MHA has formed a CovidCom to drive its battle against Coronavirus/COVID-19 disease which will definitely hit PE, and may cause significant challenges for our frail, elderly residents. We are doing what we can to be prepared for it.
Communication is key. CovidCom agreed that we would use the website as the primary means of communicating to residents and their families. CovidCom has addressed a letter to all residents, other than those in frail care, which was delivered on Monday 16 March 2020
COVID-19: NEWSFLASH #95: THURSDAY 23 JUNE 2022
THE WAR IS OVER (terms & conditions apply!!!)
The wearing of face masks in South Africa was compulsory for 818 days; that’s one breakfast short of 117 weeks!! Our government has decided that the so-called fifth wave is behind us; Covid infections are so low that life can go back to ‘normal’. As of this morning it is no longer compulsory to wear a face mask in any environment in RSA (indoors or outdoors), and there are no longer any rules or regulations or limitations imposed on gatherings. We have been waiting for this day for so long. Have you already noticed how people get a kick out of just smiling at each other?!!
CovidCom met virtually this morning, and the following was decided:
- Government’s decisions announced yesterday should be respected and accepted
- MHA’s management and staff will continue to be vigilant and disciplined, and all members of the MHA family are urged to do so too
- Regarding our two Frail Care units, it will remain a requirement that all staff and all visitors will continue to wear a mask while on the premises. Interestingly, the majority of our Frail Care staff requested this, in an endeavour to protect the residents in their care. This matter will be reviewed on a frequent basis; its inconvenience is understood
- Because of the current prevalence of winter colds and flu-like symptoms, it is recommended that you wear a mask in public if you have such symptoms, and that you avoid contact with others while you feel unwell and/or infected. It would seem as though rules regarding isolation have also been repealed, so a ‘common sense’ approach is recommended
- While CovidCom won’t officially disband yet, its members will at last take a break, but will observe from the side-lines!
It is appropriate to quote from our Health Minister Joe Phaahla’s announcement yesterday:
“We just need to end with the caution that the Covid-19 virus is not yet gone, it is still in our midst, we are just stronger than before, especially with vaccination, and we urge those not yet vaccinated to come forward and those due for boosters to also come forward”.
What do we do with our stocks of facemasks?! CovidCom suggests that you keep a small stock ‘just in case’. Keep the rest in a packet until we have heard all of the inventive, humorous, useful and useless things that the world’s clowns and clever people will come up with. This should keep us entertained for ages.
Keep well, keep safe, and keep warm!!
Malcolm Stewart, Hein Barnard, Sanet Marx, Nelmari Windell and Gillian le Roux (CovidCom)
COVID-19: NEWSFLASH #92: TUESDAY 18 JANUARY 2022
BREAKING NEWS---BRAKING NEWS---BARKING NEWS!!
Yesterday CovidCom reviewed the issue regarding visitors, as we promised to do. The infection rate within MHA, and in the City, is such that we have decided that visitors will again be allowed into CP Bradfield Frail Care, Maranatha Frail Care and Bob Zeiss Bedsitters. This will come into effect from today, Tuesday 18 January 2022. More good news is that the hairdresser operating from the BZB salon will be allowed to resume her service. As before, and as always, protocols regarding face masks and sanitizing remain in place in all circumstances. You know what to do!!
CovidCom will meet again early next week to further review our battle plan, and what we could/should do in order to move our MHA communities (residents, staff, visitors, and loved ones) towards the ‘new normal’. This is entirely dependent on how the current Coronavirus (Covid 19 and its infamous variants) behaves, and what impact it has on the population worldwide, not just in our City. CovidCom will continue to be cautious, we will carefully weigh up verifiable facts available to us, and we will be guided by the extent to which the Covid monster infects our residents and staff. Please pray for everyone’s continued protection.
WHEN WILL THE PANDEMIC PETER OUT, FOR PETE’S SAKE!!
To “peter out” means to gradually become smaller, weaker or less, before stopping, diminishing or ending. The origin of its usage is unknown, but one authority suggests it may refer to the apostle Peter, whose enthusiastic support of Jesus quickly diminished so that he denied knowing him three times during the night after Jesus's arrest. “For Pete’s sake”, on the other hand, is a well-known, informal expression of frustration, exasperation or annoyance; we use it, for example, when we switch on eNCA or SABC and are greeted with the words “My fellow South Africans”, and the gloomy news which follows! You probably mutter it a dozen times while turning the pages of The Herald (while vowing not to renew your subscription---but you’ll do it anyway!). We all use it whenever Load-shedding happens. Yes, some people regard it as a euphemism for a blasphemous phrase, but let’s not go there, please!
So, for Pete’s sake, when will Covid peter out?! Right now, Covid infections are reaching new high numbers across Europe and elsewhere. It’s mid-winter there, indoor gatherings or commuting (with poor ventilation) are an everyday occurrence, and large crowds of singing, swearing, hugging, punching soccer fans are seen, without masks, on our TV screens every weekend. Is it any surprise that infection rates are skyrocketing there?
Apart from within the walls of a MHA facility, the safest place on Earth right now must surely be at a party (bring your own booze, nogal) in the back garden at 10 Downing Street. At least, and at last, we now know why one refers to a ‘political party’!
Daily new infections across RSA reached an all-time high on 15 December 2021---22852 new cases---at the peak of the Fourth Wave. MHA wasn’t unaffected; over the past six weeks we recorded 49 new C+ cases (34 residents and 15 staff) and, tragically, one Covid-related death. Almost all cases were mild, and recovery at home was possible in almost every case. It is clearly evident that the Omicron variant is more widespread and more transmissible than its predecessors, but is not as vicious; admissions to hospitals are not as high as previously. We remain grateful for all little mercies!
We must remain cautious and careful in our everyday behaviours and movements. If you are feeling unwell, stay at home, and stay away from others, for a week. Allow your community to care for you
ANOTHER PETER!
Laurence Johnston Peter (1919-1990) was a Canadian educator and hierarchiologist (someone who studies how people perform in a hierarchy) who began his career as a teacher in Vancouver in 1941. He became widely known in 1969 upon the publication of his book “The Peter Principle”, in which he states: "In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence...in time every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties...work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence." The Peter Principle became one of the most profound principles of management, and is still in use today. Levels of incompetence? There are no prizes on offer to identify glaring examples in our everyday lives here on the Southern tip of Africa (all MHA staff excluded)!!
On the basis that we should all learn something new every day (but consider the Zen proverb above), one of Laurence Peter’s notable quotations was:
“There are two kinds of failures: those who thought and never did, and those who did and never thought."
If one thinks about it a bit, this quotation has particular relevance right now, in the Covid war we have all been dragged into, for two long, miserable years. We need to be ever mindful of our actions and our behaviours, to avoid being labelled as ‘a failure’; how we need to behave in order to be a part of the solution, not the problem; how we continue to interact with and support others; what sacrifices in our daily lives we need to continue making; and be aware of the potential consequences of the ‘did and never thought’ part.
To end on a lighter note, another quotation of Laurence Peter is this:
“The noblest of all dogs is the hot-dog; it feeds the hand that bites it."
Malcolm Stewart
CovidCom Chairman (and on behalf of the Board, Management, our staff, and CovidCom)
PLEASE REMEMBER: As we present new “Breaking news” or “Newsflash” bulletins, the replaced ones are being filed under the News tab, and then under the Archives:Covid-19 drop-down folder on our website. Residents and family with access to internet will then be able to pull up previous bulletins, if and when needed.
DISCLAIMER: MHA and CovidCom are endeavouring to regularly communicate useful or necessary information to our residents, staff, and the wider MHA family, so that we can all be best prepared to confront the COVID-19 monster at our door. To the best of our ability we ensure that the material shared is reliable and accurate, but MHA cannot be held responsible for any unintended errors or inaccuracies. Please immediately bring such errors or inaccuracies to our attention, via the covid.concern@methomes.co.za link.
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