Quarantine sites don't put communities at risk - Gauteng Health Dept
The Gauteng Department of Health has assured residents living next to coronavirus quarantine facilities that the facilities do not put them at risk of being infected with the coronavirus.
This comes after the Department noted concerns raised by communities where the quarantine sites are based.
The department's spokesperson, Kwara Kekana says quarantine sites are meant to accommodate people who are not ill (therefore asymptomatic), but who had been in contact with a person who tested positive for Covid-19.
“The sites also serve to host those that test positive but cannot quarantine at home and once people are cleared of the coronavirus after waiting for the minimum 14-day period and have undergone testing they are then released back in their community," says Kekana.
Kekana reminded communities that the virus spread through droplets and not air.
"We wish to reiterate that Covid-19 is not airborne and is spread mainly via respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes, in the same way, influenza, and other respiratory pathogens spread," says Kekana.
She pleaded with communities not to stigmatize health workers and people who had tested positive for coronavirus and are now back in the communities.