Elderly resident dies of COVID-19 in Cape Town aged home

JORDAN MOSHE

This marks the first reported coronavirus death in a South African Jewish aged home. The first reported case was a resident of Sandringham Gardens in Johannesburg, who brought it into the home from a hospital. Highland House’s management isn’t divulging how the coronavirus got into the home.

On Sunday, the home’s executive director, Harris Burman, told the Cape Town community that there had been a COVID-19 death at the home. He said the carers who had attended to this resident were in quarantine and awaiting testing. The home said at the time that no other cases had been identified.

In a subsequent update on Monday, Burman said that the resident (an 88-year-old woman) had been tested two days after taking ill, and had died two days later, before the results were known.

He stressed that the resident had been isolated from the onset of the illness. The floor on which she resided had been isolated from the rest of the home, and testing of other residents had commenced.

By Wednesday afternoon, however, it emerged that the tests had picked up further cases of the disease. As of 14:00, Highland House had recorded five confirmed cases of COVID-19. A total of 363 tests have been conducted on staff and residents.

Burman said that the resident’s family were sitting shiva, and wouldn’t like to comment at this time about the circumstances of her death.

Family members of other residents took to social media to express their condolences, and share their concerns, many of them saying that the home had failed to protect its residents.

A woman whose mother resides at the home said that the management had asked that residents obtain masks, but wasn’t enforcing it.

She said that though the broader community had been notified of the death on Sunday, management informed residents only on Tuesday.

“They were all in the dark,” she told the SA Jewish Report on condition of anonymity. “They were told officially only on Tuesday before testing began, four days after it happened.

“It led to them hearing about it from outside [the home] and to rumours being spread. Surely they should have been told sooner?”

Burman confirmed that formal notification was given to residents only on Tuesday. However, he said that the majority of residents knew about it by Sunday via word of mouth, and that Highlands House was making every effort to address the outbreak.

Other Jewish old age homes across the country remain vigilant, screening staff and shielding residents as much as possible.

Sidney Lazarus, the president of the Beth Shalom Jewish Retirement Home in Durban, told the SA Jewish Report that the institution “had no cases of COVID-19”. The home has conducted tests on residents and staff, and they have all been negative. There have been two deaths at the home since the beginning of the lockdown, but these were unrelated to COVID-19.

The home has 76 residents, and the average age is 85 years old.

Lazarus said that all staff including nurses, carers, cleaners, and chefs were housed on the premises or at the nearby Durban Jewish Club, to which they were transported by the home’s transport.

Mark Isaacs, the executive director of Jaffa Jewish Aged Home in Pretoria, said that all staff and residents were abiding by the strict rules in place since the home closed its doors on 15 March.

“We’ve had no scares so far,” he said, “and tested only one staff member, who proved negative. We’ve cut back on certain social activities and while it upsets people, they realise we’re doing it for their safety.”

The home has reduced the number of staff on-site, and certain remaining staff are housed in on-site quarters (spending one week on and one week off-site). Staff who arrive at the campus must use the main entrance, and are screened at reception.

Saul Tomson, the chief executive of the Chevrah Kadisha, said, “Every Jewish old aged home is doing everything in its power to protect residents, but ultimately, we are fighting an invisible enemy which makes it extremely difficult.

“Since this situation began, the Chev has been working closely with Jewish senior living facilities across the country and helping to co-ordinate efforts, share protocols and procedures.”

Tomson said that accommodating 400 care and health workers at Sandringham Gardens on-site was impossible, but stressed that the Chev was constantly educating staff in multiple languages about the precautions they needed to take. It has also issued staff with the necessary protective equipment, masks, and hand sanitisers.

“Since the Pesach incident, we have broken meals into three sittings for breakfast and lunch, requiring residents to maintain a two-metre distance at meals,” said Tomson, “Dinner is delivered in takeaway containers to residents’ rooms.

“We need to balance physical protection with the psycho-social needs of those we care for,” he said. “The decisions we take are researched and calculated, based on regular external consultation with an independent medical advisory committee and a virologist to ensure that we meet the highest standards.

“Intelligent, calculated, and compassionate decision making takes into account the multitude of complex factors involved in protecting the needs of residents, emotionally and physically.”

Respected pulmonologist Anton Meyberg commended the Chev and Jewish aged facilities for their stringent approach to dealing with the virus. “The elderly are most at risk, and are the ones we need to protect,” he said. “Even if it means being harsh in looking after them.”

Meyberg maintains that residents should wear protective masks, even in the facility. “If they leave their room or come into contact with medical workers, they should wear a mask. It’s important.”

He believes South African Jewish aged facilities aren’t just meeting standards, they are going beyond them.

“They do incredible, groundbreaking work. The fact that we aren’t sitting with elderly COVID-19 positive patients from the homes in intensive care is testimony to their efforts.”