Lessons learnt from a pandemic: How to create resilience

Abstract

As I write this, we are coming to a plateau phase in the COVID-19 pandemic and things seem to be slowly returning to some form of normality. We hope that fears of a second peak will not be realised and that our country will indeed proceed to a semblance of its prior self. Despite the last chills in the air, spring is also setting in and there are blossoms on the trees and birds singing in the garden. In the veld it is time for the baby animals, and new life abounds. At this time of renewal after the long and hard winter, it is useful to reflect on lessons learnt during this pandemic. In the words paraphrased from and attributed to Winston Churchill: ‘It would be a shame to let a good crisis go to waste.’