Nurse’s 2 relatives succumb to virus, 5 others infected
A CONCERNED nurse says while the country celebrated the easing of lockdown restrictions this week, her family were mourning the death of two family members from Covid-19 and praying for the recovery of a third.
Pritisha Brownley, from Johannesburg, said her family were struggling to deal with the fact that seven family members from Cape Town, who she grew up with in an extended Gujarati family home in Lenasia, had contracted Covid-19.
Brownley said her 40-year-old cousin started displaying flu-like symptoms in April and he went to a doctor who treated him with antibiotics and steroids.
She said the father of two seemed to recover a bit and continued to go out to buy food for the family.
Brownley said her cousin, who has asthma, began feeling sick again, and his sister and her niece were displaying symptoms.
All three went to get tested on May 22 and received positive Covid-19 results the next day.
“All three of them were sent home even though my cousin was coughing his lungs out. They said his oxygen saturation was maintained above 80%. He is healthy. He is 40 years old. He must go home because they had a bed shortage,” she said.
Brownley said, at that point, her 73-year-old uncle Harilal Nana and his 72-year-old wife, Narbada, were isolating themselves in their bedroom in the same home with her cousins.
She said she advised her uncle and aunt to go to the hospital, but they wanted to celebrate her uncle’s seventy-third birthday first on the Monday.
“Overnight, on Sunday, they both were not right, and Monday morning, they were taken to the hospital. My uncle was okay, but my aunt was put on ventilation in the ICU,” said Brownley.
Brownley said her aunt died on Saturday morning and her uncle the next evening.
At that point, her cousins were already in hospital and were not allowed to see their parents.
The niece and two other relatives who also tested positive for Covid-19 did not have to be hospitalised.
“The 40-year-old was put on ventilation last Thursday, and his sister was taken on oxygen to the ICU on Saturday,” she said.
Brownley said the hospital allowed them to see her aunt using FaceTime with the rest of the family.
She said her female cousin was discharged on Monday, while her male cousin’s condition had deteriorated.
“We just got news that he collapsed, so they’re putting him on full mechanical ventilation,” said an emotional Brownley.
Brownley said her family were not doing well and were afraid to leave their homes to attend the funerals.
“We are going to have to have a virtual funeral.
“No one can hug and console anybody,” she said.
She said food was being sent to the family using an online service and the Gujarati funeral rituals could not be performed.
Brownley said family and friends connect with each other every day for prayers using the Zoom conference application between 7pm and 8pm, which allows them to see each other.
She said, as a person who works in the medical profession, she was very angry to see people rushing to the liquor stores and out of their homes.
In a Facebook post, Brownley vented her frustrations with the behaviour of the South African public.
“You think it’s great the lockdown has been relaxed to accommodate you. You can go to work, you can get your liquor at the bottle store, you can resume your life partially, but what about me, and my family? Covid-19 attacked my family,” she said.
She said they were praying for her cousin to recover as well as the other family members who tested positive for the virus.
“You worried about schooling, I’m worried if we are going to be alive for our children and grandchildren. People, don’t think you are immune, no one is,” warned Brownley.