Day 432 – It’s the weekend, baby!

Ah. Remember the halcyon days of the Gareth Cliff breakfast show? Before he went Sho’t Right on his odd political trip and 5fm was invaded by 12 year olds with the IQ of a stone? We all used to drag ourselves through the working week until Friday, and hearing that line, with the “…end” syllable extended before the explosive “baby!” meant that we could finally see the finishing line ahead of us at 5pm (or 12ish in Cape Town).

It’s all changed now, of course.

Well, that is, except for the weekend.

I gave President Ramaphosa a bit of a slagging yesterday, but what he lacks in his general political action, he clearly makes up for in his incredible negotiation skills. Because he’s taken a step that no other President on earth has taken: he’s negotiated with the actual virus – and he’s won some key concessions.

I know that this sounds a little far-fetched, but I was looking at a graph earlier today, and I can only conclude that the above scenario is exactly what has happened. God knows what he had to offer the virus in return, but it seems that Cyril has negotiated something of a cease fire for 2/7ths of the week. Namely the weekend (baby!).

Here’s the graph in question:

At first sight, things look good. Trend is upwards. Even if it is from a low base. Credit where it’s due.

But then, yes. One notes the chasms between the towers. Despite the fact that we are in the middle of a pandemic, and heading rapidly for a third wave of Covid-19, we’re still taking the weekend off when it comes to vaccinating people.

Wut?

This would seem to be a very bad idea were it not for Cyril’s deal with Coronavirus, because clearly, the virus must also be taking the weekend off, or the data presented in this graph would indicate something close to criminal incompetence.

It’s not ideal that with this new arrangement, the virus will be around for almost 30% longer than necessary, but at least in that extra time it won’t be knocking anyone else off because come Saturday and Sunday, it’ll clearly be chilling round the braai and going to bed at 11pm, just like all the rest of us.

Seriously… could we not just fill in those gaps and get some healthcare workers to do some jabs over the weekend?

It’s quite an important thing.