How are we seven months into fighting this global pandemic and some people out there still believe it’s all a hoax? I don’t know what to tell them except maybe that I wish they weren’t the ‘Covidiots’ they are! Over a million dead and 35 million plus who have tested positive for the virus, including some of the sceptics themselves, and yet somehow, the conspiracies persist.

I understand the scepticism early on because very little was known about the illness then, and many of us were in a panic about a deadly infection that had seemingly cropped out of nowhere. Things are different now and we know a lot more about the disease and how it spreads.

Most of us have done our best to comply with the health guidelines recommended by the authorities in our various countries, which is why the numbers are going down. If only everybody cooperated because it’s the least we can do. I need these reckless rebels to explain what’s so hard or terrible about wearing a mask, sanitising or staying a metre or two from the next person. We behave like such babies sometimes, wanting to be pushed, persuaded and cajoled all the time.

Anyone who has lost a loved one to Covid-19 related complications and couldn’t visit them in hospital or even attend the funeral must be upset by all these drive-bys and Covid-themed parties. Why are people so insensitive? Don’t they watch the news? It’s not just health that’s been impacted. Incomes and livelihoods have been obliterated and people are stressed. It’s irresponsible to downplay or be dismissive of the crisis because the more lightly it’s taken, the longer it will stay with us.

I saw something about a gender reveal party a while back that didn’t go quite as planned. Guests had gathered to learn the baby’s gender and instead had to run for their lives to escape a fire that had been sparked by one of the party poppers. Having a baby is a great thing and should be celebrated but now’s not the time to be extra. Nobody’s saying you shouldn’t find out your baby’s gender if you want to. Helps with the decor and baby names, we get it.

Just don’t throw week or month-long parties all over the place that may only end up exposing you and your unborn child to the virus. Text or call your friends and family to share the news and in a year or so when Covid-19 is under control and the world has fewer problems to deal with, you can all get together and celebrate all you want. Our parents and grandparents didn’t throw gender reveal parties. They didn’t even have baby showers then and look at us. We turned out alright, didn’t we?