TOO many people are dying and we are regularly inundated with death notices all too often during the peak of the Coronavirus infections.
But families in many townships and villages are struggling to convince their elderly relatives to stay away from funerals.
When addressing the nation recently regarding the extended level 3 lockdown rules, President Cyril Ramaphosa warned us about funerals being super spreaders and cut the number of mourners to 50.
The reality is that the ground is quite different as many funerals are still attended by more than the limited 50 people. Our dear mamas and abo baba still insist on either attending funerals or visiting the family of the deceased during the week to console them.
Even though many families have now resorted to strict measures to discourage their elderly from attending funerals, our mothers, fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers have become a huge problem. With a will of their own, they often defy their families and dice with death by going to funerals.
Someone should tell our parents that Covid-19 does not care about our rituals and customs or the way we are used to doing things when it comes to burying loved ones.
In their advanced ages, these elderly folks are at risk of severe illness and death if they get infected.
We have seen with our escalation statistics how the elderly have been severely affected. Our ageing parents should know that to be treated like adults, they need to act like ones and stop putting their families and communities’ lives at risk. – Editor.
