STATEMENT BY BRETT HERRON, GOOD SECRETARY-GENERAL AND MEMBER OF THE WESTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL PARLIAMENT
24 MAY 2020
COVID-19: CONTAINING THE SPREAD OF THE VIRUS IS LITERALLY IN OUR HANDS
HOTSPOT CONTACT TRACING CHALLENGES WILL HAVE TO BE ADDRESSED
Tonight the President announced that the South Africa will move to Level 3 of the government’s risk adjusted strategy from 1 June 2020.
It is clear that the pandemic has not yet reached its peak and the numbers of infections will continue to rise.
Containing the spread of the virus requires every single one of us to act with responsibility and respect – for the regulations and for each other.
We can only fight this virus with non-pharmaceutical interventions and no government can fight this virus without our strict individual adherence to the guidelines which include social distancing, wearing of masks and washing our hands. It is literally in our hands.
The public health response to the virus includes community screening, testing, isolating positive cases, contact tracing and quarantining contacts.
The President’s announcement that the state will increase capacity to implement the public health response in the hotspots, which included most of the country’s cities, is welcome. It is clear that adherence to this public health regime has not been consistent with the data indicating that contact tracing has been a particular challenge for the public health system.
If we are to reduce community transmission in high density areas, where transmission is rising rapidly, we will have to address both the capacity and the built environment obstacles to effective contact tracing and quarantining.
With South Africans returning to work from 1 June the capacity of our public transport networks is of great concern. Metrorail is in crisis in many parts of the country and in Cape Town the most important line, the Central Line, has been inoperable for months now.
Cities and provincial transport departments will have to address the capacity of the public transport services to avoid unsafe crowding. Spare buses, part of most of the country’s BRT fleets including the MyCiTi fleet in Cape Town, will have to be brought into service so as to add capacity and reduce over-crowding.
Ends…