[imagesource: Pixabay]

Another weekend ticked off, and by all accounts, this weekend was the closest thing to normality South Africa has seen in more than two months.

Social media was full of everything from hikes (good) to dinner parties (not your finest work there, people), and after more than 70 days of lockdown, you can forgive people for enjoying some semblance of freedom.

As we said on Friday, though, the worst is still to come, and whilst the Western Cape is weeks ahead, similar surges in infections are expected across the country.

Epidemiologists, as well as experts in infectious diseases and vaccinology, spoke to City Press throughout the last week.

Whilst some of the numbers quoted are a few days old (South Africa’s latest confirmed infection number is 48 285, with 998 deaths and 24 364 recoveries), the data still points in the same direction:

Shabir Madhi, professor of vaccinology at the University of the Witwatersrand, told City Press this week that the Eastern Cape should brace itself for a new wave of infections.

“In two weeks’ time, the Eastern Cape will be where the Western Cape is [in terms of the surge in cases]. Gauteng will be where the Western Cape is in four weeks’ time – and the Western Cape will be three times worse than what it is currently.”

The problems at some of Cape Town’s hospitals have been well documented, but the Eastern Cape is also dealing with what looks likely to become a nightmare scenario:

Frontline healthcare workers in the Eastern Cape are not being provided with adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), according to well-placed sources. This, after more than 200 healthcare workers tested positive for Covid-19 and a number of deaths from the virus were recorded.

As the Covid-19 numbers keep rising in the province, more and more hospital nurses and other related staff are testing positive. This often leads to understaffing, placing more pressure on the already undercapacitated hospitals and clinics.

After near on two and a half months of lockdown, and with religious gatherings of up to 50 allowed, the shift in public attitude towards many of the regulations is plain to see.

Sadly, dropping the ball could undo all the hard work that came before:

Madhi said there would be a rapid escalation in cases if South Africans did not adhere to “the non-pharmaceutical interventions” such as wearing of masks, hand hygiene and social distancing.

“And whatever gains there were from the level 5 lockdown will be wiped out completely, because our healthcare system will still not be able to cope and we will still face the full might of this pandemic,” he continued.

Side note – our health authorities may not have used the time provided during the lockdown thus far to full effect, with News24 reporting that just 207 critical care beds and 350 ventilators were added to public hospitals.

This is the gist of that report:

It raises questions about whether there will be sufficient critical care beds to treat the estimated 5% of coronavirus patients who may fall severely ill, and whether the Department of Health made any significant progress to boost existing bed capacities during the hard lockdown period.

However, an analysis of the numbers, amid concerns over data accuracy, shows that little to no progress appears to have been made in acquiring more critical care beds during the lockdown.

Read the report in full here.

If you’ve been good thus far, and adhered to lockdown rules and regulations, now really isn’t the time to start taking unnecessary risks.

[sources:citypress&news24]