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**Official** COVID-19 Discussion

StephenZA

StephenZA

Well-known member
This is written by a Dr in the Cape Flats in CT.

news24.com/news24/Columnists/GuestColumn/opinion-a-day-in-the-life-of-a-covid-19-clinic-on-the-cape-flats

The patient arrived at 15:00. "I can't breathe."

It was a public holiday. One doctor was attending to a run of gunshot wounds in the non-Covid emergency centre. A second young doctor was left in the "flu" clinic with dozens of possible Covid patients, most of them mild. A cough. A sore throat. No taste. Most of them fine.

"I can't breathe." An elderly gentleman was dropped off by his family at 15:00. No, they cannot come in; there's a virus. Short of breath, sugar high. He didn't remember his phone number. The nurse put him on oxygen and gave him insulin. She booked an ambulance for the hospital, helped him lie down on an examination bed in the consultation room turned temporary Covid ward and gave him a sheet. It's all they had.

Thirty more people came that day. I need a medical certificate for work. I was here three weeks ago and my boss won't pay me without proof. One doctor, alone. Fully gowned with a mask and visor, hot. Speaking to people briefly but not too close. The patients come in and wait. They carry their own plastic chair from the waiting room to the examining room so as not to infect each other. You never know who is positive. No, stay there.

The doctor sits on one side of the room and the patient on the other. Fear. Quick. No shortness of breath? Good. Oxygen level normal. Stay home. Over and over again. A reverberating monotony of physically distanced patients, most of them well, but fear lurking behind every encounter. Patients fear they might die. Doctor's fear they might be exposed. There's no time to tell the usual stories ("How are you?"). Are you stable? Good. Stay home. Take some Panado. Isolate.

"I can't breathe."

At 07:00 the next day, the gentleman is still lying on the bed waiting. The nurse checks on him. "Are you okay?" "Yes." Waiting. Alone. Twenty new patients walk in. Oxygen okay, sick certificate, home. Oxygen okay, sick certificate, home. Amidst the coughs, a group of 10 healthy people are sent from work because they were exposed. More paperwork. If you're well, go home. We've been told to quarantine people away from home, but nobody wants to go ("Alone?").

Oxygen okay, sick certificate, home. Oxygen LOW. Shockingly low. Is this real? This woman was here a week ago and now she's back. "I can't breathe." As her ribs heave in and out, we put her on a face mask and wait. Ten litres per minute of oxygen, it's all we have. Six people on oxygen, and hopefully no more. We're full. They said they ordered more oxygen gauges. They said we must follow the proper channels. They said.

"I can't breathe." At 11:00 the ambulance still hasn't arrived. They said there would be delays. They said we should expect to hold patients 24 to 48 hours, we cannot help it. There aren't enough ambulances. We need to transfer patients from hospitals to the convention centre to clear high-care bed space.

We have all seen pictures of the president shaking hands with the premier at the quickly constructed field hospital, 850 shiny new beds for Covid patients waiting to be filled. Other pictures of an ambassador donating ventilators to the glorious hospital on the hill. But there are no pictures of the community health centre at 11:00, 20 hours later.

"Are you okay, meneer?" "Yes." Alone on an examination bed, he waited without complaint. "How are we going to feed people?" we asked. "Are we going to have extra nursing staff to monitor patients?" we asked. "We are not a hospital." We said. "We'll get back to you." They said.

"I can't breathe."

More coughs. More colds. More dead bodies, more than usual. Brought in by the undertakers. And 70-year-old diabetics suddenly dying at home. "Natural causes." (Is this real?) Death certificates intermixed with medical certificates for the torrent of masked faces marching one by one with new plastic chairs.

People are marching around the world. "I can't breathe." Brown people. Black people are dying. More than others. And it's not fair. It's not fair that the hospital on the hill has the beds and the food and the ambulances while the community waits at the edges, trapped in the flats with no way out. "I can't breathe."

12:00. The ambulance arrived. Finally. "Meneer, they're here. Meneer?" He lay gently on the examination table, silently alone. No number to phone. His daughter came 15:00. "What happened to my father? I can't see him?"

The vuvuzela sounds at 20:00. "Forget ventilators, just give us an ambulance. Or even a taxi to get these patients to hospital."

"I can't breathe."

There are no heroes in community health centres. Just tired doctors and nurses waiting for help. And mountains of quiet paperwork, for the living and the dead.
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No resources. No staff. I actually know of somebody who is a nurse at one of the local government hospital. She contracted covid 19, isolated recovered, but now does not want to go back because they have no protective equipment left. Still have to worry about the TB and HIV.
 
Bahnz

Bahnz

Well-known member
Welp I had the Covid swab test today. No need to be worried, I’ve just had a cold these past few days, and (given I live with somebody who has a lung condition) my dr decided it would be best to get one just in case. The test is awwwwful. The length of the swab actually shocked me and my eyes were ********* tears by the time she’d finished rummaging around in my sinuses. Fingers crossed I never need to do that again.
 
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honestbharani

honestbharani

Well-known member
Hopefully all is fine Bahnz...


And :laugh: at the Florida report. Surprised they did not say masks prevent others from seeing my beautiful face etc....
 
StephenZA

StephenZA

Well-known member
Some continuing stories in my local town.

news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/covid-19-tsunami-looms-as-eastern-cape-battles-shortage-of-doctors-and-nurses-warns-professor-20200624

news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/watch-covid-19-inside-a-nmb-hospital-where-dirt-stands-in-hallways-doctors-clean-wards-20200628

news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/nelson-mandela-bay-govt-should-consider-level-4-for-metro-says-acting-mayor-20200629

news24.com/news24/columnists/adriaanbasson/adriaan-basson-covid-19-carnage-in-eastern-cape-while-people-still-not-wearing-masks-20200629

Winter is coming and South Africa's Covid-19 trajectory is taking a new, but not entirely surprising turn.

Gauteng and the Eastern Cape have taken over from the Western Cape as the provinces with the most new coronavirus infections. The country's focus will shift to these provinces in the next two months, as winter hits our shores.

The Western Cape is far from being in the clear, but there are signs the province may have reached its infections peak (although there is a debate in the scientific community about this, largely caused by the decrease in testing since the beginning of the outbreak).

There is no debate about the numbers for Gauteng and the Eastern Cape: their exponential curves are shooting straight up. They are also two of the country's biggest provinces, in terms of population size (Gauteng has 12.3m residents and the Eastern Cape 6.6m, according to the 2011 National Census. KwaZulu-Natal had 10.3m residents).

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has given three reasons for Gauteng's spike in infections: "inward migration" since the opening-up of the economy; density of the province's cities; and "increased congregating", coupled with poor social behaviour.

I need to pause for a moment on what Mkhize correctly calls a "fatigue" that has set in, causing many South Africans to behave as if the virus has left our shores on the last flight out of OR Tambo.

Nothing can be further from the truth. Our outbreak has only but started. So far, only the Western Cape has experienced the devastating effects of overflowing hospitals and a health system on the brink of collapse.

I could almost hear the pain in Mkhize's voice as he wrote: "South Africans are letting down their guard at a time when the spread of infection is surging. We see poor or no social distancing in communities. Masks are being abandoned or not worn properly and there is laxity setting in around frequent handwashing.

"This will directly influence the rise in numbers in the next two weeks… We do not have a vaccine. We do not have a cure. Our ability to break the cycle of infection depends on our willingness to remain focused and disciplined and take non-pharmaceutical interventions seriously."

A so-what attitude

It infuriates me when I see people not wearing masks in public spaces like shops, malls or walkways. In the beginning few weeks of the lockdown, the majority of South Africans obeyed the call for mask-wearing, physical distancing and handwashing.

But as time has passed, many people have adopted a so-what attitude, seemingly based on the belief that either they are too young and healthy to get the virus, or that if they get the virus, their symptoms will only be mild and they will be A-okay.

But here is the flaw in that thinking: it's not only about YOU. You may already have the virus and be asymptomatic, but pass it on to someone next to you in the queue at your local supermarket. That person may have underlying medical issues or come into contact with an elderly or ill person.I also miss my family and friends and am annoyed by having to breathe through a piece of cloth every time I leave my house, but this seems like a pretty small price to pay for not unwittingly spreading the virus to someone who could die?

Even more so, if you live in Gauteng, the Western Cape or the Eastern Cape, where many people will die of Covid-19 in the coming days and weeks.

Which brings me to the Eastern Cape and Gauteng. The richest province in the country will likely manage a surge in patients and a spike in demand for ICU beds in the coming weeks and months.

In the Eastern Cape, it's carnage. We have a team of journalists on the ground who are reporting the one horror story after the other. Rubbish and medical waste on the floors, blood on the walls and injured patients helping other patients – and this is at Livingstone Hospital in Port Elizabeth, the province's wealthiest city.

Years of poor governance by the provincial ANC, corruption and neglect has effectively brought the Eastern Cape healthcare system to its knees.

The mismanagement and further impoverishment of the Eastern Cape and its citizens is one of the ANC's most scandalous legacies. Despite birthing some of the greatest ANC leaders like Tambo, Sisulu, Mandela and Mbeki, the province has been left to rot in the hands of corrupt ANC factions for many years.

The province's inability to look after its Covid-19 and other patients is a direct result thereof.

The ANC will eventually lose control of the Eastern Cape. When that day arrives, we may very well look back and point to this moment as the final breach of trust between the party and its supporters.
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L

Lillian Thomson

Well-known member
It's looking like Leicester will be the first UK town to be hit with a regional lockdown. Considering this is before the major easing of the lockdown next week it doesn't bode well.
 
honestbharani

honestbharani

Well-known member
Yeah but it is the more relaxed lockdown that has been in effect since June 8 across the country. We in Chennai will have to live through the "intense lockdown' for 6 more days.
 
Shri

Shri

Well-known member
honestbharani said:
Yeah but it is the more relaxed lockdown that has been in effect since June 8 across the country. We in Chennai will have to live through the "intense lockdown' for 6 more days.
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Relaxed lockdown? Like open tea stalls until 7 or 8 at night?
 
duffer

duffer

Well-known member
We're headed for a full lockdown here too. Lowest testing per million in the country, coupled with second highest positive cases per test numbers (around 32%).

Situation is dire.
 
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