Coronavirus lockdown challenges the poor

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread across the country, government will ramp up its testing in a bid to contain the spread of the disease in rural areas and densely-populated townships.

Last Wednesday health minister Zweli Mkhize launched 67 mobile sampling and testing units to be deployed nationwide.

KwaDukuza municipality has recorded only one coronavirus-related death so far. An 80-year-old man died last Tuesday.

He had recently returned from a religious gathering in Delhi, India, which had been identified as a coronavirus hotspot.

Mkhize said many people needed to get tested to get a true picture of the spread of the virus.

Around 10 000 field workers will be visiting homes in villages, towns and cities across the country to screen residents for Covid-19 symptoms. They have yet to arrive in KwaDukuza.

The government hopes to conduct as many as 30 000 tests per day to identify Covid-19 hotspots, then quarantine and treat the people who test positive.

“We need to engage all community leaders. Spread the message of stay at home and the importance of hygiene must be made more emphatically,” Mkhize said.

Since the start of the 21-day lockdown (which has since been extended to the end of April) on March 26, restrictions on movement and instructions on social distancing have been applied nationwide, but they are logistically almost impossible to follow for a significant portion of the population.

For many residents of informal settlements and townships such as Shaka’s Head, Shakaskraal, Groutville and Etete, social distancing remains a challenge as many live in shared accommodation where the bedroom doubles up as a kitchen and living space.

Groutville pastor Patrick Bilai told the Courier the lockdown recommendations were very difficult to implement.

“If your source of water is a community tap or if your toilet is one you share with dozens of families, how do you follow those guidelines? Many people in informal settlements live in households containing many people, with all generations living together in daily contact so you cannot practice social distancing.

“No one here really understands what will happen if the coronavirus reaches these densely populated communities. We have been handing out literature to educate them on the virus. But the reality is that because of their lack of understanding they are treating the lockdown like an unpaid holiday,” said Bilai.

The Courier visited a number a townships last week and spoke to locals struggling to adopt to the 21-day confinement rules.

“I work as a casual in the building industry and since lockdown I have not earned an income,” said a construction worker from Shaka’s Head who lives hand-to-mouth and cannot forego his income.

Sanitiser, a mask, soap and even excess water to wash his hands are beyond his reach.

A single mother of two who works as a domestic worker told the Courier with a resigned shrug that it was difficult to keep her children locked up as they shared their living space, an unventilated corrugated shack, with multiple families.

Her fears are based on the associated economic fallout from this disease.

Bilai said the high unemployment rate meant the population was already malnourished and coping with other diseases such as TB and HIV.

“What is the worst-case scenario? We just don’t know,” said Mkhize.

The small growth in numbers may be the calm before a devastating storm.

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