Covid 19 coronavirus: South Auckland reflects on next steps in battle against pandemic

Within minutes of the new cases from the Covid community being revealed, a south Auckland dairy owner answered calls from concerned friends and supermarket customers wondered if their child would be safe at daycare.

News that a Papatoetoe High School student and her parents tested positive for Covid-19 left people in South Auckland feeling anxious.

Between the announcement of the community case in the early afternoon and the Prime Minister’s closing speech at 7pm, locals were already weighing the risks and merits of the closure.

Near Papatoetoe High School, neighbor Shiu Lingam raced to Beverly Hills Superette to return a friend’s car he had been working on.

Lingam said he returned the car as soon as he learned of the new cases, in part because he did not know if another lockdown was imminent.

His friend, the owner of the Superette Dilip, was receiving a series of calls from friends about Covid-19.

Dilip said he hoped that the people who hired Covid would have diligently scanned their registration apps at every business they had visited.

Both men said they were concerned about the new cases. For Dilip’s superette, the closure of a nearby school would spell a downturn in business.

“Most of the parents come and drop off their children in the area,” Dilip said.

He said that at least contact tracing appeared to have confirmed the locations of interest where people with Covid-19 had been.

Lingam said that no one wanted another closure, but if necessary, the community would have to accept it.

Pak ‘n Save on Cavendish Drive has been designated as a place of interest for customers who visited between 3.45 and 5 pm on Friday.

Everyone who attended the grocery store was asked to stay home, get tested on Monday, and call Healthline on 08003585453.

A young family outside the Manukau supermarket said the new cases made them anxious to send their son to daycare tomorrow.

“One of the teachers who works there, apparently his son goes to Papatoetoe High School,” said the boy’s mother.

He said the new cases should shake New Zealand out of any complacency.

He said he would now be more diligent scanning with the Covid tracking app as the pandemic could break out quickly.

“Maybe a blockade would be good to stop it.”

“We are very lucky here,” said her husband.

But he said the new cases could have a lot of casual and close contacts.

“It gets bigger and bigger,” said the boy’s father. “It is not a small school.”

He said the community couldn’t afford to be negligent with Covid-19.

“People come every day from abroad, from the hotspot countries.”

Outside of the supermarket, there were no obvious signs of anything out of the ordinary.

“Oh damn,” said a buyer when informed of the new cases and told Papatoetoe High School it would be closing for two days.

Some supermarket employees wore masks, others did not, and virtually no customers shortly before 3pm wore masks.

Local business concerns

At Discount House Superette, near Pak ‘n Save, store owner Shri Chand was talking to customers about community cases.

He said his clients had raised concerns about an outbreak.

“We have to be careful,” Chand said. “It can happen at any time.”

Chand, who has owned the Sharkey St store for 18 years, said he felt more comfortable now if customers wore face masks.

“If there are more infected people, we should shut down, but if there aren’t more, I don’t think we should.”

Chand said he was confident that the Health Ministry and the Prime Minister would make the right decision.

He said short-term sacrifices could prevent long-term damage to people’s health and the economy.

“It is better to lose $ 100 than $ 10,000.”

Chand said the country had become complacent about wearing masks.

“We have been very forgiving from the first lockdown. We should have been tougher.”

It had a QR code for the Covid tracking app and a manual login form for tracking contacts.

Some days the manual form only had one or two people logging in, but Chand said many more people were using the app.

Nearby, at the intersection of Rosewood Ave and Osterley Way, a middle-aged couple shopping was among the only members of the public to wear masks.

But today’s community cases were not the reason.

“Always,” the man replied when asked how often he wore a mask outside.

“Covid can be anywhere,” replied his partner.