Covid 19 coronavirus: positive case visited Auckland marine supply store, no one considered close contacts

A North Shore gym has been closed for the next five days for a deep cleaning after a person who later tested positive for Covid-19 visited the facility.

Snap Fitness in Browns Bay was closed on Thursday, informing members that the positive case visited the gym between 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. last Saturday.

The gym will reopen next Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a man who tested positive for Covid-19 visited an Auckland marine supply store over the weekend.

But staff and other buyers are not considered close contacts.

The Auckland Regional Public Health Service confirmed that the man, who visited The Malt pub on Friday night without knowing it was contagious, also visited the store, but said the visit was considered low risk.

The man visited the Burnsco Gulf Harbor store twice Sunday: around 10:30 a.m. and then around 3:30 p.m., a company spokeswoman said.

“We were informed that the person had no symptoms at the time, their visits were brief and there was no interaction with any other clients, and their interactions with staff were very limited,” he said.

“No person who was in the store at the time or who has visited it since is considered at risk or is considered a close contact.”

Health authorities notified store management of the visit yesterday afternoon as a courtesy, he said.

And an Auckland primary school teacher is awaiting her Covid-19 test results after discovering she had a family connection to the man.

Massey Elementary School principal Bruce Barnes says the assistant teacher was teaching high school students yesterday when she was told she had been exposed to the virus.

“She had no symptoms, she said she had only had brief contact with him,” he said.

The teacher immediately dropped out of school and sought a swab test, Barnes said.

“We have our procedures in place – we sanitize at school, we clean all surfaces at school, we’re doing the best we can and we have to wait until we get more information,” he said.

“But what frustrates me is that I wish there was a much faster test rotation, so we would know.”

A Burnsco spokeswoman said management decided to close the store early Wednesday for a deep cleaning, in addition to the daily hygiene and Covid-19 cleaning and hygiene precautions and protocols that staff were following.

The Gulf Harbor store reopened this morning and staff have been told to watch for symptoms of the virus.

It comes when patrons visiting a North Shore pub while the man was there Friday night were urged to isolate themselves and get a swab.

The man visited The Malt in Greenhithe on Friday night between 7:30 pm and 10 pm before falling ill.

He and a dock co-worker were infected by a 27-year-old marine engineer who is believed to have contracted the disease on a visiting ship, the Sofrana Surville.

Today, the Greenhithe bar announced that it would be closed for at least a week to undergo a deep cleaning and allow staff to isolate themselves.

Roughly 200 Greenhithe residents had been screened for Covid-19 at a pop-up station in the North Shore suburb earlier this afternoon.

The director general of health, Dr. Ashley Bloomfield, reported that today two new cases of Covid-19 were in controlled isolation.

The first arrived on October 19 from the Netherlands via Dubai.

The second case came from Doha on October 22. They developed symptoms during the flight and were examined upon arrival.

Two other new cases were reported in Australia on a ship believed to be the likely source of infection for an infected New Zealand dock worker.

The ship has been docked on the Sunshine Coast since Thursday.

It also emerged today that a student at New Zealand’s largest school, Rangitoto College, is in isolation after a person in his home tested positive for Covid-19.

The risk to the university community is low as the student tested negative and was in school only briefly, Bloomfield said.

He urged anyone contacted by the contact trackers to act quickly and continue to monitor their health for the next several weeks for any symptoms.

Anyone who is considered a close contact must self-isolate for the full 14 days.

“This virus does not take breaks.”

The Auckland Regional Public Health Service has written to the parents of the university.

“However, this student is not considered a close contact as he has had minimal exposure to the person while this person was contagious. The student is fine and has had a negative test result. He has only been in school for a very short time since your household member got sick. “