Covid 19 coronavirus: what we know about the latest cases before the long weekend

A pub has closed for two weeks, a gym has closed, and schools are alerting parents to links to our latest Covid-19 cases. Luke Kirkness tracks the spread of the virus from a port worker in Taranaki to the north shore of Auckland.

A marine engineer who is believed to have contracted Covid-19 while visiting a ship is believed to have transmitted the virus to at least two other people.

The other two are believed to be colleagues of the engineer, and between them they visited a pub, a gym and a marine supply store before testing positive on Auckland’s north shore.

It comes as tourists prepare to leave the City of Sails for the long weekend and many begin to question whether this is the beginning of a new group that could force the city to crash again.

Wearing a mask and gloves, the 27-year-old engineer worked at Sofranna Surville in Auckland ports on Tuesday, October 13.

The ship had sailed from Papua New Guinea to the Solomon Islands, to Brisbane, to Tauranga and then to Auckland.

It comes when customers who visited The Malt pub in Greenhithe on Friday night are urged to isolate themselves and get a trade.

A man attended the establishment between 7:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. before becoming ill and testing positive for Covid-19.

A North Shore gym was forced to close for the next five days for a deep cleaning after one of the cases 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 visit was considered low risk and the Health Ministry was seeking close contacts of the person from their gym session.

Meanwhile, 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 Burnsco Gulf Harbor store twice on Sunday. Staff and other buyers are not considered close contacts.

No need to change alert levels … yet

The Ministry of Health does not recommend a change in the alert level at this stage.

However, Chief Health Officer Dr. Ashley Bloomfield says the government was interested in knowing if there was any indication that they should.

Bloomfield cautioned that people should remain diligent, especially in places of hospitality.

That means things like always washing your hands, using good coughing and sneezing etiquette, and staying away from meetings or going on vacation if you’re unwell.

He also encouraged people to keep wearing masks on public transport saying they shouldn’t be ashamed.

It was also important that people continue to use the Covid Tracer app, Bloomfield said.

Malt

Kevin McVicar, owner of The Malt, says there were between 60 and 80 customers in the pub on Friday.

He says the ministry has not told him anything about the infected person.

The Herald understands that the customer also visited Burnsco Gulf Harbor on Sunday, but the staff and other shoppers at the marine supply store are not considered close contacts.

McVicar has been forced to close the doors for 14 days after an infected customer spent more than three hours there on a busy night.

Negative staff can return to work, but McVicar said eight of his 16 employees were working that night and had to self-isolate for 14 days regardless of test results.

Roughly 200 Greenhithe residents had been tested for Covid-19 at a pop-up station in the North Shore suburb in the early hours of yesterday afternoon.

Gym to close

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 visit was considered low-risk and the ministry was seeking close contacts of the person from their gym session.

Marine supply store

A man who visited The Malt also 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.”

Massey Elementary School

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.

Rangitoto College

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. “

Managed isolation cases

Bloomfield reported that two new Covid-19 cases were in controlled isolation yesterday.

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.