Bay pauses Covid-19 testing
Public sector sites to close after soaring demand swamps health-care system
All community and public sector mobile testing sites for Covid-19 in Nelson Mandela Bay will be closed at the end of the week.
However, private labs will continue to do tests for now.
Announcing the closure of public sector testing sites, Dr Litha Matiwane said yesterday that the number of people opting to be tested was placing an overwhelming strain on the health-care system as well as the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS).
Matiwane, who was deployed to the metro by health minister Zweli Mkhize as a means to beef up testing and screening, said all 25 community-based sites in the city would be closed.
He said the national lockdown implemented by President Cyril Ramaphosa in March was aimed at flattening the curve and slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“Nelson Mandela Bay has hit the surge of the curve,” Matiwane said.
“We are seeing a daily increase of 700 to 800 cases per day.
“In April, we were recording 40 cases per day.”
He said major pressure had been placed on the labs and not all the people tested were positive for the virus.
“The lab can test about [a maximum of] 1,500 cases per day in the metro and, right now, it’s sitting with a backlog of 8,000 cases — which means it’s about five to seven days behind.
“This waiting period puts a lot of pressure on our hospitals because when a person tests and their results haven’t been confirmed yet, they’re kept in hospital and kept in a bed, and [if] results came out sooner we’d be able to transfer [patients].
“This contributes to us saying there are not enough beds in the city,” Matiwane said.
Last month, Eastern Cape health boss Dr Thobile Mbengashe said the department had a limited number of ICU beds.
Yesterday, he announced that the Rev Dr Elizabeth Mamisa Chabula-Nxiweni VWSA field hospital had admitted its first 30 patients, which he said would go a long way in alleviating the hospitalbed challenge in the Bay.
As of Monday, the Bay had 10,442 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 136 deaths.
Matiwane said that on Monday there were 157 patients at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, 99 at the Willows Resort, 192 in private hospitals and 101 in other private facilities.
“We have about 200 [people] awaiting results.
“Of those, 43 are in private hospitals and 157 in public hospitals.
“We also have 65 patients in ICU and 24 other patients at the Rev Dr Elizabeth Mamisa Chabula-Nxiweni VWSA field hospital in Korsten.”
He said as SA entered the flu season, there were many people taking Covid-19 tests due to having flu symptoms, which were similar to those of Covid-19.
“The turnaround time for results is not quick enough and so, from now on, we’ll only test [people who are] direct contacts [of those who have tested positive] with symptoms.
“We’ll be closing testing sites by the end of the week.
“We’re appealing to people not to go to the testing sites.
“We’ve told clinics to test close contacts of those who’ve tested [positive] and who are having symptoms.
“We want to control the numbers and improve the turnaround time and we’re appealing to be given a chance to do so,” he said.
Matiwane said the department also wanted those who had tested positive to be isolated in government facilities because not everyone stayed in quarantine for the required 14 days.
“Fourteen days is a long time for some people and you have those who are meant to be isolating at home not finishing that period.
“You also have family members and neighbours visiting, which could lead to further transmission.”
He also appealed to the business community to assist in observing Covid-19 protocols such as social distancing, the wearing of masks and sanitisation.
“Companies have occupational health and safety committees and they can assist us in screening people to start to control cases,” Matiwane said.
He said companies could also introduce structured monthly decontamination of their offices instead of doing so only when someone in the company had tested positive.
Speaking about the lack of hospital beds, National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union regional secretary Sweetness Stokwe said she had experienced it first hand.
Stokwe, who tested positive
for Covid-19 but has since recovered, said she had collapsed, called an ambulance and when it had arrived, the crew was unsure where to take her as the Uitenhage hospitals were full.
“I was so upset, I actually feel like cancelling my medical aid because I ended up going to Laetitia Bam day hospital as Cuyler hospital could not admit me and I was told Uitenhage Provincial Hospital had the same problem.
“My other comrades in Port Elizabeth also experienced similar situations.
“This has been my own personal experience,” Stokwe said.
Yesterday, while announcing the province’s communitybased Covid-19 rapid response strategy, premier Oscar Mabuyane said 18 state facilities had been earmarked to fight the increase in positive cases.
The strategy included containment, the provision of beds, the erection of field hospitals, planning and schools.
Mabuyane said nursing colleges in all districts and metros would provide the province with 2,080 beds, including 218 high-care beds.
“We plan to have these field hospitals ready soon so that we are able to accommodate more people that will be needing hospital admission and isolation,” he said.
Mabuyane said the 75 military medical personnel who had arrived on Sunday would be deployed to the province’s hotspot areas — including the Bay, the Buffalo City metro and the OR Tambo and Chris Hani districts.
“They will be [stationed] at Dora Nginza, Livingstone, Frere, Nelson Mandela Academic, Frontier, Komani and Tower hospitals to respond to outbreaks and provide other specialised health care to our people,” he said.