Garden Route Health platform update
28 August 2020
GARDEN ROUTE HEALTH PLATFORM UPDATE
Western Cape Government Health in the Garden Route is optimistic about the current COVID-19 situation. In the District, as a whole, we are experiencing a flattening of active cases and so also hospitalizations and deaths. Some sub-districts’ numbers are more satisfying than others but if we compare our statistics to a month before it appears that we are over the peak.
We must however remember that it is now even more important to adhere to the 5 ways to stay safe in order to keep our numbers as low as possible, and to prevent a second wave.
- Wash your hands with soap and water or hand sanitizer (70% alcohol base)
- Wear your mask in public
- Cough or sneeze into the folds of your elbow or a tissue
- Stay 1.5m away from others especially in public places like shopping malls.
- If you feel sick, stay home
While the health service platform must remain geared to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic (including a possible second wave of infections), the Department of Health aims to scale up essential health services in a balanced manner. The Department has developed a risk and impact based approach which guides the services to be reintroduced and identifying those services which are low risk yet high impact (such as immunisation services). These services which had reduced significantly during the COVID pandemic, will have a significant long term impact for those clients who had missed immunisations, follow-up appointments and scheduled non-emergency treatment. A phased approach will be adopted to return the comprehensive health service platform back to a new normal. The re-introduction of these services will be communicated to the public. However, currently, all preventative services are in fact offered i.e. women’s health (family planning, antenatal and post-natal care), men’s health, child health(immunisations) and chronic disease management (TB, HIV, Diabetes, etc.)
As of 28 August 2020, the Garden Route District has 8757 confirmed cases of Covid-19.
Cases
Garden Route cases and recoveries per subdistrict.
Bitou 570 cases; 514 recoveries
Knysna 1338 cases; 1216 recoveries
George 3269 cases; 2946 recoveries
Hessequa 272 cases; 223 recoveries
Kannaland 102 cases; 97 recoveries
Mossel Bay 2088 cases; 1829 recoveries
Oudsthoorn 1118 cases; 797 recoveries
The Garden Route has recorded 288 Covid-19 deaths.
| Hessequa | 15 |
| Mossel Bay | 59 |
| George | 91 |
| Knysna | 43 |
| Bitou | 21 |
| Oudtshoorn | 58 |
| Kannaland | 1 |
Hospitalisation
From our latest available information, there are currently 115 patients admitted in public and private hospitals of which 24 are in High Care/ICU.
Isolation and quarantine
People who cannot isolate or quarantine safely at home (risk to themselves or exposure risk to others), can be referred to an isolation or quarantine facility.
Isolation facilities are for patients who have been infected with the COVID-19 virus (with mild to moderate symptoms) where they can recover. Quarantine facilities are for those have been exposed and are awaiting test results. These facilities are safe, have been made as comfortable as possible and you will receive free transport, meals, and a laundry service. PetroSA (West Camp) is currently the only activated isolation and quarantine facility in the Garden Route. More facilities have been identified and will be activated, if and when the need arises or capacity is exceeded at PetroSA. We currently have 42 people at the West Camp facility.