NEWCASTLE KZN: Emergency personnel face many changes on the frontline
"People must not be in denial and must not be ignorant. Covid-19 is here in Newcastle..."
The early part of 2021 has brought new challenges and drastic changes for emergency medical staff.
Sifiso Zwane, Base Manager for the Newcastle branch of Kwazulu Private Ambulance, explains the service is usually busy in December but things tend to quieten down once learners return to the classroom and employees return to work. This year however, he says medical cases were abnormally high for this time of year.
“Cases normally only pick up again in February, but the number of medical cases we attended to in January was scary,” he admits.
Zwane further states there has been a noticeable increase in collisions since the easing of lockdown restrictions relating to alcohol, noting that on February 4 for example, the service responded to collisions at 6am (13 injuries), 10am (5 injuries), around 12pm (5 fatalities) and 9.30pm (4 injuries).
He says the days after President, Cyril Ramaphosa announced a revised lockdown level 3, collision cases seemed to spike.
“Prior to that, it was rare to have collisions during this lockdown.”
Medics urge residents to avoid being in denial
During the first wave of Covid-19, Zwane made a personal observation that Newcastle’s infection rate appeared inverse to the national trend. When the coronavirus declined nationally, he says Newcastle saw spikes but is unsure what causes this.
During the second wave, Zwane noted a higher fatality rate and says the cancellation of visits at both Niemeyer Memorial Hospital in Utrecht and Madadeni Provincial Hospital shows just how bad the situation is.
He has urged all residents, whether they have been previously infected or not, to adhere to lockdown regulations and understand the looming danger of the pandemic.
“We have cases where people are infected again and again… People must not be in denial and must not be ignorant. Covid-19 is here in Newcastle, not only in the bigger cities,” he adds.
Read this week’s edition of the Newcastle Advertiser for our tribute to medical workers, exclusive interviews with Covid-19 survivors, and learn more about the heroes battling the pandemic on the frontlines.
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