'No one should be neglected in this pandemic': Heroes at the front line of Covid-19 war

Finding unco-operative Covid-19 patients who refuse to say who they have been in contact with is the job of Ndileka Mpande and her colleague Nontyatyambo Yoba.

The women are among the coronavirus heroes helping to curb the spread of the virus.

Mpande is the department of health's team leader in the Buffalo City metro. She and her team found the first patient to have Covid-19 in the Eastern Cape and are now seeking others who came into contact with the province's 21 patients.

But sometimes patients and their doctors won't co-operate.

“People just get irritated when we ask questions. Some even drop our phone calls or just give us the wrong details. Those who were tested by private doctors are the worst to track. We just rely on their doctor's co-operation,” she said.

Mpande and Yoba spent the week tracing a man who tested positive for Covid-19 at a private clinic on Monday but refused to be contacted. Until they eventually tracked him down on Friday, all they knew was that he was with his family “around East London”.

The man told them he didn't want to co-operate because he was afraid of the stigma, and feared he would be forced into quarantine in hospital like a woman in the province with the virus who refused to isolate herself.

Though it is not illegal to fail to co-operate with tracers, the department can go to court to force patients into quarantine.

Mpande said her family were “not very concerned” that she would contract the virus, because of her protective gear, but her husband and son had moved to the family's village home near Alice.

“They understand that my job comes with some risks,” she said.

George Mamabolo of the South African Red Cross Society helped to trace the contacts of 285 people who attended a church service in Bloemfontein where many were infected.

“There were people who took public transport, farmers who came into contact with farm staff. It's a huge task,” he said.

Claudia Mangwegape, a Red Cross Free State branch manager, said they tested nearly 3,000 people from three Bloemfontein churches that held services attended by those suspected to have had the virus.

“Our volunteers are our heroes. They are working for the good of their communities for free,” she said.

Mangwegape gets home to her mother, her young daughters and disabled brother at 10pm each day. She is afraid of bringing the virus home.

“I got a card from my daughter which made me very emotional. It said: 'Mom, thank you for being the best mom and thank you for saving the world'," she said.

Former Cape Town medic Chavonne Ray, 37, responded to the call for paramedics, doctors and nurses. She has put on her old uniform and has taken up shifts with the False Bay Volunteer Emergency Medical Services. “We're going to need every medic we have when this gets worse,” she said.

“You will need the hands to handle the workload, whether it is with the wave of corona patients or with the normal sick people who are not going to disappear,” said Ray.

“No-one should be neglected in this pandemic. I couldn't sit idly by and watch people suffer when I know I could help.”

Ray said her husband, a police officer, was already involved in the fight against the virus.

“We have even set up a decontamination station at home with an outside shower,” she said.

Former Johannesburg flight paramedic Matt Watermeyer has volunteered with the city's emergency services.

“If this virus takes hold like we fear it will, I won't be able to live with myself knowing I have these skills and did nothing while people died,” he said.

Watermeyer, 35, gave up his paramedic job three years ago but is now ready for action.

“Whether it's training on intubation or ventilation, or being on the frontlines actually treating patients, I'm ready,” he said.

Dr Kamy Chetty, CEO of the National Health Laboratory Service, which is rolling out mass testing for the disease, doesn't place herself among the growing army of Covid-19 heroes.

Instead, she believes the 8,000 or more people working for the laboratory service are the real unsung heroes. The service conducts tests, co-ordinates results and runs two hotlines for doctors and the public.

“There is a whole team of people working long hours, who are dedicated and are very committed,” she said, adding that many have had little sleep.

“It has to be done. We cannot allow the epidemic to drag on. The curve has to be flattened,” she said.