Queenstown Gets First Covid-19 Random Test

COVID-19

New Zealand’s coronavirus hotspots are now at the forefront of targeted “sentinel tests” to determine if a deadly virus is spreading within the community.

Due to its status as a virus hotspot, a voluntary drive-through Covid-19 test is currently underway in the Queenstown supermarket.

WellSouth, a primary health care facility, set up a community testing facility on Thursday morning at PAK’n SAVE in Hawthorne Drive.

Drivers entering the parking lot are invited to take a test from a WellSouth worker wearing protective medical equipment. Two rows of cars are queuing to two large marquees, far away from the supermarket building. In supermarket buildings, mask and gown clinicians are testing from car windows.

The clinician, whose name was marked with the marker “Carolyn” in his gown, said that Queenstown was a “hotspot” at Covid-19 in New Zealand, and randomized tests improved spread tracking, so the tests were conducted. The idea of ​​how much it exists in the general public.

This is considered the first case of a randomized community test in New Zealand.

Those who choose not to take the test can drive to the parking lot to shop instead. However, there is a decent capture and about 20 cars are waiting in the queue.

Despite having a population of about 42,000 (less than 1% of the total) compared to New Zealand’s 4.8 million, about 86 were identified in the Queenstown Lake District, with a probability of about 62,000.

Health Director Ashley Bloomfield said 300 people from the community had been swabbed as part of a “targeted sentinel test” to help them understand if the virus had infected their community.

With a large number of cases in the region, all associated with specific events, Queenstown is one of the regions flagged by epidemiological experts within the Ministry of Health’s Technical Advisory Group, with more extensive testing. Would be helpful.

“It just helps us to see if we have any infections in our community,” Mr Bloomfield said, praising the local health team for prompt response to the advice we received on Wednesday only.

Similar tests could have occurred in several other areas identified by the epidemiology team, such as South Auckland and Waikato.

Bloomfield said that, despite the much lower levels of respiratory disease in the community, more widespread testing was shown, as demonstrated through the primary care data and information collected by Healthline. It was

The newsroom approached Southern DHB to comment on the town’s new approach.