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Photo by Jacques Stander/Gallo Images via Getty Images.

Op-Ed: Opening South Africa's Churches Amid COVID-19 Will Result in More Deaths

Churches get away with a lot in this country and now is as good a time as any to put an end to that.

It was a day like any other at the Global Reconciliation Church in the Free State province. Congregants were gathering for a prayer event which no doubt included praying about what was then an impending 21-day national lockdown due to COVID-19. What no-one had anticipated however, was that five tourists who had already tested positive for the coronavirus, would come into contact with an estimated 1600 other congregants––three of whom have since died as a result.

One gathering, three deaths. This is what South Africans pushing the government to open places of worship, seem to forget. And while the government has remained steadfast in the face of very public backlash following a number of tough decisions during this national lockdown, it seems that churches may just prove to be their kryptonite.

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