{"id":115084,"date":"2020-04-02T11:38:40","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T09:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/?p=115084"},"modified":"2020-04-02T11:39:11","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T09:39:11","slug":"emergency-physician-warns-stick-lockdown-rules-stay-home-virus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/news-headlines\/2020\/04\/02\/emergency-physician-warns-stick-lockdown-rules-stay-home-virus\/","title":{"rendered":"Emergency physician warns: Stick to the lockdown rules. Stay home. The virus is here!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Local emergency physician Dr John Welsh of Middok 24\/7 warns that it could be within days if residents don\u2019t adhere to the nationwide lockdown regulations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhether it\u2019s one or 10 cases, the virus is in Mpumalanga, it is here,\u201d Dr Welsh told <strong>www.mobserver.co.za<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday Dr Welsh took <strong>www.mobserver.co.za<\/strong> on a tour of Life Midmed\u2019s Covid-19 triage areas, it has to be said, the hospital is prepared for the worst.<br \/>\nSenior nurse Mariska van Niekerk is the unit manager of Life Midmed\u2019s quarantine quarters.<\/p>\n<p>Intense training has been undertaken in the past two weeks to ensure medical personnel can handle an influx of sick patients.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_115067\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-115067\" style=\"width: 520px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-115067\" src=\"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2020\/04\/john2-Copy-520x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"520\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dwu32cgxelq1c.cloudfront.net\/local_newspapers\/sites\/92\/2020\/04\/john2-Copy-520x400.jpg 520w, https:\/\/dwu32cgxelq1c.cloudfront.net\/local_newspapers\/sites\/92\/2020\/04\/john2-Copy-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-115067\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. John Welsh en sr. Mariska van Niekerk (eenheidsbesteuurder) by die ingang van saal een wat ingerig is as isolasie eenheid vir ernstig siek koronapasi\u00ebnte.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Only critically ill patients will be quarantined, while those with moderate symptoms will be allowed to self-quarantine at home.<br \/>\nPharmacies will deliver the necessary medicines to infected residents in home quarantine.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Welsh shared the following basics on the virus:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 The hospitals won&#8217;t be able to handle the pandemic if residents flout the lockdown regulations.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Masks are in short supply and won\u2019t protect you from infection. Infected residents should, however, wear them to avoid spreading the infection.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Always maintain a two-metre social distance from others.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Gloves, especially re-worn gloves, are unhygienic. Rather wash your hands regularly.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Residents must also keep in mind that doctors must continue to treat other illnesses and emergencies.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 \u201cStay at home!\u201d Dr Welsh says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How long will it be before the dreaded Covid-19 coronavirus hits Middelburg?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8164,"featured_media":115066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"hasGravity":false,"cxt_article_byline":"Gerhard Rheeder","cxt_disable_google_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[24090,24189,24138,13492,10010,12898,24190,24117,10333],"class_list":["post-115084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news-headlines","tag-dr-john-welsh","tag-dr-warns-the-coronavirus-is-here","tag-flatten-the-curve","tag-life-midmed-hospital","tag-local-news","tag-middelburg-news","tag-residents-warned-to-stick-to-lockdown-rules","tag-stay-at-home","tag-trusted-news"],"category_labels":{"Category":"News","SubCategory":"Local news"},"tag_labels":["dr john welsh","dr warns the coronavirus is here","flatten the curve","Life Midmed Hospital","local news","middelburg news","residents warned to stick to lockdown rules","stay at home","trusted news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}