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An overnight shopping trip has slowed the lives of more than 1,200 shoppers, yet the ever-growing network of contact categories in Auckland’s Covid-19 response is causing confusion.
Kmart Botany.
Photo: google maps
As officials try to contain the Auckland community group, anyone who visited Kmart in Botany last Friday or Saturday night has been upgraded from “more casual contacts” to “closed.”
In addition to having to isolate yourself for two weeks and get two Covid-19 tests, it means that if they start showing symptoms, your household members should stay home as well.
A tab on the Ministry of Health website also suggested that three tests be done.
At the crowded community testing center in Botany today, people were taking calls to get a swab, but told RNZ they weren’t very clear on the details or didn’t know what category they were in.
Some 1236 identified contacts had contacted the Health Ministry directly, while 954 devices received ‘exposure notifications’ after scanning at Kmart Botany or Dark Vapes in East Tamaki.
Kmart has yet to answer questions about the total number of customers who visited the store during the expo events, or whether it was working with the Ministry of Health to locate them.
It was also unclear what happens to customers who do not fall into the Ministry of Health’s contact categories, such as those who visited on Sunday or purchased click-and-pick orders.
The Facebook page Unite Against Covid-19 has advised some to isolate themselves for two weeks.
University of Auckland associate professor Dr Siouxsie Wiles believed the new categories were a good response to recent “short transmission chains” but said the messages needed to be clear.
“We need to have a very clear idea of what actions people should take. It is confusing because it depends on the settings, what people know about the cases. People should contact the public health unit if they have been exposed that they will be able to give you the right advice, “he said.
“What is a bit confusing is when there are different people giving different advice … I am not surprised that people are confused.”
Kmart’s management team in Australia confirmed that staff working on the recent case were isolated.
The Health Ministry said that eight of the 15 staff members, who are now considered “closest” contacts, had already returned negative tests.
Tali Williams, FIRST Union retail spokesperson, said it had been a scary time for those staff.
“There is a lot of nervousness at the moment because people are still in this unknown ‘what does it mean to me?’. We have communicated to the company some of the concerns that come from the staff ‘what does it mean if I am in an at- risk ‘and we are communicating with Kmart about those categories and generally we receive a positive response, “he said.
Covid-19 test at Papatoetoe High School.
Photo: RNZ / Simon Rogers
At the cluster’s access point, Papatoetoe High School, the third series of tests in two weeks was well under way.
Principal Vaughan Couillaut felt positive after a large number of students retested in the first 24 hours, and negative results came quickly.
“There are 185 people who haven’t returned a test yet, which means they haven’t done it yet, or they’ve done it and the result hasn’t been processed or linked to our list, which is a lot to look at. Since we started somewhere around 1500, “he said.
Dr. Wiles felt that there was sufficient contact tracing, testing and isolation capabilities to keep up with the latest cases and prevent any upward movement in alert levels.
