. >> reporter: friday night in the cape flats, lockdown is over. >> specifically, when it opened, gunshots mitchell just started her shift. this is just her second call. >> is it safe to go? >> yeah. >> i'm going to stay with you. >> so there's a man lying in there with his weapon still next to him, he's still moving. the ambulance team is very nervous about going into this area. and this is the kind of violence that they have to deal with every night. >> i'm not worried about covid anymore. i'm more worried about the shooting. >> reporter: not worried, because each day crews know that the covid-19 patients they drop off at this emergency field hospital have a very good chance of walking out just a few days later. >> our death rate is slowing. that isn't really what we've modeled. it's not what we've predicted. we thought that the deaths would continue and would be climbing quite dramatically. >> reporter: western cape head of emergency medicine lee wallace says early models predicted a catastrophe here. >> in a way, it's lucky that you were later in this pandemic. >> definitely. we've lea