Cape braces for COVID-19 storm

As Cape Town braces for the peak of the third COVID-19 wave, three generations in one family all become infected with the virus.

Giuliana Levetan of Highlands Estate as well as her Fresnaye-based daughter, Candice, and grandson, who attends Alon Ashel Pre-Primary, came out of isolation on 9 August. “Thank G-d, I had it mildly and so did my daughter and my grandson of three,” says Levetan. “I have had both my vaccines and so has my daughter.”

Communal experts who spoke to the SA Jewish Report urged the Western Cape Jewish community to observe strict COVID-19 protocols and get vaccinated.

“It’s the youngsters that are paying the price this time around,” said Dr Solly Lison, a Cape Town-based family physician. “Many of the older individuals have had the vaccine and we have a lot of people that are anti-vaxxers – they don’t believe in science, and they will pay the penalty. None of us, whether they are in the Western Cape or not, will escape COVID-19 because it’s so very infectious.”

Throughout the province, schools have been shut due to contamination scares, businesses have closed down permanently, places of worship are remaining closed, and hospitals are running out of space.

Not only did the Community Service Organisation Cape Town Wellness Programme report 70 new cases for the week on 10 August 2021, but the Western Cape recorded the most COVID-19 cases in South Africa between 4 and 10 August.

There could be several reasons why an average of 22 412 Capetonians tested positive every day during that period. Lison cites “COVID-19 fatigue”, resistance towards being tested for the virus, and headaches or running noses being disregarded due to Cape Town entering the allergy season.

On the other hand, Professor Jeffrey Dorfman, associate professor in medical virology at Stellenbosch University, said the waves may have been triggered by events, with raves and parties in November and December contributing towards the second wave and Easter contributing towards the third wave.

“However, working out their precise contribution to the wave with any certainty is hard,” Dorfman said. “Both waves also matched the appearance in South Africa of new variants.”

“The Delta variant that we have now is a thousand times more able to transmit virus than the original COVID-19,” Lison said. “People who know they have COVID-19 in the family say, ‘That doesn’t matter, my son’s well, he can go to school’. He goes, and contaminates everyone else, or one of the partners disregards the instruction to stay home and goes back to work even though they have been in contact with a person who had COVID-19. People don’t adhere to the instructions of their doctors even though every doctor in this town is actually up to date with COVID-19.”

The City of Cape Town has been testing the sewage outfalls regularly in different parts of the city and can tell where heavy concentration of virus particles is located. For a long time, it was Sea Point and Green Point before spreading throughout the city.

Dr Orit Laskov, a GP in Sea Point, is dealing with many cases of COVID-19 and many of her older patients have been vaccinated, or partially vaccinated, which improved their outcomes. Over the past few weeks, several of Laskov’s unvaccinated elderly and frail patients elected to avoid admission to hospital before succumbing to what she describes as “sad and lonely deaths”.

By contrast, one of Laskov’s fully vaccinated older patients recently contracted COVID-19 and was successfully managed at home with a relatively mild and uncomplicated course, especially given their advanced age. A fully vaccinated family member, who lives with and actively looked after that patient, didn’t contract the virus. “I put this down to them both having been vaccinated,” Laskov said. “It’s clear that vaccination isn’t preventing COVID-19 completely but is definitely reducing severe illness, hospitalisation, and death.”

Dorfman said four real-world studies show that many of the currently used vaccines prevent COVID-19 hospitalisation more efficiently than they prevent infection.

“Just within my own family circle and close relatives, I’m aware of three deaths within the past week,” he said. “It’s here, and any worry about the safety of the vaccine [there should be little – it’s more dangerous to drive your car than to be immunised] should be replaced by worry about dying or becoming severely ill from COVID-19.”

To tackle the increase in COVID-19 cases in the Western Cape, the Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) is continually engaging with religious and institutional leaders. It’s also engaging with the community directly via social media, and has implored the community to continue to stay home, cancel all social events and travel plans, and keep Shabbos tables exclusively for immediate family.

Tzvi Brivik, the chairperson of the Cape SAJBD, said, “Over the past 20 months, the Board has met representatives of the principal organisations in our community including education, outreach, and welfare. At these meetings, updated information is exchanged about COVID-19 infections, new regulations issued under the Disaster Management Act, and the level of infection in our community. Proposed steps which we as communal leaders can take to safeguard our community are also debated. We have an unprecedented level of unanimity within our communal structures, of which we are proud. This synchronisation has meant that we could – as far as possible – keep the infection numbers low. In spite of this incredible teamwork, we are still experiencing unprecedented levels of infection during this third wave.”

Some vaccination sites are struggling to attract people. “As the vaccine supply in South Africa is stabilising, not enough people are coming to get vaccinated,” says Dorfman. “The minimum age for access may be dropped sooner than planned. We cannot yet see the effect of vaccines because only 21% of the adult population has received at least one dose of a vaccine, and there is a delay from the time of vaccination until it is protective. There is a further delay between when people become unwell and when they die, so it will take even longer before we see the death rate drop.”

All the residents at Highlands House have been fully vaccinated. The Cape Town-based Jewish Old Age Home is allowing controlled visits by appointment, as permitted by COVID-19 regulations. “Our people are allowed to come out,” says the home’s communications administrator, Mathilde Myburgh. “We aren’t enforcing isolation after they come back from going out in the world, which is something we have done historically. Highlands House’s outreach work, partnering with the health department, is helping other care homes to administer vaccinations.”

Lison said COVID-19 would be with us for two generations at least, and would be dealt with only when there is greater immunisation and levels of vaccination.

“Don’t take the chance to get COVID-19,” he says. “The after effects are really a problem. In spite of the fact that you have got through your 14 days and are now feeling well, we have people that are dying from day 14 to day 30. Sudden deaths, strokes, and cardiac arrhythmias without warning and later on, we find a lot of COVID-19 survivors developing diabetes, so it’s a disease you don’t want to meet.”