Nelson Mandela Bay Covid-19 mobile testing farce

Mobile testing for Covid-19 has all but ground to a halt in Nelson Mandela Bay.

The Eastern Cape’s mobile testing programme was launched with much fanfare in Port Elizabeth on Thursday by Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane and health MEC Sindiswa Gomba.

However, on Tuesday, Gomba said no further tests were being carried out in the city because officials were waiting for testing kits.

A group of homeless people being housed at the Walmer Town Hall were tested at the launch, with testing for the rest of the metro meant to start in earnest on Monday.

Mobile testing has been adopted by a number of governments around the world — including SA — as an important  strategy to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Widespread testing and a quarantine campaign involving about 10,000 field workers, who were sent to homes in villages, towns and cities to screen for Covid-19 symptoms, started in SA last week.

The aim is to break the chain of infection and is similar to the South Korean strategy, which brought the outbreak in the Asian country under control.

The news that the testing had stalled in the Bay came as Port Elizabeth’s largest township, Motherwell, recorded its first Covid-19 case.

In another township in the city, Zwide, there were two confirmed cases, while Despatch also registered its first case.

The number of confirmed infections in the Eastern Cape was 32, of which 17 were in the Bay, while the countrywide infection tally on Tuesday stood at 1,749, with 13 deaths.

In the neighbouring Kouga area, mobile testing started as planned on Monday with the details of exactly which areas would be targeted for testing made public.

Kouga municipal spokesperson Laura-Leigh Randall said the areas to be covered during the first week of testing included  Pellsrus in Jeffreys Bay, Arcadia and Vergenoeg in Humansdorp, Zwelitsha in St Francis Bay, Tier and Kloofnek Street, 7de Laan, Rooikloof and Creche Street in Patensie, Philipsville in Hankey, Judy and Marlene Street, Greenfields, and the informal settlements of Loerie and the area of Thornhill.

Buffalo City metro mayor Xola Pakati joined volunteers in Gonubie on Tuesday as the government’s door-to-door screening campaign was rolled out in East London.  

The volunteers started with the door-to-door tracing, screening and testing in people’s homes, spaza shops, supermarkets, garages, clinics and police stations in Gonubie.

Those who were screened and showed mild symptoms were tested and will know their results either this week or next.

“The testing in Nelson Mandela Bay has not started as they [testing teams] are waiting for their deliveries of kits, a courier will be arriving tomorrow,” Gomba said.

She said the kits had been expected to be delivered on Wednesday.

Asked where the testing would be done first in the metro, provincial health department spokesperson Siyanda Manana said: “The district [health department] will determine that.”

However, when asked who at the district department could explain where the tests would be done in the Bay, Manana said district officials were not allowed to speak to the media.

Though he then put the question to the district officials, no details were available by the time of going to print.

Gomba said though testing had not yet got off the ground in Nelson Mandela Bay, district health department officials had sat down with officials from municipalities and institutions of higher learning, business representatives, volunteers and Xhoisan chiefs across the province to set up a joint operations committee to ensure everyone was on board.

She said the department was aware that many people had concerns that criminals could use the testing as a ploy to gain access to people’s homes.

“We heard the questions from people asking [when it came to door-to-door testing] ‘are we safe?’

“But you don’t need to open your gates to be tested.

“A ward councillor will also always be visible. We will post flyers so people know about it [testing].”

She said the teams doing the tests would comprise no fewer than six people and would be easily identifiable because the health-care workers would wear uniforms and would be accompanied by people recognisable to the community.

The teams would be larger in areas where more testing would be done.

“If you have seen what they are doing in Sarah Baartman, there are teams of six, but in larger area, those teams could be bigger.”

When it came to the training of those who would administer the testing, Gomba said not all members of the team would do the actual testing.

“Some would provide information, some would test and others would be involved in specimen collection,” she said.

Those doing the actual testing had all been trained at different places — such as clinics  — across the province.

Gomba said the training was done by doctors and senior nurses.

When it came to manpower, she said 1,000 trained but unemployed health-care workers —  who had studied at the Lilitha College —  had been roped in on one-year contracts to assist.

Municipal disaster management director Shane Brown said the mass-testing programme was a department of health competency and, as such, he could not say when it would be rolled out in earnest.

“I know they were still waiting for some of the material and stock, but I can’t give any dates at the moment.

“However, the mobile units are already out in the villages and some township areas,” he said.

Brown  said the municipality had to play a role in the testing such as identifying locations in the metro that would serve as testing sites.

However, those sites were not operational yet and the municipality was still in the planning phase of getting them ready and ensuring the relevant staff was available.  

“We’ve identified a number of sites for people to access and every site has to have a registered nurse and an official there who would help keep records,” he said.

“We’ve looked at clinics but we’ve also looked at libraries and places like the wellness centre in Walmer, trying to find places that are well known in the communities and accessible.

“I’m not saying clinics won’t possibly be used, but you have to look at the risk that would place on the patients who are there for other treatment.” — Additional reporting Daily Dispatch