Covid 19 coronavirus: New case had contacts with infected family during blockage – PM

LAST VIRUS
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* Families blocked for hours in traffic; confusion on the borders of Auckland
* Last straw? The latest blockade could push some firms hit hard in Auckland
* Abandoned orientation: University students in Auckland ‘extremely disappointed’
* Richard Prebble: Why are blockages the only option?

The latest case of the Covid-19 community had contacts with an infected family during alarm level 3, says the Prime Minister.

Jacinda Ardern’s comments come after it was revealed that one recent case went to the gym when he should have been home after doing a Covid test – something that has angered the community and generated numerous calls for greater consequences for them who do not make themselves -insulated.

Ardern says there is a confirmed link between the recent positive case and an early family.

Ardern told Mike Hosking of Newstalk ZB that this meant there was a live broadcast chain in the current blast.

She said after a number of interviews, officials revealed the new contact.

Both families had contacts below level 3, Ardern said.

“Obviously we had contacts here at level 3 when it should not have happened,” she said.

“This was a family which had already been identified as having Covid and so was part of tracking contacts and did not identify that they had contacts with this family,” Ardern said.

“So that means we come back, we re-interview and say ‘now that we have identified that this has happened, we have not had all your contacts, are there others?’ “and we do everything we can to identify whether or not someone else has been contacted.”

“The most important thing for us is that people just tell us. Obviously, we had contacts here at level 3 when it shouldn’t have happened, but the best thing people can do is still tell us the truth.” said Ardern.

“If we had known this, the other family we now found a week later, they would have been in close contact and quarantined and we would not have this situation. The truth is so important to us. “

Ardern told the AM Show that the person had been interviewed by officials and did not disclose the meeting.

“Whether they forgot or lied, I can not tell you and it obviously had devastating consequences,” she said.

She said whether any action would result or not did not belong to her.

“People do dumb things, but we will not get over these if people take them away to the point where they are not telling the truth.”

She said there were numerous violations that occurred across two families at the center of the blast.

“A decision whether enforcement action happens or not is not mine,” she said.

Ardern said she was constantly in the mood to save people from death and keep people inside to follow the rules.

“It’s a difficult dilemma,” said Ardern, who admitted she was angry.

She hoped the biggest obstacle would be evidence of what was happening now with the rising level of public responsibility.

She wanted people to be honest with health officials.

“We’ve been here before,” she said, referring to people who were disobedient during the August outbreak in Auckland.

The prime minister told Hosking that people in solitary confinement were subject to daily checks by health officials and, for the most part, were following the rules.

She said there was no excuse for what happened.

Ardern is warning of more community cases likely to be discovered in the coming days, so it is important that people follow the blocking rules because “Covid kills”.

And she has a stern message for anyone who does not comply with the isolation rules to wait for a knock on the door by the police.

When people went to a GP for a test, the staff made it very clear they were staying home after they had done a test, she said.

From the long line of drivers trying to get back to Auckland, Ardern said what we saw happening yesterday on the road was the effect of a traffic jam happening in the middle of a weekend.

She said the government did not want extra people in Auckland in an increased state of alarm.

Additional defense staff are designed to help ease queues.

“MBIE here has done an incredible job. Yes, the first level 3 was difficult and we had to improve at the border. Now we have a regime where everyone just republishes their documents so that they can move immediately, she said.

Meanwhile, as Auckland entered its first day with level 3 restrictions, there was chaos and confusion at several police road checkpoints on the region’s borders. Some families were still struggling to get home last night after spending 10 hours stuck in traffic at Auckland Cavid-19 checkpoints.

D LGJONI JETO N TO NEWSTALK ZB
6.35am: Judith Collins

The Aucklanders are back at level 3 restrictions for a full week and the rest of New Zealand is at level 2 after the 21-year-old MIT student – known as Case M – visited various public places before coming out positive.

He then went to the gym when he should have been in solitary confinement. His mother, Case N, also tested positive.

Last night, a new case – Case 0 – was discovered by the same family as several new places of interest were released on Case M movements, including an MIT cafe and Pak’nSave Cavendish Drive, as well as New for Hunter Plaza and City Fitness gyms there.

Too much politics, not enough science

Auckland University Professor of Medicine Des Gorman said the situation in which the country found itself was “dj vu” after the second blockade in less than a month.

Asked by Hosking if plans were being drawn up on the spot, Gorman agreed to be.

He said this showed “our volatile risk management approach”.

Gorman said the Covid-19 Government’s response was too much politics and not enough science.

He was particularly critical of the contact tracking system, which he said had not progressed much from a year ago.

Calling someone and when you do not get an answer just calling again was “deeply inappropriate”.

He said contract tracking teams should visit homes to find someone at that point.

Gorman was also unsure of public health messages, asking what was said by the 21-year-old case general practitioner Covid-19 who went to the gym after doing a virus test.

Reception game

The country is waiting to find out if any of the people he has been in contact with will continue to test positive for the virus in the UK – something experts say is a real possibility.

“There may be a lot of people who are currently incubating the virus [in the community] and will come out positive in the coming days, “microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles told the Herald.

And, Wiles said, it was not “extremely clear yet” whether Level 3 restrictions would be good enough when it comes to this explosion.

“Of course, level 4 restrictions would be dealt with [the outbreak] faster because there are far fewer interactions between people. “

She said changing alarm levels is something officials may need to look into in the coming days if new community cases are discovered.

Testing has revealed that the ranking of the student and his mother shows close ties to another Papatoetoe family, with members already testing positive.

If that connection is confirmed, it would be good news, meaning the new cases are from the same Valentine’s Day group that generated a three-day block for the Aucklanders earlier this month, rather than a new outbreak unknown.

“It reinforces that we are still looking for just one source of infection,” said director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.

Last night another person who was not related to the 21-year-old came out positive, but there is no danger to the community as they were already in quarantine with relatives as a precaution during the time they were infectious.

Bloomfield said level 3 restrictions were enough to handle the explosion “at this point”.

“As long as everyone does what they have to do at alarm level 3.”

Ardern said death prevention was the “main reason” behind the brief and sharp blockages.

“It’s about saving the lives of our people and saving their livelihoods.”

Because the latest cases are of a highly contagious and unpredictable nature in the UK, she said it was unlikely Auckland would leave level 3 before the seven-day blockade ended.

Arden admitted “disappointment” in the case when M broke the isolation rules and came out when he should have been isolating the house at a move she said had “terrible consequences”.

And she’s clearly not alone, with many Aucklanders taking to social media to vent their frustration.

Papatoetoe High School principal Vaughan Couillault said disobedience would have irritated anyone who obeyed the rules.

But, he said the attack on the person who made the mistake was not helpful.

Ardern agreed “No one wants Covid in our community. But equality we will not achieve by turning away from each other.”

This is not to say, however, that the Government is sitting on its hands when it comes to making sure the people who need to isolate are at home.

At the moment, health officials control people who are thought to be isolated through a phone call.

If a health officer cannot apprehend someone who is supposed to isolate them, there will be a personal visit that may involve the police, if necessary.

But National is calling on the Government to go further.

For example, occasional phone calls to those who should be in solitary confinement and a request that they confirm their whereabouts with a video call or photographic evidence.

“Monitoring of self-isolators should be rushed to ensure compliance,” said National Covid-19 Response spokesman Chris Bishop.

“This means regular checks on site, and if no contact is made within 24 hours, then the police are involved,”

Meanwhile, Ardern has confirmed that people in South Auckland will get the vaccine first when it comes to overall distribution in the middle of the year.

“It would make absolute sense that we would start a vaccination program in areas like South Auckland as there is a higher risk there.”

She said 75 per cent of the people who have been vaccinated so far have been from this area, these are front line workers and MIQ.

“Our frontier workforce is primarily a South Auckland workforce.”