Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 testing represents the foundational pillar for a rapid and sustained response to COVID-19. South Africa, with the largest number of cumulative COVID-19 cases on the African continent, may outwardly appear to be administering its tests effectively. However, this chapter shows how the ambitious plan for mass testing was soon scaled back due to countrywide social and health inequalities. Disruptions to global supply chains coupled with socio-economic, institutional, and infrastructural realities on the ground, constrained the availability and utility of tests. The result being that test results only provide a partial and distorted picture of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. The health system and healthcare workers have had to learn to manage the pandemic in truly testing times, where clinical manifestations often resonate more than SARS-CoV-2 tests. The result being healthcare workers are all too often, the canary in the coal mine!
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Lewins, K., van Heusden, P., Baldwin-Ragaven, L. (2022). Testing Times: COVID-19 Testing and Healthcare Workers in South Africa. In: Vindrola-Padros, C., Johnson, G.A. (eds) Caring on the Frontline during COVID-19. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6486-1_10
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