Albertina Nakale
Throughout this turbulent pandemic period, Namibia has been a leader in rapidly, comprehensively, and consistently responding to the changes needed to curb Covid-19.
These sentiments were shared by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Namibia country director Brian Baker in an interview with New Era.
He said the country has achieved some remarkable successes, specifically in the core areas of prevention, testing, and treatment for confirmed cases.
“For example, at the start of 2020, the country did not have the ability to test samples, however, building upon existing laboratory infrastructure and local expertise, today thousands of Covid-19 tests can be run in-country every single day,” Baker hailed.
The CDC commended Namibia for the implementation of best practices in communication to the public through daily briefings from the health ministry and has made enormous progress in Covid-19 vaccination, with more than 360 000 Namibians fully vaccinated to date.
New Era wanted to know the CDC’s views on those whose aspirations are to see the pandemic treated as an endemic.
Baker explained there are at least two things to consider when discussing the question of whether or not a disease is endemic.
“First, it is helpful to begin by defining the term endemic, which refers to the constant presence of a disease in a population within a geographic area. By that definition, the unpredictable and rapidly changing nature of Covid-19, combined with the repeated emergence of never before variants, means that from the scientific standpoint, Covid-19 is not endemic,” he clarified.
Secondly, he said, when people ask this question, what they often are really asking is “when can we return to our pre-pandemic lives?”
However, he is optimistic there will be a day when Covid-19 does not repeatedly overwhelm hospitals and health systems and does not cause extraordinarily large numbers of deaths, and where Covid-19 is just another common illness that does not cause immense harm.
“We are most certainly not there today. However, we can get there soon – and large-scale vaccination is the most important intervention to achieve that goal – in other words, vaccination is the key to turning Covid-19 into an endemic disease. Once most people are vaccinated, it will reduce the severity of any future waves and allow us to resume more normalcy in our lives,” he said.
Asked if Omicron variant has been neutralised, he responded the spread of Omicron across the globe has been unprecedented, even when compared with other Covid-19 strains.
According to Baker, each country has experienced a wave at different time in point, but the impact has been similar everywhere – an exponential increase in cases and resulting burden on hospitals and the health system.
So far, Namibia has lost over 3 900 people to Covid-19, mostly during the deadly third wave in June and July 2021.
Baker warned while cases are currently declining in Namibia, cases are rapidly increasing in other countries, and the threat of overwhelmed hospitals and health systems remains very real.
Moreover, Baker said while cases are going down, infections are still occurring commonly in communities.
“Now is not the time to let our guard down,” he said.
– anakale@nepc.com.na