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DUT’S COVID-19 RESPONSE TASK TEAM HOSTS WEBINAR ON THE OMICRON VARIANT, AND WHAT DUT IS DOING ABOUT COVID-19

DUT’S COVID-19 RESPONSE TASK TEAM HOSTS WEBINAR ON THE OMICRON VARIANT, AND WHAT DUT IS DOING ABOUT COVID-19

The Durban University of Technology (DUT) COVID-19 Response Task Team hosted a webinar on COVID-19: Crucial Conversations on Microsoft Teams on Thursday, 8 December 2021.

Experts in the field at the webinar spoke on what it’s really like in a COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Discussions also pertained to the new Omicron variant, and what is not yet known, as well as what DUT is doing about COVID-19.

The Programme Director at the event was Dr Vasanthrie Naidoo, a Senior Lecturer at DUT. In her opening remarks she welcomed and thanked all the invited guests, the DUT COVID-19 Response task team, students, staff and guest speakers for being part of the crucial webinar.

She then introduced Professor Nokuthula Sibiya, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning at DUT, who gave the official welcome.

“The COVID-19 pandemic over the last two academic years, that’s 2020, and 2021 has necessitated a blended teaching and learning approach, which has now reached its limits, so it’s imperative that the credibility of our academic and research services, products and outputs from the 2020 academic calendar year and onwards be safeguarded and its quality assured. Hence we are here attending this webinar on COVID-19 crucial conversations and we will listen from our important leaders and experts who will share with us what it’s like to work in the COVID-19 intensive care units and to discover what we know about the new Omicron variant, and what is not yet known, as well as what DUT is doing about COVID-19,” said Prof Sibiya.

Prof Sibiya then introduced the guest speaker: Ms Nontembeko Nothemba Boyce, who currently serves as the Speaker of the KwaZulu-Nala Legislature. She previously served as the Chief Whip for the ANC in the KZN Legislature. Prof Sibiya said that Boyce was the Chairperson of the KZN Standing Committee on Oversight; and from 2010-2014, when she was the ANC KZN Legislature Caucus Manager. She further relayed that from 2009-2010 Boyce served as a Ugu’s Department of Education Youth Development Senior Specialist, and from 2005-2009, she was also the SADTU Lower South Coast Regional Secretary.

Boyce began her talk by thanking DUT, the Programme Director, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Prof Nokuthula Sibiya and Prof Champaklal Jinabhai, for the opportunity being given to share her thoughts on this important discussion.

“It’s an absolute privilege to be able to share on this important topic my thoughts on vaccinations as a South African, but also as a resident of KwaZulu-Natal on what is it that I might be thinking concerning on the deadly coronavirus. I also appreciate that we are able to discuss such issues as the need for vaccination under this current period,” she said.

Boyce explained that there are some universities and institutions of higher learning and as well as leaders, academics and students, who are here and have been called to find lasting solutions, probably to the COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed millions of lives and left a trail of obliteration on economies worldwide.

She spoke on the benefits of vaccines and also said that there are still people out there who are still behaving and propagating that the issue of vaccines as a new issue and also politicising the matter about vaccines.

“We know that vaccines dates back to a whole 100 years, you might remember the first time amongst the times of the first outbreaks of smallpox, where we started to speak about vaccines, which was back around the 18th and 19th centuries, and we know that at that particular time there were massive global vaccination campaigns, culminating in the global eradication of smallpox and around the late 70s, 1979, so to say. This was after that disease, which was smallpox had changed many lives, over 300,000,000 lives that were claimed by it. When vaccination was introduced in the 18th and 19th centuries, it ensured that there was an eradication of that because it was as preventing their spread,” she said.

She further spoke on another massive vaccination campaign that was undertaken at the outbreak of the influenza around 1918 or so, which had claimed millions of people again in a very short space of time.

“This is more like what we have seen of the COVID-19 in a very short space of time. We’ve seen millions of people that were claimed by influenza and human beings continued, especially our scientists have continued to introduce vaccines, in terms of anthrax and polio, and has improved the quality of life, not only as individuals, but as a people as human race, to be able to enjoy life. To be able to eradicate and prevent diseases and the spread of diseases,” said Boyce.

Ms Boyce conveyed that another justification or another means to end the fight with malaria would be the introduction of vaccines, especially for young children.

She indicated that it has been clear that COVID-19 vaccines that were developed over a short space of time that had improved the batch when we had COVID-19, and that scientists were able to come together because of the foundation that was led by scientists that came even in the centuries before in starting to deal with the introduction of vaccines, but they laid that foundation.

Ms Boyce further explored the issue of mandatory vaccines, a debate that is going on, especially in the higher education sector, including putting in place means to ensure that it’s only those that may be vaccinated that are able to come and attend.

“If we want to defeat the pandemic, we have to sacrifice and that will include on issues of freedom of choice and religious beliefs. We must weigh these issues of their religious beliefs versus the sacrifice of saving lives and the sacrifices of ensuring that we ensure that there is a long life expectancy in South Africa and also in the world.

“We must also ensure that the fight against COVID-19 or the pandemic that we’re currently facing, it’s for everyone, it’s not a fight that is only supposed to be for government or for academics. We want to continue keeping a watchful eye on how the provincial government is handling the issue of COVID-19,” she added.

Adding to the conversation was Professor Nokuthula Sibiya, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning at the DUT, who focused her presentation on the DUT COVID-19 Risk Mitigation Strategy.

She relayed that it would be remiss for her not to acknowledge and appreciate the DUT COVID-19 Response Task team and the sterling leadership of Professor Jinabhai who serves as the Chairperson of the Task team that was instrumental in putting together the policy document.

She relayed that the Higher Education institutions are grappling with quite a number of crises such as limited funding due to shrinking resources, digital transformation, limited capacity and high work, student demands, youth unemployment, pressures on research output and brain drain.

“The most critical one is COVID-19, which has compromised teaching, learning and assessment as well as other core businesses of the university. Unfortunately, the virus is here to stay with us. We have to learn to live with it, and whilst learning to live with the pandemic we are expected to keep our people at school, at work and to keep our businesses operating and the questions that you are currently grappling with is how should we transition out of lockdown while the virus is still with us? How does success in the near term look like? What does our collective future hold? As I’ve indicated colleagues, we need to appreciate and acknowledge that the virus is here to stay,” she said.

She relayed that DUT has systems in place of dealing with COVID-19.

“We are still expected to get on with our core business as higher education institutions and these include teaching and learning, applied research leadership in technology, technology transfer, innovation and partnerships, as well as entrepreneurship,” she said.

Prof Sibiya conveyed that as she had indicated in her introduction, the COVID-19 has impacted on the core business as a higher education institution and has placed overwhelming the demands on the educational systems.

“When looking at the university communities, we are overwhelmed with feelings of fear, disorientation, sense of loss of control and strong emotional disturbance; and this crisis has undoubtedly presented an opportunity for universities to create innovative ways of curriculum, conceptualisation, interpretation, and implementation. As you are aware we have adopted a blended teaching and learning approach and unfortunately this has reached its limits,” added Prof Sibiya.

She further focused on the pandemic which has also challenged the suitability, viability, and sustainability of the university operating models, practices and systems.

“If ever we have to survive after this pandemic we need to reassess and adapt some of the strategies that we have in place,” she said.

Prof Sibiya conveyed that COVID-19 has many negative implications for higher education, and these include the disruption of academic programmes and research, financial challenges, health and well-being of staff and students. She stressed that graduates also faced a constrained labour market due to the poorly performing economy aggravated by the pandemic, adding that these will reverberate long after the pandemic has been contained.

She then spoke on the policy document which served at the Council meeting on Saturday, the 4th of December 2021, and was approved. She briefly shared the three choices that are contained in the document that will guide the vaccination of staff and students at DUT.

Prof Sibiya indicated that for Choice 1, for each member of the DUT community to access any of the DUT campuses, they must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

“With this in mind, DUT will establish campus-based vaccination centres and we will facilitate access to hospital-based vaccination services for the entire DUT community to be vaccinated,” she said.

She then relayed on Choice 2, saying that if a member of the DUT community does not wish to vaccinate, they must then continue with online activities and services.

“If they are required to be on campus, they must undertake a COVID-19 PCR test 48 hours prior to being on campus and that test must be negative. These PCR tests will help to ensure that all members of the DUT community are protected. Payment for these PCR tests will rest with the individuals concerned, noting the principles referred to above and furthermore, the wide-ranging educational campaigns that have been conducted followed by a series of DUT campus-based vaccination centres, funded by DUT and supported by the KZN Department of Health,” said Prof Sibiya.

She spoke on Choice 3 relaying that if a member of the DUT community refuses to be fully vaccinated, they would need to provide a negative COVID-19 PCR test result when they may be required to be on campus, then they must continue with online based activities and services; in which case, should there be practical sessions, laboratory sessions and other academic and non-academic work that requires physical attendance.

“The principles referred to above shall apply, including facing the consequences of the individual choices. There are several procedures and guidelines that various domains within the University will produce between next week and the start of January 2022 on how this policy will be implemented,” she said.

In conclusion, Prof Sibiya indicated that sometimes, critical periods in the lives as a University community and as citizens require resoluteness.

“When we fail to be resolute and wait for things to happen-let alone those that may cause lives to be lost-history will judge the University harshly. There is a need to protect the quality and integrity of university qualifications, vaccines save lives,” she said.

Focusing on the synergy of COVID-19 and the ICU Admission was Thobani Patrick Ngcobo, an Intensive Care Unit Practitioner. He spoke on why do patients with a COVID-19 infection often end up in ICU and how they prepare to receive a COVID-19 patient in an ICU. He then focused on how does the patient feels when they turn up in hospital, saying that they have fever, cough, fatigue and dyspnea.

“After five days’ pneumonia develops, patient develops hypoxemia (decrease of O2 in the blood) and requires ventilation,” he said.

He further added that it must be clear that there is a shortage of ventilators in the world, as they use the first come first serve basis.

“COVID-19 is new to all of us as healthcare workers-therefore we all relying on scientific research/evidence to treat our patients. Understanding of the virus is inconsistent due to its frequent mutation which makes it difficult to contain or treat. This gives us only one option which is vaccination,” he stressed.

In his conclusion, he stressed that everyday there is a new disease being discovered and as health workers, our lives are continuously at risk.

“If we don’t vaccinate, it means our future is in question. If we get infected with the virus our lungs are forever compromised. If you vaccinate today, you stand a chance to have a normal life. Let us go out there and encourage our peers, brothers, sisters and our communities to go and vaccinate. That is our only hope,” added Ngcobo.

“The public health imperative, which is to protect the work environment, which is a requirement in terms of the occupational health and Safety Act, so the DUT management has a legal obligation to protect all the staff and students in the DUT community and to create a safe, healthy protected environment on the DUT campuses,” said Chairperson of the DUT COVID-19 Response Task team, Professor Champaklal Jinabhai.

He further added that based on Prof Sibiya’ s presentation on the choices policy that the university senior management, the EMC, SENEX, the Senate and finally the University Council has approved the three choices policy regarding vaccination to protect the campus and also very importantly to protect the integrity of the educational enterprise, and the learning and teaching which would be occurring on campus.

The webinar concluded with a robust question and answer session followed by the vote of thanks and concluding remarks by prof Jinabhai.

Pictured: Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning, Prof Nokuthula Sibiya.

Waheeda Peters

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