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Stuff from Johannesburg

Helping your children navigate COVID-19 to find their momentum

MyPR: Helping your children navigate COVID-19 to find their momentum:

As government strategises on the most effective way of getting South African children back to school, Dr. Boshoff Steenekamp, epidemiologist at leading financial services and health provider, Momentum, outlined the true risks for our children based on global statistics, and the biology of COVID-19 as it affects children in South Africa. He was speaking at a Momentum COVID-19 webinar on 19 May, one in a series of webinars aiming to assist South Africans in dealing with the pandemic.

According to Dr. Steenekamp, children are significantly less affected than adults, accounting for only 1% of the global infection rate, with deaths being extremely rare. These are reassuring stats considering the government’s decision to reopen some grades on 1 June.

“Fortunately, we know that children are less likely to get COVID-19, and if they do, they get a very mild form. It is also very unlikely that children will spread the disease to others” said Dr. Steenekamp

He showed that multiple European family clusters were unlikely to be the index case (the first identified case in a group of related cases). In fact, his data cited a family in France where an infected child did not transmit the disease to anyone, despite being exposed to over 100 people.

Steenekamp concluded that infection and transmission rates in children happen less often and are less severe, but he cautions parents from letting these statistics embolden them with a false sense of security. Safety measures such as wearing masks, constant sanitisation and adhering to social distancing still need to be strictly exercised. He also warned that these statistics do not apply to children with underlying diseases, which renders them more vulnerable to the disease.

Please see Wetransfer link to the full video and Q&A clips here.

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Have you tried: Whale and Dolphin Watching in Algoa Bay?

Did you know this about Johannesburg? Johannesburg’s traffic is brutal: According to figures released earlier in 2018, the city is the 2nd most congested city in South Africa (behind Cape Town). It’s the 44th most congested city globally. Johannesburg residents spent an average of 46 hours in peak traffic in 2017. The city has more than 7500 km of roads.

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The Cradle of Humankind and Ancient Roots

While the modern city is only about 140 years old, the ground beneath it holds the secrets of humanity’s earliest ancestors. Located just 50 kilometers northwest of the city center is the Cradle of Humankind, a UNESCO World Heritage site. This area contains a complex system of limestone caves, including the famous Sterkfontein Caves, where nearly 40% of all the world’s human ancestor fossils have been discovered.

Significant finds like “Mrs. Ples” (Australopithecus africanus) and the near-complete skeleton of “Little Foot” have provided scientists with crucial evidence about how early hominids walked upright and transitioned into the Homo genus. More recently, in 2013, the discovery of Homo naledi in the Rising Star cave system stunned the scientific community, suggesting that ancient human relatives may have practiced ritualized burial much earlier than previously thought. This proximity to the “birthplace of humanity” gives Johannesburg a unique cultural depth; while it is a city of skyscrapers and high finance, it is also a place where you can stand on the very ground where our species took its first steps.