There’s no real weekend anymore, at least not since the first case of coronavirus disease, or Covid-19, was confirmed on home soil early in March.
They had travelled to South Africa from the United States, Israel and France. Now, unknowingly, they may have put hundreds of others at risk. “There were 1 032 names,” she says. She’s speaking on the phone from outside the Divine Restoration Ministry’s church in Bloemfontein, where the Red Cross and the health department have set up shop.
The people on the list need to be screened for symptoms of the disease, tested if they meet the criteria, and told to isolate themselves for 14 days to avoid spreading the virus to others. This kind of contact tracing is crucial in stopping the spread of the virus to other people. In Singapore, every patient who tests positive is treated as the starting point of a miniature forensic investigation.
Looking down at the list in her hands, Mangwepape asks: “When do all these people need to be traced?”It’s a well oiled machine. A tent is already being set up outside the Divine Restoration Ministries’ church grounds in Bloemfontein. A combi covered in NICD branding, which doubles as a mobile laboratory, is parked just beyond the makeshift testing centre.
Now, a queue of anxious churchgoers queue in a winding line outside the screening tent, standing nearly two metres apart. The people in the queue are studying the health department’s educational flyers, with information about how the virus spreads, how it feels when you’ve got it, and how to protect yourself and others in your community.
Tracing the close contacts of coronavirus disease is a delicate dance. Mangwepape explains: “Not only must the tracers make sure they protect themselves from infection; they also need to make sure they don’t scare the people they come into contact with.” “You can imagine if your neighbours see all these people at your house: they might think you have this disease that they don’t want,” Mangwepape explains.The team get back into the vehicle, armed with notebooks full of the detailed accounts of this household’s daily lives. Then, they move on to the next house.
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