Covid is back

In March of this year, we had our first case of Covid-19, and that wave lasted a few months, but by the end of June, we had hit a lull in our Covid cases at Kudjip, and were thankful.  During that 1st wave, at Kudjip, we diagnosed over 120 patients with COVID, having around 70 of those admitted to our expanding Respiratory Isolation Ward (RIW).  Our RIW went from 6 - 10 - 14 - 30 beds in the span of a few weeks, as the number of cases increased and the need for our hospital to care for those patients became more and more apparent.  In those 3 months, we had figured out, in our setting with our limitations, what worked to treat Covid.  We could provide oxygen, but had no ventilators or staff who could run them, we have dexamethasone and antibiotics, but we don't have the more expensive treatment options that other parts of the world are able to provide.    Like everywhere around the world, some patients died, but many many more walked out and went home.  

While we enjoyed the break of Covid from midJune-August, we knew it would come back, especially with the Delta Variant increasing the case numbers all over the world.  The beginning of September is when Covid came back to Kudjip, and it seems to be hitting us harder than it did last time.  In just over a month's time we have already diagnosed over 140 patients, and our RIW has had as many as 22 patients in it at one time (18 was the most in the first wave).  We have already made plans to have an additional RIW to allow us to have as many as 40 patients who need oxygen as they fight to recover from Covid.  

Thankfully, at the end of April last year, we were able to start vaccinating our staff and high risk patients, while not everyone got vaccinated, over half of our staff did, and so when this second wave came, more of us were as protected as we could be.  The 2nd wave has certainly hit us harder, with over 25 of our staff getting Covid at about the same time.  Thankfully, so far, our staff have had mild illnesses and haven't been hospitalized.  We have been struggling to keep all our services open because of the staff who are out, and so just this week, we have had to scaledown our services to just emergencies only.  We are hoping that in the next few days, we can either combine two of our wards so that we can have some extra staff to keep us going, or more of our staff are able to rejoin the work force.  

Please keep praying for all affected by Covid around the world, and for all the medical providers who don't just have Covid patients - but have all the regular patients too who need our help.