by Adam Hartman
AT least 100 patients may have been exposed to a confirmed coronavirus case, a health worker at the ARV clinic at Swakopmund said.
The
clinic was closed on Monday after the health worker was confirmed
Covid-19 positive, resulting in the 11 other staff members being
quarantined.
A nurse, who declined to be identified, informed The
Namibian on Monday that the other staff, which includes five nurses,
four health assistants and two cleaners, were also tested.
Most
of the staff are quarantined at the Swakopmund bungalows, while some,
who do not live alone, are self-quarantined at their homes.
According
to the nurse, the 60-year-old health worker lives at Walvis Bay, and
commutes to and from Swakopmund for work every day.
This has
raised concern among the staff, as Walvis Bay is the epicentre of
Namibia’s Covid-19 outbreak, and there were calls that patients from
Walvis be treated separately from those coming from Swakopmund. This,
however, did not include the health worker from the harbour town.
Over
the past two weeks, she started displaying symptoms of Covid-19, which
included coughing. She said she also felt sick, and she was immediately
referred to a private doctor.
“The problem is during these two
weeks she was working with patients and the staff. She is a people’s
person, so she was always busy helping,” the nurse said. “She must have
been in contact with at least 100 patients who are vulnerable and needed
ARVs.”
Last weekend, the health worker tested positive for Covid-19.
“Now
the clinic is closed, and they first have to disinfect and find other
staff while the rest of us are awaiting our test results. I cannot
understand why they keep quiet about this,” the nurse said.
“We
health workers understand if our health is at risk because of patients;
but patients’ health should not be put at risk because of us.”
Erongo health director Anna Jonas and the region’s chief medical officer Dr Amir Shaker could not be reached for comment.
Governor
Neville Andre, who also leads the region’s Covid-19 emergency response
mechanism, confirmed the facility was closed for disinfection and that
contact tracing had started.
“We are getting challenges with
people in the community who are being contacted to go into quarantine
but they are not cooperating. This is risky and it might trigger
community infections.
“We need to help one another and get
tested so that we minimise community infections before they spread
rapidly,” Andre said on Tuesday.
