Hospitals across the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro are full and ICU beds hard to come by due to the spike in COVID-19 cases during the metro’s second wave of infections.
This announcement was made by acting mayor, Tshonono Buyeye, during a virtual media briefing earlier today (Wednesday).
“From the reports that we have received from public and private hospitals, we really are in a serious situation as a City. Our hospitals are full and ICU beds are a struggle to get. At some point we as a City thought that we had won the race against the virus but all of a sudden, infections spiked at an alarming rate and the field hospital has become like gold to us,” Buyeye said, referring to the Rev. Dr Elizabeth Mamisa Chabula-Nxiweni Field Hospital that was opened earlier this year as an overflow facility for COVID-19 patients.
Buyeye, joined by Disaster Management Chairperson, Shane Brown, also raised his concerns about the new trend whereby children, especially those between the ages of 14-24 years, are becoming infected. “It is a real concern and the situation in the metro has the potential to become even worse than it is now,” he added.
Listen here to Brown speak about full hospitals and overworked staff.
According to Buyeye, the previous cause of increases in positive cases in the metro was funerals, but it has now changed to social gatherings. “I am not saying that we are out of the woods when it comes to funerals, but right now social gatherings are a major issue. The problem is the rate at which the numbers are going up. We went from 500 to 5000 cases in two weeks.
“We don’t want to see a hard lockdown for our City because we have seen the impact it had on us, especially economically. Therefore, every citizen should be aware of the danger they find themselves in. We need to comply with regulations for our numbers to go down. We have done it before; we can do it again.”
Brown emphasised that the main issue remains compliance with COVID-19 and lockdown regulations. “There is suddenly a massive increase in the nightlife activities and that is why we have asked law enforcement to get even more involved. Midnight is still curfew and people should already be home by then, not roaming the streets. I don’t even want to mention nightclubs because they are illegal at level one and should not be operating,” he said.
“The message remains around compliance. The difference between the first and second wave is that the hot spots were clear during the first wave. Now, with the second wave, the infections are purely just all over the City. There is not a single part that doesn’t have infections,” Brown added.
He emphasised that hospitals are at maximum capacity and staff are fatigued and overworked. “This pandemic has had a massive impact on medical staff and they are picking themselves up to deal with the second wave,” he said.
According to Buyeye, the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium that was used as a quarantine site for a few months, is back to serving its purpose as a sporting and events facility and the metro has not yet considered whether or not the stadium would become a quarantine site again.
However, the Rev. Dr Elizabeth Mamisa Chabula-Nxiweni Field Hospital never closed and currently has just over 200 patients, with a capacity of 1 500 beds, but due to staff shortages, only 250-300 patients can currently be accommodated at the field hospital. Brown said that 642 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised at hospitals all over the metro and a third of these patients are at the field hospital. More than 100 medical staff members from public and private hospitals are off from work due to being COVID-19 positive and the Eastern Cape Department of Health (DOH) is trying to solve this issue.
Spokesperson of the ECDOH, Siyanda Manana, said that free COVID-19 tests can still be done at hospitals and clinics. “We test people that show symptoms, not those that suspect. If you show symptoms, then you should go and get tested. We have not stopped the testing,” he said.
According to statistics released last night, Tuesday, November 10, the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro had 5 574 active cases. The overall death toll in the metro since the start of the pandemic stands at 1 306.
