Light at the end of the tunnel after heavy COVID-19 losses

The Johannesburg Jewish community is reeling from unprecedented COVID-19 deaths during the third wave of the pandemic. But in spite of these tragic fatalities, the vaccine is clearly having a positive effect.

“We are dealing with many sad losses at the moment. We’ve just had the 200th Jewish death from COVID-19 in the Johannesburg region since the beginning of the pandemic,” says Chevrah Kadisha Chief Executive Saul Tomson. “We’ve had a 35% increase in deaths over normal levels year on year. June this year was extremely high, and we expect that July will be just as harrowing. The winter waves are definitely worse.

“The third wave has put a huge strain on our operational team. It’s working through the night, six days a week, and running up to eight funerals a day,” Tomson says. “That’s a funeral every hour. The load is intense.”

While some burial staff have contracted COVID-19, “There hasn’t been a moment when they’ve said it’s too risky. It’s a small team that’s completely committed. In spite of the pressure and volume, it continues to operate with efficiency and compassion.”

Tomson says the Chev also relies on volunteers, and there is a huge amount of logistics and paperwork behind the scenes when a COVID-19-positive community member passes away. This is in the context of hospitals and the department of home affairs being overwhelmed with deaths.

Some of the toughest moments have been funerals for young people. “We have seen some young deaths, but it’s not the norm. The average age of COVID-19 deaths is 77 years old. One of the worst days was when we buried a husband and wife at the same time. We’ve done funerals for couples a week or two apart, but never both at the same time. We had to ask a whole set of halachic questions – it was totally unprecedented. It’s also very difficult when families can’t attend if they are COVID-19-positive,” he says.

Local virology expert Professor Barry Schoub explains why the Jewish community has been considerably more seriously affected by COVID-19 than the general community. “First, the majority of the country’s Jewish population resides in Gauteng, the province which has been by far the most severely affected in the country. As at 6 July, Gauteng accounted for about 62% of the total number of cases in the country. Second, the median age of the Jewish population is 45 years, against a national average of 26 years. Age has been well documented to be the major determinant of severity of disease and hospital admission. Third, the penchant for functions and get-togethers, often discarding COVID-19 precautions, is an important yet preventable contributor.”

Says Tomson, “The funeral streaming that we started in December has made an impact. The professionals who used to video Barmitzvahs and weddings are now at the cemetery all day, streaming funerals. While that’s an upsetting thought, it has created much-needed income for them. And it’s a gift to the families by allowing members who can’t be there to be part of the service. Virtually every funeral is streaming now, and can be found on the Chev website.”

In spite of all the negative news, there’s a ray of light at the end of the tunnel. “Our staff was vaccinated nearly two months ago with the Johnson & Johnson [J&J] vaccine, and it has been a game changer,” Tomson says. “Very few have got COVID-19, and we’ve had zero staff hospitalised. It’s effective against the current variants. The same goes for our cemetery staff and volunteers, who were also vaccinated with J&J. They have a lot of public contact, but they’ve been only mildly symptomatic or completely asymptomatic.”

Says Schoub, “Vaccine rollout in countries with high coverage has drastically reduced the extent of severe infection, hospitalisation, and death. For example, in the United Kingdom (UK), which has now reached 59% population coverage, the tally of daily cases per million population was 423 as against 202 for South Africa [on 6 April]. However, the daily death rate per million population was only 0.5 per million population for the UK as against 5.5 per million for South Africa.”

Johannesburg general practitioner Dr Daniel Israel says, “The vaccine is an absolute ray of hope. Studies show that in spite of the fact that some people have had only one dose of Pfizer, and have still caught COVID-19, the incidence of people becoming very unwell after having been vaccinated is little to nothing. If one looks at the countries where vaccinations have taken place, vaccination has really made the rates of COVID-19 drop to almost nothing. Vaccination is the way to go. It’s the only way we’re going to get out of this.”

Meanwhile, all Chevrah Kadisha residents over the age of 60 got their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine last week. “With the massive increase in community deaths in June, only one Chevrah Kadisha resident has died from COVID-19. That’s staggering, given their age and frailty. With our staff being vaccinated and all our protocols in place, it shows the power of the vaccine in preventing spread and severe illness,” Tomson says.

He says they were scheduled to get the second dose only in mid-July, “but our team phoned the health department every day and were relentless. We got our entire allocation 42 days after the first dose [the minimum time in terms of government policy], and our team immediately got to work. They went room to room, vaccinating virtually every resident. We were at the top of their list for the second jab. It shows the tenacity and commitment of our care team. My message is that vaccines work. I’ve seen it first-hand. We’re so grateful.”

Tomson says the Chev has been extended on all three fronts. “The Chev is unique in that it not only cares for the aged, vulnerable, and frail, who have been severely impacted by COVID-19, it also offers financial relief to indigent families, who have been severely affected by the economic fallout of the pandemic. I don’t know any other organisation that does this. It’s also a burial society. We have been extended beyond imagination.

“Financial relief is ongoing,” he says. “It isn’t changed by the different waves [of COVID-19]. We’ve experienced a significant influx of families needing financial assistance – a 15% increase over the past year. Younger families are also needing additional financial help.

“I keep thinking that without the support of the Jewish community, nothing we’ve done in this pandemic would have been possible,” Tomson says. “There are ongoing challenges, and it’s an ongoing partnership with the community. It has been so since 1888, and we are blessed.”