Residents of Nakuru unbothered as Covid-19 cases surge

Even as Covid-19cases in Nakuru continue to surge, most residents of Nakuru county have thrown caution to the wind, with many operating without masks and disregarding social distancing requirements, the Nation has established.

From the major open-air markets in Nakuru town to supermarkets, matatu termini and boda boda operators, it is business as usual.

Residents continue conducting their activities with reckless abandon and in total disregard of the Covid-19 guidelines.

This even as Covid-19 infections have continued surging in the county in the past two weeks, raising fears that the situation could worsen.

The cases have soared, nearing the 2,000 mark, yet most of the locals no longer wash their hands or observe social distancing.

Even in supermarkets shoppers are disregarding the existing containment measures. However, when nation visited Woolmart Supermarket, attendants kept on reminding customers to keep a reasonable distance through a public address system.

It is business as usual at Nakuru town's largest markets, Wakulima and Top market. Here, sellers and buyers interact freely without social distancing.

Shockingly, according to health officials, Nakuru Town East, where the markets are located, accounts for at least half of all the Covid-19 cases in Nakuru.

Biashara Ward in Nakuru Town East has been cited as the epicentre of infections in Nakuru.

"Nakuru Town East has been contributing at least 50 percent of all the cases in the county. Other affected areas in Nakuru East include the upmarket Naka estate, Section 58, Moi Flats, Ngala and Kabachia estates," County Health executive Dr Gichuki Kariuki said.

The Nation has also learnt, that the county government is now considering closure of Wakulima and Top Market, in Nakuru town that were reopened weeks ago.

The situation is the same in bars, lodgings and bus terminuses in Nakuru, Molo, Gilgil, Naivasha and other places as the cases continue rising.

"Where will I get time to sanitise a client? At whose expense? I am only concerned with making money to feed my two sons. Social distancing is difficult in this business, ” a commercial sex worker at Nakuru's Kanu Street told the Nation.

Containment measures

Police officers, who have been patrolling public places, sometimes caning or arresting those violating coronavirus containment measures, now also appear to have gone easy on their efforts.

Some of them are now profiting from or violating the same rules they are meant to enforce.

Mr James Ombati, a matatu operator in Nakuru town said it is difficult for them to adhere to the Ministry of Health guidelines because of water shortage at the new Matatu termini, where they were relocated to after the county government kicked them out of the Central Business District.

"We lack water at the new matatu termini. We have also not been buying sanitisers regularly, so, sometimes we do not sanitise our customers. There are no sheds in the new termini and when it rains, we all shelter inside the vehicles with our clients," added Mr Ombati.

A number of matatu operators and their passengers at Kingdom Seekers, Kwa Jack, Showground and other terminuses also no longer wear face masks. The few that do wear them under the chin or on their foreheads.

The department of health in Nakuru has already sounded a warning amid a rise in infections in the county, whose caseload currently stands at 1,365.

On Friday alone, Nakuru County recorded 94 cases, topping all the counties.

At least 18,604 people have so far been tested in Nakuru, among them contacts of confirmed cases.

Since the outbreak of the virus in Kenya, 35 people have lost their lives in Nakuru County alone.

At least 10 healthcare workers at the Nakuru Level Five Hospital last week tested positive for the virus, causing anxiety over the safety of frontline workers. Seven nurses are among those infected.

The 10 medics include five nurses at the outpatient antenatal clinic, one medical officer at the Margaret Kenyatta Mother Baby maternity wing as well as two nurses at the hospital's eye clinic and two surgeons.

Already, operations at the hospital's eye clinic have been scaled down, but the largest maternity facility in the South Rift region, the Margaret Kenyatta Mother Baby maternity wing, is still operational under strict Covid-19 regulations.

The referral hospital serves patients from more than five counties including Nakuru, Kericho, Baringo, Nyandarua, Samburu and Narok.

At the same facility, 16 Covid-19 patients are on supplemental oxygen.

Reopening of schools

Meanwhile, parents from Nakuru want the Education Ministry to shelve plans to reopen schools from today, as Covid-19 positive cases continue surging in the region.

Some of the parents who spoke to the Nation said they are not comfortable with planned reopening of schools due to the rising numbers of infections in the county.

"Covid-19 cases in Nakuru have been increasing at an alarming rate. We are not ready to gamble with the lives of our children. Their education can wait, the health of our children is more important," Joseph Maina, the spokesperson of Nakuru Parents Association, said.

Another parent, Mary Kwamboka, asked the government to completely shelve reopening of schools until January 2021, so that the Ministry of Health can study the trends of the virus before children can be allowed back to schools.

"The Ministry of Education should reopen schools from next year. It is a wrong decision to rush and get into trouble. I will not allow my children back to school on Monday," said the mother of four.

Nakuru's proximity to Nairobi, its existence as a transit town and the newly opened Naivasha Inland Container Depot have been cited as possible causes of the surge in Covid-19 infections.

The infection rate has doubled in the past 10 days, with the overall positivity rate standing at 6.7 percent higher than the national rate of 4.6 percent.

The Nation has established that, in Nakuru, most of the cases are those of truck drivers, food handlers, traders, inmates and healthcare workers.

As a result, Nakuru has embraced targeted testing of Covid-19 in five sub-counties.

The county commenced target testing on September 28 in Subukia, Rongai, Molo, Nakuru East and Nakuru West, to establish the disease burden.

Governor Lee Kinyanjui and county commissioner Erastus Mbui on Friday, pleaded with residents not to drop their guard.

"The fight against the virus is not yet over. We are not out of the woods yet. As an individual, you have the responsibility to observe MoH guidelines as the number of positive cases are bound to rise," warned Mr Kinyanjui.

The county boss warned that the emerging attitude of “back to normal” is increasingly putting more people at risk and the situation could worsen following the lifting of containment measures.