Covid-19 and a South African Practice

Who would ever have thought that the year of perfect vision – the year 2020 - would have become such an eventful year with an unpredicted, stressful and deadly virus looming around every corner. A virus so unprecedented that it has put the globe into total lockdown for weeks - making us fearful to go out, to touch, or even breathe.

Here in South Africa, since 27 March 2020 we were in total lock-down for 5 weeks and in partial lock-down for at least the past 8 weeks. Our Government is expecting the virus to only reach its peak towards September or October and our infected cases are climbing at a staggering rate. Sadly, I know of some optometric practices and other businesses that had to close down permanently because of this pandemic.

Our practice was on total lockdown for the first 5 weeks. We did telephone assessments on emergency eye conditions and I went into the practice for the odd repair on spectacle frames. Since the 4th of May we have been open to the public –only for emergency eyecare – with strict protocols put in place. We devised an altered working schedule for our staff. Initially, the practice had two alternating teams working, but for now we have a back-up team working from home and all other staff are back at the practice.

Working from home as part of the back-up team, I am totally out of my comfort zone. From being a fulltime optician and lab technician, I am now doing administrative duties in front of a computer screen 9 hours a day. I can definitely agree that every symptom caused by Computer Vision Syndrome is true and that I have first-hand experience on everything - from dry, itchy and irritated eyes to Tech-Neck and ‘out of balance’ sleeping cycles.

We reduced all the non-emergency consultations and implemented stringent disinfecting measures. All staff must work with masks, disinfect their hands and all surfaces on a regular basis. The patients are screened at the door – their temperatures are checked, hands are sanitised and they need to fill out a questionnaire specific to the Covid-19 symptoms. We book appointments on an hourly basis so as not to overlap any patients in the practice – appointments are booked for every patient that needs to visit us – from collection of spectacles and contact lenses to repairs and eye tests. When patients try on frames, we sterilize all the frames before putting them back onto the shelves and disinfect our pre-test as well as test-room equipment and area after every patient.
We are optimistic about the future and know that this shall pass and that we will get to the other side much stronger and hopefully with new perspective.