'Tomorrow I might get it': essential workers' Covid-19 anxiety

Parents, sisters, brothers and breadwinners are some of the men and women who wake up every day to work through their own fears and exhaustion to provide essential services to a nation in lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tshifhiwa Pandelani, who works as a splicer technician at a networking company in Gauteng, said he felt his life was at risk.

The 35-year-old said the first thing he does when he gets home is to wash his hands before he touches anything in the house.

“Our lives are at risk because we are going out and working with people while not knowing who we come across. It puts our lives at risk even though we are wearing masks and gloves, but it is not safe at all,” he said.

A 48-year-old, who works in a hospital based in Pretoria, said she is scared for her life as she has had first-hand experience witnessing the severity of the coronavirus. She is also nervous of criminals targeting her when she travels to and fro work.

“I do not feel safe because this virus is real and scary, I see it every day at work.

“I wake feeling scared every day. I don’t feel safe as a woman walking on deserted streets when I try to catch a taxi or hike a lift,” she said.

A retail finance administrator who travels from the Johannesburg CBD to Eastgate using taxis said the experience of working amid the pandemic was overwhelming.

 The 30-year-old said going to work has been stressful.

“It’s quite stressful knowing I am going to meet people inside the taxi and at my working environment while not knowing what state they are in, and also what state I am in,” he said.

He said being in Gauteng, where the highest infection rate has been reported, made things even more stressful.

“It is not guaranteed that tomorrow I might not get it. Also being one of few people who are walking on the empty streets in Johannesburg every day is very scary,” he said.

A 29-year-old nurse at a hospital in Cullinan said nurses were at a higher risk if South Africans do not adhere to the rules of the lockdown.

The concerned nurse said if it wasn’t for the law which binds her to work, she would have  preferred to stay home and be as safe as the rest of the nation.

“It’s hectic. We are bound by the law,” she said.

“If it was not we would stay at home like others. We don’t have materials to protect ourselves, and when you try to explain the coronavirus and dangers to people they don’t follow instructions,” she said.

Long work hours are also affecting the families of those who are working.

Tshenolo Mapoo, a water plant operator in Jan Kempdorp, Northern Cape, now puts in a 12-hour shift and more to keep up with demand during Covid-19.

“Water is life. We live by those words here. We have no choice but to focus. We are putting extra measures in everything we do. We can't take chances. I wear a mask and gloves and use hand sanitisers to protect myself while I work.

“On normal days we had specific chemicals we used, but now we put in extra measures. We don’t want to take any risks. We want to ensure it’s 100% done. I'm here most of the time, more than 12 hours most days,” Mapoo said.

He said the crisis has dramatically changed his family life.

“I come back from work and sleep. I don't even eat or have energy to be with my children. My mind is working overtime, but we have to do this. It’s risky.”

“Police don’t give us problems. They communicate with us well and have a good understanding of our job,” Mapoo said.

— Additional reporting by Kgaugelo Masweneng