It’s no time to relax despite easing of restrictions – experts warn

With SA seemingly over the Covid-19 infections hill, experts have warned that complacency due to the easing of restrictions, including the opening of bars, taverns and shebeens, could be the biggest threat to the gains of the hard lockdown.

The move to Level 2, as the recovery rate increase sours and the infection rate drops, has been widely welcomed, largely because of the urgent need for economic recovery to salvage remaining jobs and livelihoods.

On Saturday, President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the message of progress in SA’s fight against Covid-19, saying in the
last three weeks the number of new confirmed cases has dropped from a peak of over 12,000 a day to an average of around 5,000 a day.

He said since his previous address, the recovery rate from coronavirus had almost doubled, from 48% to 80% and that, at 105,000, the number of active cases was declining every day.

However, he lamented the cumulative number of cases remained stubbornly high at 583,653.

Fewer people are presenting with symptoms or requiring admission at public health facilities, with the number of patients hospitalised dropping from 10,000 to around 4,000 at the beginning of the month.

This has eased some pressure on the stretched health system, but Ramaphosa’s message of hope was peppered with a stern warning that the risk of infection becomes greater as more people return to work and interactions increase.

“We therefore cannot become complacent or abandon the health precautions that we know we need to take. Even the slightest lapse in our alertness at this moment could lead to a resurgence in infections at a rate and on a scale far greater than what we have seen so far.

“We have seen this happen in other countries, where stringent restrictions have had to be re-imposed at short notice as the rate of infection rises after relaxation,” he said.

Dr Atiya Mosam, a public health medicine specialist, agreed, saying the lifting of many of the hard restrictions did not mean the fight against the spread of the virus stopped, but that it was now an individual responsibility.

She said her concern was with increased opening of the economy, recreational facilities and access to alcohol, complacency will set in.

“I would urge citizens to still practice safe social distancing and hygiene practices such as wearing masks when visiting family and in public spaces and for businesses to ensure that patrons are sufficiently protected.

“If we don’t continue to protect ourselves and others, we risk seeing a rapid increase in numbers again and then moving up a level, with its subsequent impact on the economy,” Mosam said.

She said given the downward trend in active cases across most provinces, as well as the increased capacity and readiness of the public health system, the move to Level 2 was practical.

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) said hopefully the “encouraging” news of the low infection and high recovery rate does not breed complacency.

The trade union said these numbers did not mean the virus was gone and the unbanning of both alcohol and cigarettes should not lead to another influx of people needing help in healthcare facilities.

Its secretariat said in a statement the 11,677 people that have already lost the battle to the virus should underscore the need for all our people to follow best practices and ways to avoid getting infected by the coronavirus.

The union lamented that that their worry was that the number of infected frontline workers was still increasing on a daily basis, blaming lack of sufficient Personal Protective Equipment, non-compliance to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and understaffing as revealed in their fact-finding mission report.

“Recent statistics released by the department of health, even though they are questionable, reveal that as of August 4, the number of infected frontline workers stands at 27,360, while 240 workers have lost their lives to the coronavirus.

The most affected workers are nurses who are primary caregivers with 14,143 infections, followed by doctors at 1,644 infections,” the union said in a statement.

– siphom@citizen.co.za

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