Step Up. Stay Safe.

 

SA Health has created an informative little video which you can find on the SA Health site under the Stop the Spread in SA link. It is 30 seconds long and so a good video for short attention spans. People are busy and preoccupied at the moment and concentration levels seem to be less than optimum. People are confused about what is going on. Some are in denial but everyone knows we keep losing people to Covid. Ten in the last two days. We have such a high infection rate for a small state. People worry about the spread, some could not care less and it sets up a lack of ease and tension. Even if you are pretending, getting Covid is no fun. Giving it to someone is disturbing and seeing people you care about die, because this disease can kill , is making people worry considerably. Even if they are putting on a “normal” front, the truth is still there and cannot be avoided. Too many people are getting it and hating it. Some can shrug it off. Others are feeling really depleted  and depressed by it. Like the rest of the country our hospital numbers and infections are up. The death rate this year from Covid is horrible. I feel for those who are losing parents,  grandparents and family members. It is tragic, the moreso because we are faking coping.

This little video is unassuming but makes the points clearly. There is something you can do. You can get tested and you can wear a mask. You can stay home if unwell. Our case numbers are up today because people have had the sense to get back out there and get tested. Hope they put their masks back on too. Double masks in public are so much more effective than if one person hasn’t worn one. It is easy. Testing takes far more effort , but thank goodness people have got back to that good practice! We will get there if we follow good practice and help each other. 

Coping with Covid

 

I am starting to get it, or, at least, I can see what they are trying to do. We are being taken out of a state of emergency and panic with coronavirus onto a terrain where we can manage it in a way which is a bit less invasive and more in keeping with other serious diseases like whooping cough, pneumonia, AIDS. We are being asked to take on the responsibility of following good health advice and managing Covid in a way we manage other serious medical illnesses. It is causing a significant number of deaths. It does spread ridiculously easily. It can cause real health problems in those who catch it. None of this can be ignored but we can manage it better if we follow salient health advice and ask for what we need. 

Professor Michael Kidd is well credentialled and , just as importantly, he has a well modulated voice and a good manner for delivering helpful and useful health information so we can do better at managing this vile virus. Every week he puts up a video on his YouTube channel which is featured on our Australian government health site to answer the top 3 questions  we have with regard to dealing sensibly  with this virus . This week it was about masks use, symptoms and when to act to get medical intervention. He explains it clearly, calmly and well. it is clear from the video we have ways of helping those who are vulnerable and that they can have access to anti viral medication via their GP if they need it. It explains clearly how to go about isolation and gives reference to another site where you can get better help for dealing with Covid at home. 

In South Australia you can get free Rapid Antigen Tests if you are a close contact from RAT collection points and you can find those on the link on the SA Health site. 

People need to know that consulting medical people is the way to go about dealing with Covid and that it is important to be following good health advice. By consulting the federal government and state government health sites you are off to a good start because they are now mustering resources for public awareness raising and education. It is not about what you want. We are dealing with a harmful virus which spreads easily. We need to tackle it in a methodical, adult fashion.