‘Advanced level 3’ welcomed, but it could be devastating

The plan to open up restaurants and personal care services has been welcomed, but experts have warned that the move could be devastating to areas hardest hit by Covid-19, where the healthcare system was already under strain.

This as the National Health Laboratory Service’s Covid-19 backlog stands at over 63,000, which has been blamed on a shortage of test kits and reagents.

Dr Emily Wong, an infectious disease physician and scientist from the Africa Health Research Institute, said it would be surprising if the restrictions on restaurants and personal care services were relaxed everywhere.

“I would be concerned that, especially in areas of the country where there has been increasing number of infections… That could worsen the already bad situation. What we have seen around the world is that the only way for decreasing infections is to implement social distancing. It is concerning that in a situation where cases are going up, we are relaxing social distancing, in my opinion. I personally do not understand the rationale behind it and it is not going to work,” she said.

She said countries like Brazil and Sweden did not really put in place social distancing measures and that they were among countries with the highest number of Covid-19 infections in the world.

Wong said the easing of restrictions on social contact could be implemented according to the rate of infections per area.

She said it would be puzzling to treat the Western Cape, which has the highest infections in the country, and Northern Cape, which almost had no Covid-19, the same.

Restaurants and personal care services such as hair salons are among the businesses which might be able to reopen under “Advanced Level 3” regulations, with Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, minister of small business and development, saying the decision was waiting for the Health Advisory Council.

A balancing act of epic proportions

Stellenbosch University epidemiologist, Dr Jo Barnes, said what was classified as essential was never publicly debated or discussed with the general population.

She said to her knowledge, there are no scientific studies to say that the close contact between a hairdresser and client was more risky than the close contact between workers in a fruit pack house.

“By now, during level 3, it seems irrational not to allow personal care or food service industries to operate. Many everyday interactions are now permitted. Why come down on only some of them? If the government can explain their scientific reasoning that would be good. So far that explanation has been singularly lacking,” she said.

Laboratory expert and head of the Biomedical Sciences Department at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology Dr Glenda Davison, said SA have reached a point where the benefit of continuing the lockdown and the destruction of peoples livelihood were at a fine balance.

“Therefore we need to allow the economy to open, but take the necessary precautions. This means thinking out of the box and embracing new ways of doing things. South Africans are very innovative and so I think it can be done,” she said.

Hairdressers give haircuts to customers at a women’s beauty parlour after the government eased the nationwide lockdown previously imposed against the Covid-19 coronavirus, in Bangalore on May 20, 2020. / AFP / Manjunath Kiran

Davison said each establishment would need to think differently and adhere to the three main rules of physical distancing, wearing masks and washing hands and surfaces.

Among possible adjustments are the reopening of hairdressers, massage therapists, nail and manicure services, and some sectors of the hospitality industry.

Lee Zama, chief executive of the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa, said they have made a compelling representation for sit-down restaurants to open, and that the hospitality safety protocols they have developed would go a long way to ensure that operations were Covid-19 safe.

She said this move was suited to save both the businesses and the jobs.

“Training on the safety protocols is already under way. We have further implemented an industry self-regulation mechanism to ensure compliance. We are a sector that sets and operates under very high hygiene and safety standards. The new Covid-19 awareness and safety measures are implementable. The industry is ready,” Zama said.

The mooted move is good news for the restaurant industry, which the Restaurant Association of SA said was “decimated” by the Covid-19 lockdown.

Spokesperson, Wendy Alberts, said the industry needed support from government so that people could return to work.

“We have said for a very long time that we are ready, the industry has suffered for a very long time. We have been ready for 12 weeks,” she said.

Losing the battle?

Divisional Director at Ezintsha, Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, Professor Francois Venter, said the current wave of hospitalisations and deaths in the Western Cape and Gauteng were from infections largely contracted under lockdown level 4, saying this shows SA was losing the battle.

He said lockdowns were a very crude instrument and South Africa was allowed preparation, which he said should have been used more creatively.

“We should get rid of the language of lockdown, and start doing the social engineering that we should’ve been doing over phases 5, 4 and 3 – finding creative ways to implement physical distancing, and keeping the vulnerable safe,” Venter said.

He said making contact with anybody in an epidemic was risky, but this could be managed effectively and that there have been case reports of people going to hairdressers, where a Covid-case was present, and there were no transmissions.

“We know a lot more than three months ago – we just need clear, creative guidelines to businesses that emphasise the principles that they need to look at, and let them tailor that to their circumstances,” Venter said.

siphom@citizen.co.za

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