Review
Version 1
Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
COVID-19 Pandemic and the South African Podiatrist
Version 1
: Received: 16 September 2020 / Approved: 18 September 2020 / Online: 18 September 2020 (09:58:49 CEST)
How to cite: Zipfel, B.; Dembskey, N. COVID-19 Pandemic and the South African Podiatrist. Preprints 2020, 2020090425. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202009.0425.v1 Zipfel, B.; Dembskey, N. COVID-19 Pandemic and the South African Podiatrist. Preprints 2020, 2020090425. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202009.0425.v1
Abstract
The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is clearly taking a firmer grip on South Africa and more podiatrists will face the potential transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Government response was swift with the implementation of a travel ban, strict national lockdown as well as social distancing and hygiene protocols in line with international health regulations. Co-morbidities such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, endemic to South Africa, are considered a dangerous combination with COVID-19, making many South Africans vulnerable to contracting the COVID-19. Patients with diabetes as well as the aged are vulnerable, both in terms of potential combined complications and challenges in continuity in foot care. The demands of the pandemic may outstrip the ability of the health systems to cope. Should this time arrive, all healthcare practitioners, including podiatrists, would have to step in and take on a role beyond their scope of practice in order to ensure that the healthcare system does not get overwhelmed. It is important for podiatrists to keep abreast with the developments around the COVID-19, in order that they may institute appropriate clinical practice which will ensure maximum protection for themselves, staff and patients as well as providing quality foot health care.
Keywords
SARS-CoV-2; Coronavirus; podiatry; foot
Subject
Medicine and Pharmacology, Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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