North retirement home staffer tests positive for Covid-19

A staff member at the Bougainvilla retirement village, that houses more than 700 elderly people, has tested positive for Covid-19.

This was confirmed by the spokesperson for the retirement village Stephan Craggs who said the woman who worked in the kitchen has been in self-isolation since finding out her partner had tested positive for the virus last week Thursday.

Craggs said the staff member’s test results came back positive on Saturday, resulting in all the staff going into self-quarantine.

 “All the staff members may have been exposed, this is why all of them have been removed from the site on Saturday when her test came back positive,” said Craggs.

There have been concerns that the woman was working with food before knowing she had been exposed to the virus.

A concerned daughter, whose parents live at the retirement village, said she has requested that management waive the food fees for those who opt to prepare their own meals to avoid potentially contaminated food or objects.

“Instead they insist that everybody must continue to pay the monthly food fees as per original contract. This contradicts the national principle of lives above profits,” she said.

“The managements puts profits above the safety of elderly people.

“Unfortunately they are putting their own economic interests first – in spite of the fact that government has financial support in place for businesses suffering due to Covid-19.”

The concerned woman said she wrote several emails and was told the elderly people who did not want to take the food, must continue to pay, but could donate the food if they wished.

Craggs said such requests were not easy to consider for a retirement village.

“The levy is just an operational levy to keep the kitchen open,” he said.

“A lot of people need the kitchen. If you have a look at the older people’s retirement act it makes provision for a food facility for the elderly.”

He said the home was taking precautions in ensuring that all its residents were safe.

“There is temperature screening at the gate. We also have a nurse that track any symptoms,” he said.

He said the whole kitchen, kiosk and dining area were sanitised.

The old staff members were replaced with new individuals and the department of health conducted an inspection on Monday.

A 72-year-old woman recently passed away at the retirement home. Craggs said her death was not related to Covid-19.

“So far we had no further positive cases in our residents.”

Eight people were arrested in Lynnwood for allegedly hijacking a truck transporting soap and hand sanitiser on Tuesday afternoon.

Police spokesperson Captain Kay Makhubela said intelligence-driven information led the police to the premises where the truck carrying R10-million rand worth of items was recovered.

“Upon arrival at the premises the suspects were arrested and some of the items that were in the truck were recovered,” Makhubela said.

“It is alleged the truck was hijacked in Midrand last week.”

In Erasmia, the Tshwane district trio and drug task team was following up on information of a counterfeit goods and cigarettes being sold at a local property.

Makhubela said the owner allowed police to search the premises.

“During the search police recovered sealed and opened boxes of cigarettes. The owner was arrested and will be charged with dealing in counterfeit goods,” he said.

Gauteng provincial commissioner Lieutenant General Elias Mawela commended the work done by the police and urged the community to continue to work with police.

He also issued a strong warning to those who think that the normal day-to-day police operations were at the “back burner” due to the lockdown.

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