• M Mendelson, L Boloko, A Boutall, L Cairncross, G Calligaro, C Coccia, J A Dave, M De Villiers, S Dlamini, P Frankenfeld, P Gina, M V Gule, J Hoare, R Hofmeyr, M Hsiao, I Joubert, T Kahn, R Krause, A Kroopman, D Levin, D Maughan, S Mazondwa, G Meintjes, R Nordien, N Ntusi, N Papavarnavas, J Peter, H Pickard, P Raubenheimer, Q Said-Hartley, P Singh, S Wasserman, and Schuur Hospital Covid-Response TeamOn Behalf Of The GrooteOBOTG.
• Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, South Africa; Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, South Africa. marc.mendelson@uct.ac.za.
• S. Afr. Med. J. 2020 Aug 26; 110 (10): 973-981.

AbstractThe SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has presented clinicians with an enormous challenge in managing a respiratory virus that is not only capable of causing severe pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome, but also multisystem disease. The extraordinary pace of clinical research, and particularly the surge in adaptive trials of new and repurposed treatments, have provided rapid answers to questions of whether such treatments work, and has resulted in corticosteroids taking centre stage in the management of hospitalised patients requiring oxygen support. Some treatment modalities, such as the role of anticoagulation to prevent and treat potential thromboembolic complications, remain controversial, as does the use of high-level oxygen support, outside of an intensive care unit setting. In this paper, we describe the clinical management of COVID-19 patients admitted to Groote Schuur Hospital, a major tertiary level hospital at the epicentre of South Africa's SARS-CoV-2 epidemic during its first 4 months.

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