1 505 cases, 9 deaths and 50 219 people tested. I was one of the more than 50 000 people tested – and nearly one of the 1 505 cases.
And while South Africa seems to be showing a reduced number of infections during lockdown, keeping the ratio of new infections from infected people below the critical
1:1 mark, the concern is about
testing.
Not enough tests are being done to inform the country of the real spread of the virus, and the time taken between testing and results has been too long to effectively shut the spread of the virus down.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize shared this concern this week. He even said: “We might be currently experiencing a calm before we have a devastating storm.”
This was my experience.
A friend attended the Afro Latin Dance Festival in Johannesburg the week before lockdown. I joined them for a family meal later that week. Then I had a call to say his dance partner had tested positive and he was self
isolating, but fortunately he was showing no symptoms. A number of people at that festival had tested positive.
Four days later I had a call to say he had tested positive. This was the Wednesday before the lockdown, 10 days after the initial infection.
So I had no choice but to impose an early self-lockdown - at least I missed the last apocalyptic days in the shops - and inform everyone I had been in contact with that I had had exposed.
Fortunately I am not the life and soul of the party so my list wasn’t as extensive as my friend’s, but I had still been in contact with two potentially vulnerable people: my 85-year-old mother, and my older domestic worker who is the sole breadwinner for not only her children but those of her late sister.
It also coincided with a bad bout of sinusitis which produces some symptoms similar to the dreaded Covid-19 - sore throat and tight chest, although no temperature. And so I called my doctor to get tested.
There are strict protocols to be
followed. You can’t just waltz into a lab and demand to be tested - that would just infect everyone.
Your doctor has to fill out a set of forms that have to go to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD). These have to detail the contact who tested positive, and where possible that person’s contact.
Your doctor also has to outline the nature of the contact and any sign of symptoms you may be having. Because of the shortage of reagent for the testing process, the NICD has to authorise the test and will prioritise the most urgent cases.
Once that is done, the labs get involved.
Four days later I received a call from the lab to actually go to do the test, making an appointment at noon that day.
But I was not to come into the lab. Testing was done at a satellite station at Westridge Park Tennis Stadium.
I was instructed to drive in at the main gates and follow the signs to the testing station. I was not to get out of my car, someone would come to me.
Should I wear a mask? Yes, if you have one.
I was also told not to use any mouthwash, cough syrup or throat lozenges that contain alcohol because these may interfere with the test.
So my car is my own personal quarantine zone. It makes sense.
I arrived in a car park in the furthest region of Westridge Park Tennis Stadium. It’s all clearly sign-posted.
As I arrive a car is leaving.
A kindly woman acknowledges me with a wave before putting on medical protective gear. This is not the full hazmat suit I had been expecting, but more like medical scrubs.
I feel like I’m breaking out into a sweat. It is a hot day and I’ve switched the car off so the air conditioning is off. She gives me a face mask and even shows me how to wear it properly. A few account details are checked and she swabs my throat.
She tells me results should be ready in 24 hours, but to rather expect 48 hours and waves me on my way with a “hope all is well”.
I’m struck with a thought that I hope that such humane and empathetic treatment doesn’t get swamped by the sheer weight of numbers and in the crunch of officialdom.
As I leave, I notice another car has pulled up across the car park - suitably social-distanced, naturally - and the lab assistant’s colleague is getting dressed to attend to it.
Thirty-six hours later my doctor calls. I get the all clear. I can phone friends and worried colleagues with the good news.
Another colleague expressed a similar frustration with the slow pace of testing. She too had been exposed, and she and her family had to wait six days for results, adding stress to already stressful times
This week Mkhize said the government could conduct about 5000 tests a day, but he hoped to expand that to 36000 a day by the end of the month.
He also said the government was sending 67 mobile testing vans across the country. But he conceded that 47000 tests were far too few, because of the
nature of our disease burden in our country.
Mkhize said that initially the mobile units would test for Covid-19 using the traditional laboratory methods but he hoped the country would soon have rapid testing kits which would enable more people to be screened and tested in a shorter period of time.
Bravo, Doc, that couldn’t happen soon enough.
- Frank Chemaly is content producer on the Independent on Saturday