Coronavirus Covid-19: Health Minister Chris Hipkins surprised by the closure of testing centers

Health Minister Chris Hipkins says he was surprised by the downsizing of Auckland’s community testing centers and the closure of all sites over the weekend.

He said district health boards and public health units should have communicated the changes to both him and the public and that he would speak with them in the coming days.

RNZ reported this morning that there are now only six community test sites still in operation, compared to 20 at the peak of the second Covid-19 outbreak, and none open over the weekend.

Hipkins said fixed community sites had lower testing rates, with some as low as 26 tests over a weekend.

“That is very resource intensive, there are a lot of people around to not do a lot of tests.”

While emerging sites, for example in a supermarket parking lot, get much higher trial rates.

“So that’s one of the things that we have to keep in mind, if we need to move the test sites more frequently because we know that when we move them we have a higher degree of people using them.”

But Hipkins said those changes had not been communicated to him or the public and that he would be following up.

“Closing those test sites was not something I was asked about and clearly I think there was a communication challenge there that the relevant people didn’t solve well enough,” Hipkins said.

“I don’t think there were any bad intentions here. I think they were looking for the best way to use the resource and that’s the right question.

“But I think there is a communication challenge here to make sure we are communicating the changes that we are making.”

Chief Health Officer Ashley Bloomfield also told RNZ that he would speak with health boards to make sure testing centers were accessible as needed.

Hipkins said he will speak to the relevant people over the next few days to make sure it gets fixed over the weekend.

“One of the key measures here is that everyone should be able to get tested when they want a test and need to know where to go to get tested, so if community testing sites are changing, people should know where. they can do it. go instead. “

People can still get tested at their GPs.

In the first instance, anyone with symptoms should always call Healthline first, as it could tell you where the tests are available, he said.

In light of the latest community case of a marine electronics engineer testing positive after working on a ship now heading to Brisbane, Hipkins said he was reviewing whether people entering New Zealand to transit directly to a ship should also get tested.

But there were logistical challenges and safety concerns in sending people to test people on ships that may never make it ashore, he said.

For people coming ashore, tests were available.

The Maritime Union has asked that foreign seafarers also be tested.

Hipkins said that all contacts in the case had been quickly identified, isolated, and all thus far had returned negative evidence, suggesting it was well contained.

The engineer had been examined four times, approximately every fifteen days, and needed to be re-examined before seeking a test for mild symptoms.

“This appears to be a textbook case of how the system should work.”