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14 August 2020 | Story Andre Damons | Photo Supplied
Max du Preez, Editor: Vrye Weekblad (top left), was the facilitator was the facilitator for Thursday’s UFS Though-Leader webinar that included Prof Salim Abdool Karim, Director: Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) and Chair: South African Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19 (top right); Prof Glenda Gray, President and CEO: South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) (bottom left); and Prof Felicity Burt from the UFS and NRF-DST South African Research Chair in Vector-borne and Zoonotic Pathogens Research (bottom right), participated in Thursday’s Though-Leader webinar.
Although the decline in COVID-19 cases is a promising sign for South Africa, there are concerns about a second surge, and the country should not become complacent.

This was the opinion of the three experts who took part in the first Thought-Leader webinar presented by the University of the Free State (UFS) on Thursday, 13 August. The 2020 UFS Thought-Leader Webinar Series, themed 'Post-COVID-19, Post-Crisis', is taking place in collaboration with Vrye Weekblad as part of the Vrystaat Literature Festival’s online initiative, VrySpraak-digitaal.

The panellists included top experts such as Prof Salim Abdool Karim, Director: Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) and Chair: South African Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19; Prof Glenda Gray, President and CEO: South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC); and the UFS’ Prof Felicity Burt, NRF-DST South African Research Chair in Vector-borne and Zoonotic Pathogens Research.
Prof Karim said the downward decline is consistent and the number of patients presenting at hospitals is also declining.
 
Promising trend of decline
“What we are seeing is a promising trend, and it looks like we are on the decline. A question that I am often asked is: Is the worst over? The answer is not clear-cut. We are concerned about the risk of a second surge. If anything – what really concerns me at this stage is a second surge, as I think about how the pandemic may play out over the next few weeks,” said Prof Karim. 

He also referred to countries such as the US, Spain, New Zealand, Vietnam, and South Korea, which are now facing a second surge. 

“We need to be very careful; this is not the time for complacency. We need to maintain all our efforts. If we look at one of the key drivers, it is the need for our economy to restart. We need to get people back to work,” said Prof Karim. 
According to him, we have to look at COVID-19 not as a sprint, but as a marathon. “As we learn to co-exist with this virus, aim for containment; we need to plan for the long term. Even if we get a vaccine, it is unlikely that we will be able to vaccinate a substantial part of our population before the end of next year.” 

“We need to transition from being scared to a situation where we can control our risk. When we know that we can control the risk and then influence the risk, we influence the risk of everyone around us. Part of the new normal is the strategy of mitigation with prevention, plus preventing outbreaks.”

Schools and vaccine development
Prof Gray spoke about whether schools should be open and the role that children play in transmission, how to avoid the second wave, how to adjust our testing, and the exciting news around vaccine development. 

As a paediatrician and a parent, Prof Gray said she believes schools should open. “Children have a different immune response to COVID-19. They have different immune responses to Coronavirus and they probably have less viral-load copies which makes them have milder diseases. They are lucky to have been spared from symptomatic or severe disease,” said Prof Gray. 

According to her, schools need to be de-risked as much as possible, with children and teachers wearing masks, washing hands, making sure that there is good ventilation in the school and that windows are wide open. 

“We also need to know about the comorbidity and ages of teachers, so that we can keep the sick and older teachers out of direct contact. The younger teachers with no comorbidities should be teaching. 

“We also know from our experiences with health workers that transmissions happen in the tearoom where teachers take off their masks and talk. We need to minimise the transmissions in tearooms and protect teachers and parents who are older and have comorbidities.”  

Prof Gray said from data she has seen, schools play a very small role in the transmission of COVID-19; a lot more (transmissions) happen in the community, by commuting, and overcrowded taxis.

Prof Gray agreed with Prof Karim that we should be concerned about a second wave, and that we need to make sure community transmissions are minimised. 

Regarding a vaccine, Prof Gray said a global race is on to find a vaccine. “The more vaccines the better, we want more vaccines to work. The more vaccines, the more affordable they are, and the more doses are available.”

One health approach

During her presentation, Prof Burt said the current response to outbreaks is largely reactive rather than proactive, and “if we have more of a one-health approach, with forecasting, early detection, and a more rapid response, we could have an impact on public health in the future”. 


News Archive

Premiere of the documentary on King Moshoeshoe - Address by the Rector
2004-10-14

Address by the rector and vice-chancellor of the University of the Free State, prof Frederick Fourie, at the premiere of the documentary on King Moshoeshoe, Wednesday 13 October 2004

It is indeed a privilege to welcome you at this key event in the Centenary celebrations of the University of the Free State.

We are simultaneously celebrating 100 years of scholarship with 10 years of democracy

Today is a very important day with great significance for the University. This Centenary is not merely a celebration of an institution of a certain age. It is a key event in this particular phase of our history, in our transformation as an institution of higher learning, in taking the creation of a high-quality, equitable, non-racial, non-sexist, multicultural and multilingual university seriously.

This is about building something new out of the old, of creating new institutional cultures and values from diverse traditions.

It is about learning together - as an higher education institution - about who we are where we come from – to decide where we are going.

It is about merging the age-old tradition of the university, of the academic gown, with the Basotho blanket, the symbol of community engagement.

Then why is it important that we remember Moshoeshoe, where does he fit into our history?

In the Free State province, where large numbers of Basotho and Afrikaners (and others) now live together, a new post-apartheid society is being built in the 21st century.

The challenge is similar to that faced by Moshoeshoe 150 years ago. As you will see tonight, he did a remarkable thing in forging a new nation out of a fragmented society. He also created a remarkable spirit of reconciliation and a remarkable style of leadership.

Not all people in South Africa know the history of Moshoeshoe. Many Basotho – but not all – are well versed in the history of Moshoeshoe, and his name is honoured in many a street, town and township. Many white people know very little of him, or have a very constrained or even biased view of his role and legacy. In Africa and the world, he his much less known than, for instance, Shaka. (In Lesotho, obviously, he is widely recognised and praised.)

We already benefit from his legacy: the people of the Free State share a tradition of moderation and reconciliation rather than one of aggression and domination.

With Moshoeshoe, together with Afrikaner leaders and reconciliators such as President MT Steyn and Christiaan de Wet, we have much to be thankful for.

Our challenge is take this legacy further: to forge a new society in which different cultural, language and racial groups – Basotho, Afrikaners and others – will all feel truly at home.

Bit by bit, on school grounds, on university campuses, in each town and city, people must shape the values and principles that will mould this new non-racial, multicultural and multilingual society.

A shared sense of history, shared stories and shared heroes are important elements in such a process.

Through this documentary film about King Moshoeshoe, the UFS commits itself to developing a shared appreciation of the history of this country and to the establishment of the Free State Province as a model of reconciliation and nation-building.

Moshoeshoe is also a strong common element, and binding factor, in the relationship between South Africa / the Free State, and its neighbour, Lesotho.

For the University of the Free State this also is an integral part of real transformation – of creating a new unity amidst our diversity.

Transformation has so many aspects: whilst the composition of our student and staff populations have been changing, many other things change at the same time: new curricula, new research, new community service learning projects.

In also includes creation of new values, new (shared) histories, new (shared) heroes.

It includes the incorporation of the Qwaqwa campus, which serves a region where so many of the children of Moshoeshoe live, including her majesty Queen Mopeli.

We see in Moshoeshoe a model of African leadership – of reconciliation and nation-building – that can have a significant impact in South Africa and Africa as a whole.

We also find in the legacy of King Moshoeshoe the possibility of an “founding philosophy”, or “defining philosophy”, for the African renaissance.

To develop this philosophy, we must gain a deeper understanding of what really happened there, of his role, of his leadership.

Therefore the University of the Free State will encourage and support further research into the history, politics and sociology of the Moshoeshoe period, including his leadership style.

We hope to do this in partnership with National University of Lesotho.

The Moshoeshoe documentary is one element of a long-term project of the UFS. The other elements of the project that we are investigating are possible PhD-level research; a possible annual Moshoeshoe memorial lecture on African leadership; and then possible schools projects and other ways and symbols of honouring him.

It is my sincere wish that all communities of the Free State and of South Africa will be able to identify with the central themes of this documentary, and develop a shared appreciation for leaders such as King Moshoeshoe and the legacy of peace, reconciliation and nation-building that they have left us.

Prof. Frederick Fourie
Rector and Vice-Chancellor
University of the Free State
13 October 2004.

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