Confusion reigns

Date: 09 April 2020 By: Andries van Zyl

What an eventful week this has been on the frontlines in the fight against the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic.

The past week saw Louis Trichardt record its first confirmed Covid-19 case and for many the news came as somewhat of a shock. The only official detail known about the patient is what was made available by the Limpopo Department of Health on 1 April. According to them, the 40-year-old Bangladeshi man from Eltivillas, who became the 18^th person in Limpopo to test positive for the virus, had recently travelled overseas. He has identified 10 possible contacts, of which six could be traced by Wednesday last week.

At the same time, the Limpopo Department of Health also stated that 19 cases of Covid-19 had been confirmed in Limpopo. A week later, both the provincial and national statistics still reflected only 19 cases for Limpopo. Numerous attempts by the Zoutpansberger to find out why this number remained unchanged went unanswered, with the provincial spokesperson for the Department of Health, Mr Neil Shikwambana, ignoring all media enquiries. 

What the past week did highlight was major confusion among local residents regarding the 21-day lockdown regulations.

Reports were received of a local shop owner who was threatened with closure of his shop by members of the South African Police Service because he and some of his staff were not wearing protective face masks and gloves. Another report came in of a nurse being arrested for not wearing a face mask while travelling in a minibus taxi on her way to work. Yet at the same time, another resident reported being visited by several government officials telling her that their shop staff should not wear face masks and gloves. This led to a confrontation with a well-known resident when the shop’s staff refused to serve him because he was wearing a face mask and gloves.

In another unconfirmed report of a shop owner being threatened with shop closure, the owner was accused of selling a non-essential product, a light bulb, to a customer. Yet in this week’s newspaper, on page 3, a Game advertisement states that light bulbs are considered an essential item. Other items, among others, include rechargeable lights and torches, multi-plugs, adaptors and extension cords. The interpretation of what is considered an essential item seems at present to be done by the police official or government official visiting a store, which just adds to the confusion.

The Zoutpansberger will try and confirm over the next few days what exactly is considered essential items and what the status quo is regarding the wearing of face masks and protective gloves. One thing that needs no confirmation is the call for people to maintain social distancing of at least one metre and to wash their hands frequently. The newspaper is also awaiting an update on the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases for Limpopo, specifically regarding confirmed cases in Louis Trichardt and surrounds.

In the meantime, unconfirmed reports state that the Eltivillas man has since been moved to the Modimolle Multi-Drug Resistant TB Hospital as per instruction of the Limpopo MEC for Health, Dr Phophi Ramathuba. Ramathuba has been making newspaper headlines the past week after giving instructions that nobody who has tested positive for Covid-19 in the province would be allowed to self-isolate at home and must be taken to the Modimolle Multi-Drug Resistant TB Hospital to be quarantined.

The arrest of two doctors from Mpumalanga, who live in Modimolle, after testing positive for the Covid-19 virus sparked huge public outcry. They were forcibly removed from their home, where they had self-isolated themselves, by the police and government officials. For people to self-isolate at home when infected by the virus is an internationally accepted practice. With looming court action against Ramathuba for her hard-handed handling of the two doctors, the Limpopo Department of Health issued a statement that the two doctors had recovered, with a second test showing a negative result. “Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba welcomes the COVID-19 negative test results of two doctors from Modimolle. The two doctors, who work in Mpumalanga, tested positive for COVID-19 and were taken into the department's isolation site. The doctors’ latest test results have come out negative. Subsequent to the release of the latest results, doctors at the isolation site have recommended that the two doctors be released. The two doctors will be released immediately,” the statement reads.

The action by the MEC of “arresting” people who tested positive for the Covid-19 virus and not allowing them to self-isolate has sparked fears from all over that people will now hide their symptoms and status, pushing the virus “underground”.

* The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) did release the latest statistics for Limpopo after the Zoutpansberger went to press on Wednesday afternoon. According to the latest statistics, Limpopo recorded only two more confirmed Covid-19 cases since 1 April bringing the total to 21 with no recorded deaths.

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

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