of the virus in South Africa as as an example of a Southern Hemisphere country where the spread indicates we can most likely expect a second wave of the virus up here in the north next fall and winter (assuming the virus is climate sensitive, and we get a break with the warmer spring and summer weather)
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Re: There shall be no dogs; Covid in South Africa

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Delerium tremens affect 1/20 habitual drinkers, becomes acute in 3-4 days, often requires critical (ICU) care and has a fatality rate of 37% in acute cases. One doesn’t have to be a heavy drinker to fall victim to DTs - just habitually pickled at whatever level and your brain stops properly functioning without that level of pickling being maintained.

It is crazy ignorant from a public health perspective to close liquor stores in a pandemic.
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Re: There shall be no dogs; Covid in South Africa

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Those are good points. I foresee difficulty arising from the townships and locations where such regulation is least likely to be respected but supplies will run low very quickly. Shebeens and shack-shops will not likely heed the rules anyway but if they run out of the necessary, there may be unrest.
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts

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Re: There shall be no dogs; Covid in South Africa

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You had me worried there for a moment.
Off-licences have been added to the government's list of essential UK retailers allowed to stay open during the coronavirus pandemic.

The list was updated on Wednesday amid increasing reports supermarkets are selling out of some beers and wines.

A major pub chain has said "almost all" its business had gone to supermarkets.

The move came as bicycle and car parts retailer Halfords had to defend its decision to keep shops open.

The list of essential retailers put together by the Cabinet Office now includes "off-licences and licensed shops selling alcohol, including those within breweries".

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52033260
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Re: There shall be no dogs; Covid in South Africa

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In California, most grocery stores sell hard liquor as well as beer and wine so no issues about obtaining booze here during the lock down...
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Re: There shall be no dogs; Covid in South Africa

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It's odd, LJ. Food stores such as Woolworths or our local Irene Cash Store have wine licenses. No beer and no liquor. [There is an Irene liquor store - the butchery is between the food and booze entities]. But those stores are not permitted to sell wine for the next 21 days. Wine is definitely not the problem when it comes to 20-somethings having a kegger or whatever the SA equivalent is. Brandy, whisky and vodka are the problem.

And the reason to ban sales, aside from pique at some alcohol guzzling apartment complex dwellers in big cities, is that the less items there are to be legally purchased, the less time people will spend dithering about what to buy. I guess they have a point.

Yesterday, although the new rules haven't kicked in, all the stores at Preller Square (Checkers supermarket; Dischem and Clicks pharmacies, Woolworths and so on) were restricting store access - letting in a few people at a time as other shoppers left, 1-for-1. It was weird to line up outside Woolies and let some folks go ahead as I waited for Margaretta to stop lining up at Dischem. As the Woolies commando-in-charge said, "At least you are first in line now".

Y'all know we live within the grounds of a resort - not a grand thing - on land owned by the city water department (except for two plots, one of them purchased by us). The water-works itself (purifying and pumping) is within the resort proper. The resort closed today to all guests. Speaking to the workers when I walked down there this a.m., some will still be paid for providing security but others are on unpaid leave while some are just s.o.l. These are people who cannot afford to lose a day's pay, let alone 21. They also can't drive to stores but must walk miles or hope for a ride - but hardly anyone will be on the road now and of those, including me, we don't dare to pick up random folks hoofing it along. Not like usual. Those I know - well, if I'm driving I'd pick them up but when I hit the first police roadblock (out on the N8 by the airport, we know), either they or I or both will be arrested.

We have it easy here. We can stroll down the road and walk in acres of grass, woods, and paths mooching along by the river, bird-watching. Our SS payments still roll in - but we might have a problem getting to a cash-accepting ATM. We use a yankee bank card to pull out R3800 each week and then our SA bank card to put that R3800 right back in. Covers the insurance and other regular bills. But our friends here, they don't have any such luxury or guarantee of survival.
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Re: There shall be no dogs; Covid in South Africa

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I hope you have means to protect yourselves.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
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Re: There shall be no dogs; Covid in South Africa

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Unless you mean my weighted sawed-off billiard cue and the odd collection of knives left in a bedroom drawer by the previous owner . . . isolate - that's it. If you mean from the restless natives, we don't foresee any problem. We aren't the kind who think the impis are going to descend any moment we're not looking.

Been too late all week for gloves, masks, hand-sanitizer. I was thinking of substituting gin but the tonic keeps dribbling on the floor. Which is rough on the tongue.

Bumped into our pastor on Wednesday at a store in town (well, avoided the bumping) and he was on his way to the west side of Bloem having just received a phone call from his wife - she'd found a place that had 4 (and no more) masks. He needed to get there before anyone else.

It appears SA will adopt the French practice of requiring all people walking or driving to have a written, signed explanation for being out - every trip needs a new document.
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts

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Re: There shall be no dogs; Covid in South Africa

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Just to clarify I didn’t mean my comment in any racist fashion - my recollection was that you lived fairly isolated in a farmhouse and I was concerned since you and the misses have regular income where many others won’t, you might make an easy target to thieves of any color when folks start getting desperate.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
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Re: There shall be no dogs; Covid in South Africa

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Gosh, never thought you meant that!

Being semi-cautious is only sensible. Our house (in common with everyone else's), has bars on every window and all three outer doors have security gates as well. Biggest risk is break-ins when one is not at home; TV, laptops and such are targets. Our friend Nak's house was burgled twice in the past 18 months despite his security but he lives in the big bad city. But we have friends who have irrational fears of being in public spaces in the light of a sunny day merely because the others shop there in large numbers and you won't see a white face for hours. They don't know what they are afraid of, exactly. Just that you can't park your car there because someone will steal it - false but rooted in the past guilt (I think). I find people are people everywhere.

You remember well - we did live in an old farmhouse with not much about except the farmer living further up and in. Yes, there were sheep and also sheep rustlers, folks you didn't want to bump into at night. The farmer and his wife did move out four years back in fear of assault, sad to say.
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts

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Re: There shall be no dogs; Covid in South Africa

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For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts

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