Johannesburg - When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country, Segopodosi Seane’s husband was on the frontline, working tirelessly to support those who were infected.
But despite taking precautions, the nurse at Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital contracted the coronavirus and passed it on to his wife and one of their children. As the family of five share a flat, they were both forced to seek an alternative location to isolate.
Yesterday, marked Seane’s 10th day at the Nasrec quarantine and isolation site in the south of Joburg.
“If I had it my way, I would have quarantined at home but I don’t want to infect my other child and our helper,” she told media during a visit to the site.
While she is on her way to a full recovery and longs to be reunited with her loved ones, the mother of two explained that the virus has wrought significant mental damage to her
family.
“We will definitely need counselling,” Seane said. “My 8-year-old child who tested negative for the coronavirus is very traumatised and she is even scared to go back to school.”
Seane added that the stigmatisation of testing positive for Covid-19 is also something that she has experienced as those who lived in her complex have been aware of the couple’s status.
“I know the stigma is there, but I will just have to deal with it.”
As she recovers at the Nasrec site, nurses and other medical staff there have treated her well.
“When I first got here, I got a warm welcome. I was given a bed, the place is clean and we are well fed. I really can’t complain.”
Lebogang Ntshoe told journalists he was pleasantly surprised by the state of the facility when he arrived there eight days ago.
“The government has done a lot to be proud of here at this site,” he said.
Meanwhile, Gauteng Health MEC Dr Bandile Masuku said a lot of work had gone into setting the facility up.
“This is a centre that we built over a period of two months,” he said.
Gauteng MEC for health Dr Bandile Masuku visited the Nasrec quarantine/isolation site earlier this week. Pictures: Nokuthula Mbatha African News Agency (ANA)
The facility currently has 420 beds for isolation and 50 beds for quarantine with a spare 100 beds, which would be used as necessary as cases continue to climb in the province.
While the medical centre does not have any oxygen at the site and houses patients in a stable condition, a 56-year-old Covid-19 patient died at the facility two weeks ago.
Dr. Vis Naidoo, CEO of the centre, said the facility was currently attending to 130 isolation patients and eight others who are in quarantine.
Staff at the centre include those previously deployed at other healthcare facilities, new recruits and well as medical professionals from Cuba who arrived in South Africa in May to assist with the country’s Covid-19 response.
While Masuku admitted that he was concerned about the temperatures of the rooms during the winter months, he said the newly-installed ventilation system was working well.