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A common excuse cited by some people who are violating lockdown measures is fatigue. Lockdown fatigue, they call it.

Men-about-town and ladies-about-town who tell themselves that they are used to drinking and socialising and can’t stop are beating the system to patronise shebeens or to organise and attend house parties at which alcohol flows all over, drugs are consumed and loud music is played. They meet in scores to have what they reckon is fun as if everything is normal. We don’t associate drunk people with the discipline of wearing face masks, social distancing, respiratory hygiene and thorough hand-washing.

We ask ourselves what lockdown fatigue really is, if alleviating that fatigue can be fatal?

Our sister paper, Sunday News reported yesterday that the Bulawayo City Health Department has instituted an investigation after reports that a dozen of people who attended a birthday party hosted on July 4 at a lodge in Burnside in the city allegedly by Mr Moses Matsveru, a socialite and businessman, had contracted coronavirus. About 100 people attended the event yet lockdown measures prohibit gatherings of more than 50.

Two people who are said to have attended the party have since died of complications associated with Covid-19. The second death reportedly happened on Friday. Sixty-nine people had been killed by the virus in the country by Saturday, while the total number of cases was 3 659.

Investigations to establish whether or not Mr Matsveru hosted the party are ongoing. He denies hosting the event on July 4, indicating that videos circulating on social media were of an event staged in December last year but a person who attended the July 4 party corroborated the clips as being of the day in question and is fearful they may have contracted the disease.

It is unacceptable that any sensible person can host or attend a party at this time when we are fighting this dangerous infection. To bolster our collective strength against it, the Government has come up with laws to prohibit gatherings. At the same time, the Government and health experts are urging the people to behave and follow guidelines to fight Covid-19.

We are certain that the Burnside gathering is not the only one to have happened in the city at this delicate moment. Reports abound that shebeens are running in many parts of Bulawayo while new ones are being opened. House parties are being hosted too while illegal nightclubs are being run.

National Police Spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi yesterday said Covid-19 lockdown arrests continue to rise, with 1 011 people having been arrested on Saturday for various offences related to flouting Covid-19 regulations.

That brought the cumulative arrests to 124 990 since the initial lockdown on March 30 countrywide. Harare tops the list at 26 723, followed by Manicaland province with 23 522 arrests. Bulawayo comes third with 16 715 arrests.

Police said liquor related offences continued to be a problem, which they said was worrying when looking at the rate at which Covid-19 cases are increasing in the country.

Yes, arrests are being made but we don’t think there is effective corrective action in regard to shebeens and parties in Bulawayo. We thus expect law enforcement agents to enhance their surveillance of the city to be able to account for offenders. It must be easy for them to detect suspicious movements particularly now when the lockdown has been tightened and a dusk to dawn curfew in place.

Mpilo Central Hospital Acting Chief Executive Officer Professor Solwayo Ngwenya, arguably the strongest voice against disregard of lockdown measures in Bulawayo, said the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the country were not surprising as they mirrored public behaviour towards the pandemic. He was addressing the increase in local transmissions of the infection, but his general take on indiscipline among some of us is relevant to the Burnside party.

“Those figures (on increasing local transmissions), while worrying should not come as a surprise,” he says elsewhere in these pages today. “They are just showing the people’s behaviour and indifference about the virus. If people do not change their ways, then we will see worse figures, and more deaths reported. People must listen. Deaths are already increasing as we are seeing daily, what more do people need to be convinced to stay at home. We have allowed the virus to penetrate, and over the next weeks, we should expect to see more cases, and deaths too. But with behaviour change, we could slow the tide.”

Indeed, the aftermath of the Burnside binge must teach the so-called men-about-town and ladies-about-town and all those violating lockdown measures that their recklessness, and their ways to alleviate what they say is lockdown fatigue, can lead to grief.