GOBABIS- As she reflects on the havoc the Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 had wrecked in the Omaheke region over a year ago, 46-year-old Elna Christiana Rooi’s tears flow freely down her face. 

Rooi lost her life-time partner, who was also the father of her children- and sole breadwinner to COVID-19  in May of 2021. She believes the outcome could have been different if they had sought medical attention sooner. 

“To be honest we were very scared of going to the hospital because most of the people who went there did not come out alive,” says Rooi. 

She and her late partner were both sick and chose to self-medicate. “I was very sick and everyone believed I would not make it,” says the soft-spoken Rooi. Her partner appeared to be stronger and in good spirits when they were battling COVID.  

“He suggested that we treat ourselves at home. And, so he bought a nebulizer to help with my breathing. He also bought vitamins, ginger and lemon juice. We took a lot of warm fluids,” she explains. 

The couple had to briefly relocate to their friends’ house. “We lived with our friends who had electricity to use the nebulizer,” she explains. Their friends, a couple from their church, provided a small room for the couple to sleep in. While living there, their children, aged 11 and 12 were their main caretakers. “We prayed a lot so that our children wouldn't be infected. Both of them took care of us,” she narrates.

After two weeks of being very ill, Rooi’s health started to improve. However, her partner’s health took a turn for the worst. “I noticed that I was feeling better two weeks after being sick and so I told my partner who was doing much better than I that we should move back to our house considering that I was getting healthier,” she says. 

A day after moving back to their home, Rooi’s partner started to have shortness of breath. He also struggled to stand for long and could only take a few steps before gasping for air. 

“That evening he asked me to rush him to the hospital,” she remembers. Sadly, her partner of 11 years died later that night. “They isolated him in a room. When I was leaving he told me to go well and he blew me kisses. He looked fine, she recalls. Rooi broke down in tears as she narrated how the nurses broke the news of her partner’s death the following day.  

“I took him food and toiletries. I saw he wasn’t in the room where I left him the previous night. I asked the nurse where he was and his response shook me.  'He is dead!’. “I was a bit unhappy with the way the nurses told me about his death. I don’t know if death was a normal occurrence for them but the way they broke the news to me was so cold as if he was not a person,” says Rooi. The family was later called in for counselling. “We’re still coming to terms with the reality that he is no longer with us. He was our only provider and now we have nothing,” says the mother of four. 

Rooi suspects that her partner contracted the disease first. “He was a community worker, collecting data on municipal debts in the community,” says Rooi. 

Rooi says that information on reducing the risk of contracting COVID-19 was all over the mass media, community and even social media. Rooi and her family also took precautions to stay safe. “We did everything to take care of ourselves but there came a time when COVID came into our house,” she says, adding that it changed their lives forever.  Months after recovering from COVID, Rooi got vaccinated. “I saw with my own eyes how families were destroyed because of that disease. I could no longer  stay unvaccinated,” Rooi adds softly. 

The COVID-19 vaccines were available to the public in March 2021. The uptake was slow as people needed to understand the information on their safety, says Dr Catherine Muwonge, the WHO’s Focal Point for COVID-19 Case Management. 

“During the third wave the people rushed for the vaccines because they saw the high case fatalities and how the hospitals were struggling with the number of people who needed hospital admission due to severe illness,” Muwonge explained. In addition, registered Nurse, Memory Goreses, the nurse in charge of the isolation wards at the Gobabis State hospital observed that vaccinated people did not get as sick as the unvaccinated..   

“They were getting sick but not to the extent where we put them on a ventilator unless they have other comorbidities such as heart conditions, high blood pressure or diabetes. Even those who had comorbidities after treatment they would survive and get discharged. Moreover, their hospital admission was much shorter than the unvaccinated who survived.  In general people who were vaccinated did not get so sick and that was our motivation to encourage the other patients to also get vaccinated once they are discharged,” said Goreses. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO)’s support during the pandemic started at the very initial stages. Apart from financial support, WHO   also provided technical expertise to the Namibian government to deal with the pandemic. The WHO’s  Representative, Dr Charles Sagoe-Moses says Namibia did its best to manage the pandemic, especially during the delta wave with the limited resources.