Protect yourself while Black Friday shopping

THE Black Friday weekend could not come at a worse time with rising Covid infection numbers and news of a new variant doing the rounds, at a time when people are going to be at close quarters in huge numbers for prolonged periods.

This is surely a recipe for disaster.

I would encourage all readers of this column to shop online as far as possible.

If you absolutely must shop in-person, please wear a mask, sanitise your hands often and, as difficult as it will be to do, keep your distance from other shoppers.

And if you have not taken a vaccine yet, please do so as soon as possible.

At the time of writing, more than 25 million doses had been administered to just less than 17 million South Africans. If the conspiracy theories about the vaccines were true, millions would have died, or become stuck to their fridges and stoves by now.

Yes, there are side-effects which some have to deal with, including severe headaches, nausea and the like, but a few days of any or all of these is still preferable to weeks on a ventilator, or worse.

There is no shortage of vaccines in the country, only a shortage of people taking them.

Get vaccinated and protect yourself and those around you.