Covid-19 positive Eastern Cape pensioner questions why she was not isolated

An Eastern Cape pensioner who tested positive for Covid-19 questions why she is home despite a directive from the health minister stating the opposite.

Health minister Zweli Mkhize was quoted on May 13 as saying that everyone who tested positive, even if they did not show symptoms, would have to be isolated in hospitals or isolation facilities.

The woman, 65, who has asked that her name be withheld, was discharged from SS Gida Provincial Hospital in Keiskammahoek on April 30, the day she received her results.  

She said a nurse told her the hospital would make contact with her but she had not heard from them since.

The eThafeni village woman, who has underlying health conditions, said she felt healthy and was not exhibiting any symptoms of the disease. However, she was concerned about falling ill.

She believes she contracted the virus at a funeral in her village near Dimbaza on April 18. She said another mourner tested positive in Port Elizabeth.

The woman said the reason she went to the hospital in the first place was because she had been traced as one of the mourners at the funeral.

“But I have not been sick, except for this regular flu I am telling you about. The person from PE is now in a healthy condition too.

“I don't know if I can say I feel I have been helped by the department or not, because they have not returned to tell me what should happen now.”

Nurses at SS Gida say when they treated the woman her status —  as with other patients — was hidden from them.

They said a lack of a proper isolation ward at the hospital would continue to compromise their safety and frustrate health department efforts to fight the virus.

Provincial health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said: “Self-quarantine and self-isolation have always been the practices. But if people indicate that their home environment is not conducive enough, they would have been taken into quarantine before the results [were released].

“If a person [who has tested positive] goes to the public, the police will have to act against that person.”

Kupelo said funerals continued to be a problem.

“Even with 50 [mourners], funerals are a problem. We’ve got these numbers that have skyrocketed because of funerals.”

He said after “each and every funeral”, the department picked up more cases.

“We still preach that people must keep distance, wash hands for 20 seconds, wear masks and sanitise. This issue is no longer about the government. Pointing fingers is going to allow a rapid spread of this virus.”