17 Covid-related deaths in district in five days
From Saturday 10 July up until Tuesday 14 July, the Garden Route recorded 17 Covid-19 deaths. Six of these were in George and six in Oudtshoorn, one in Hessequa, two in Mossel Bay and two in Bitou.
According to Western Cape Health spokesperson Nadia Ferreira, 64 people in the district have died due to Covid-19 and 80 patients are currently in public and private hospitals, with 26 in critical care.
Of the 2 942 cases reported in the Garden Route as of 14 July, 1 412 have recovered.
In George, the highest infection rate is being recorded in Thembalethu where, as of 3 July, 444 persons have tested positive. Pacaltsdorp is second with 134 infections. (The Western Cape Government Dashboard's last update for suburbs is
3 July.) Ferreira said a lot of factors play a role in infection spread, such as population density, specific clusters of outbreak in an area, and established community transmission. The department is continually screening and testing. "We also do contact tracing in order to place positive cases in isolation as fast as possible, and test their contacts where necessary. We work closely together with partners like the municipality to inform people and encourage behaviour change, but it remains each resident's responsibility to help us to protect our loved ones and families."
'Prayers and miracles'
Mediclinic George manager Kassie Karstens on Tuesday said they have a small number of staff currently isolating after testing positive for Covid-19. "But the remaining staff are meeting the challenges with their usual vigour. We have had a few challenges over the last week, but because of good teamwork and prayers from everyone involved we have also witnessed miracles happen. I cannot thank the staff enough for their attitude and determination in treating all our patients,” he said. "I have personally spoken to our staff today who are isolating, and all of them are doing much better and should be back at work soon." He also expressed his gratitude to the doctors who are adapting with the staff to the ever-changing circumstances. Asked about treating patients with high-flow nasal oxygen and dexamethasone, he said the treatments have been well researched by their doctors and are being prescribed where applicable.
"It is, however, not one size fits all and the doctors have to consider a lot of variables."
'High-flow nasal oxygen, steroid treatments successful'
According to an update issued by Premier Alan Winde during the past week, the use of high-flow nasal oxygen and of the steroid dexamethasone has emerged as very successful treatment of more severe cases. "After seeing some positive initial results treating patients early on in the pandemic at Tygerberg, we have expanded the treatment and we now have over 160 high-flow nasal oxygen machines available in the province."
He said five patients at Groote Schuur Hospital were well enough to be discharged from ICU to high care and from there to regular wards, all on the same day, after receiving this "life-saving" care. He said hospitalisation numbers have remained stable in the 1 700 to 1 800 range for several weeks and the province currently has 1 680 people in hospital, with 322 of these in ICU or high care.
'500 cases per hour'
On Sunday night President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed concern over the rapid increase in infections in the country. He announced an immediate reinstatement of the alcohol sales ban, a night curfew (21:00 to 04:00) and the wearing of masks in public being legally enforceable to help curb the spread. Ramaphosa said South Africa is now recording over 12 000 new cases every day, the equivalent of 500 new infections every hour.
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in a statement this week that South Africa is number 25 in the world in terms of population size, but already the country is number 10 in terms of Covid-19 cases.