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The Southern District Board of Health is investigating how an Invercargill man known to have Covid-19 was able to die at home in New Zealand’s only community death from the disease.
The death of Alister Peter Brookland, known as Barney, at his Kingswell home on April 14, was one of 66 serious adverse events, including four deaths, reported by the board of health in 2019-20.
Brookland was in his 70s.
He was the 12th New Zealander to die from the virus.
He was linked to Bluff’s wedding group, which has been linked to more than 90 cases, including the death of the groom’s father.
The retiree’s death notice said he was a beloved father and father-in-law and grandfather of six children.
Chief Health Officer Ashley Bloomfield said Brookland had been diagnosed with Covid-19 at the time, but was not “clinically unwell” prior to his death.
His family had been caring for him at home, and health officials subjected him to “daily checks.”
Dr Bloomfield said it took several days to link the case to Covid-19 because “the circumstances surrounding that person’s passing were such that we felt it was important to get a good understanding.”
“That can help inform our knowledge base on how we manage people in the community with Covid-19, particularly if they have pre-existing respiratory conditions.”
When asked if Brookland should have been in the hospital, Dr. Bloomfield said that chief scientific adviser Ian Towns, a respiratory physician, and some of his colleagues would review the case to “see what the learnings are.”
SDHB Medical Director Nigel Millar said the death was recorded as an adverse event because the death was unexpected.
“At the time of this tragic death, we were still in the early stages of learning about this disease.”
The health board needed to learn from his response to Covid-19 and the death had been recorded as an adverse event to ensure that the DHB knew as much as possible about what happened.
Finding out how Brookland died in his home would help the board understand whether his death was preventable and if there were things he could do in the future to prevent a similar event, Dr. Millar said.
It was not clear from her response what stage the health board’s investigation was at or whether any policy changes had been made at that time or since.
Brookland’s family declined to comment.
