Ventilation, vigilance, vaccination – mainstays of UCT’s new hybrid working model

Campus life will return to its pre-COVID-19 normal when University of Cape Town (UCT) staff and students return to their workspaces and learning places after more than two years of working remotely. The return to campus forms part of the university’s newly adopted hybrid working model.

However, maintaining well-ventilated spaces, exercising vigilance on the effects of COVID-19 and encouraging vaccinations are mainstays of the hybrid working model. This was according to Professor Ntobeko Ntusi, the chair and head of UCT’s and Groote Schuur Hospital’s Department of Medicine, and a member of the university’s COVID-19 Coordinating Committee (CCC). Professor Ntusi made these remarks during a special staff engagement session hosted by Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng. The session, titled “Adjusting to our new environment”, was held virtually on Friday, 1 July.

“Today we come together because the regulations have changed. But the virus is still with us and we are calling on our experts to talk to us about where to from here. There are regulations, but there’s [also] real life and how we manage that,” Professor Phakeng said. 

Stringent measures

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, UCT took stringent measures to curtail the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Students were required to return home and the university adopted an emergency remote teaching and learning model to continue the academic project. Most staff, except for essential workers such as researchers and clinicians in the Faculty of Health Sciences, were required to work from home.

“We have missed seeing you, your smiles, your energy, the hugs and uncontrollable laughter.”

However, Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla recently made important amendments to the National Health Act. This included rescinding face masks, repealing the number of attendees at gatherings and removing any restrictions for travellers entering South Africa. Subsequently, the UCT executive, in collaboration with the CCC, put their heads together on how best to respond to these changes. The recent staff engagement session presented an opportunity to provide an update on the state of the pandemic in the country and how the university will adapt to yet another “new normal” without regulations in place.

“We have missed seeing you, your smiles, your energy, the hugs and uncontrollable laughter. I hope that we can come back to experiencing all of that, because that or part of that is what makes us a community,” Phakeng said.

Where we’re at

According to Ntusi, in the first three COVID-19 waves, South Africa experienced high rates of infection, hospitalisations, high uses of oxygen and recorded significant numbers of deaths and excess deaths. However, in the fourth wave, while the infection and reinfection rates remained high, severe disease and death were markedly diminished. This trend, he explained, was sustained in the fifth wave, which passed with lower rates of infection, hospitalisations and very few deaths.

In epidemiology, Ntusi explained, the basic reproduction number – or more commonly referred to as the R0 of an infection – refers to the expected number of cases directly generated by just one case in a population where all individuals are susceptible to infection. Ideally, the R0 should be less than one. However, when it reaches above one, this indicates that the number of cases is increasing as infected individuals spread the infection to multiple contacts. Once the R0 reaches below one, it means the disease spread is decreasing because not enough individuals are being infected to sustain the outbreak. Currently, the R0 for the Western Cape sits at 0.55.

“The severity of the COVID-19 epidemic has been attenuated by an increasing proportion of the population having acquired immunity either through COVID-19 vaccination or prior infection,” Ntusi said. “Decreased COVID-19 severity as evidenced by a much lower rate of hospitalisation and mortality rate [in the fourth and fifth wave], has provided the opportunity to modify our response to the epidemic.”

Gathering in large numbers 

By rescinding face masks and repealing the number of attendees at gatherings, the world we once knew has finally returned to normal. But Ntusi reminded UCT staff that COVID-19 is spread more efficiently by droplet nuclei (aerosols formed from the evaporation of respiratory droplets), which are airborne and can travel long distances in the air. These droplets are dissipated rapidly by fresh air, filtered air and flowing air. Therefore, he stressed the importance of enforcing adequate ventilation to minimise airborne infections like COVID-19, especially when gathered in large groups in healthcare facilities and places of learning. In addition, he encouraged vulnerable individuals to continue wearing their masks.

“COVID-19 remains a significant health risk, especially for vulnerable individuals and for individuals who have not been vaccinated.”

Ntusi also touched on the benefits of vaccinations, which at individual level reduce the risk of infection and severe disease, other harmful outcomes associated with hospitalisation, and death. Similarly, he said vaccines are highly beneficial at societal and population level, and as vaccine uptake increases, the incidence of transmission, new infections, hospitalisation and death will decrease. In the Western Cape, almost six million vaccine doses have been administered to close to three million individuals. As a result, 52% of all adults in the province have now been vaccinated.

“It is important to be mindful that COVID-19 lurks [among] us, and while we are fortunately in a low prevalence period following the fifth wave, COVID-19 remains a significant health risk, especially for vulnerable individuals and for individuals who have not been vaccinated,” he said.

Hybrid working model

Phakeng said UCT is committed to normalising its in-person and on-campus activities as soon as possible. Staff are required to start engaging with their heads of department and line managers about their imminent return to campus. Upon agreement with line managers, staff may continue to work remotely in combination with in-person and on-campus activities. Phakeng indicated that many staff members have already returned to on-campus and in-person engagements. When it comes to the academic project, students will also continue to resume face-to-face learning. She said a teaching and learning framework now sits with Senate and will soon be circulated to academics in all faculties for their input and comments.

“We are a face-to-face university; we’re not an online or correspondence university and we’re coming back to function as one.”

“Indeed, the previous mode [of teaching] has affected the performance of our students. We’d like to go back to social interaction, but also digitally enabled education because we have gotten so much stronger using our digital resources,” Phakeng said.

“We are a face-to-face university; we’re not an online or correspondence university and we’re coming back to function as one.”

UCT’S chief operating officer, Dr Reno Morar, and a member of the CCC Emeritus Associate Professor David Coetzee also contributed to this discussion.