Covid 19 coronavirus: Auckland lockdown exit comes with warning from Jacinda Ardern

Auckland residents are waking up to greater freedom today, but the source of the latest outbreak, which now involves six confirmed community cases, remains unknown.

And Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern warns that although the outbreak is contained, there is “every chance” that more community cases will be found.

But both she and Chief Health Officer Ashley Bloomfield are confident that the Auckland outbreak has been “contained.”

The departure of Alert Level 3, which occurred at midnight last night, will be good news for frustrated parents, as Level 2 means schools and daycare centers are reopening.

This is also good news for businesses, as many are eligible for the government’s new business subsidy scheme.

Health experts responded to the government’s move optimistically, but one argues that it is still not cautious enough.

“We still don’t have a clear idea of ​​how the pandemic virus got across the border and many test results are outstanding,” said prominent epidemiologist Professor Nick Wilson.

And, epidemiology professor Michael Baker said he would be much more comfortable with the change if he had come up with a more sophisticated approach to managing Covid-19 containment, including additional alert levels like 2.5 and 1.5.

He said those additional tiers would help clarify things like mask wearing requirements, better describe limits in indoor gatherings and manage movements outside of areas where there is a high risk of transmission, such as in Auckland at the moment.

Speaking to the media after a 90-minute meeting with his cabinet, Ardern revealed that Auckland would move to level 2 at midnight last night, while the rest of the country would move to level 1.

The city will remain at this alert level until Monday, when the cabinet will make a decision on whether Auckland can return to level 1.

While pleased to be able to get New Zealand’s largest city out of the lockdown, Ardern clearly didn’t want to appear complacent.

“I will never feel comfortable with Covid-19,” she said.

“There is an indescribable anxiety that comes with the daily grind of handling a pandemic and I think we all feel it. But you learn things, you certainly learn things.”

He also defended the three-day confinement against those who said it was a “false alarm.”

“I think everyone would agree that it was much better to have a 72 hour [lockdown], to make the wrong call and have 72 hours of a community outbreak. “

But New Zealand is not completely out of the woods yet.

“There is a good chance that we will find more cases,” Ardern said.

However, any of those cases are expected to be linked to the current community group.

The alert level decision came after Bloomfield revealed that testing had revealed three additional new community cases yesterday.

One is a student who went to school with Case A, the Papatoetoe student who was revealed Sunday as one of the three initial community cases.

The other two were relatives of the newly infected student.

Bloomfield said it is encouraging that all the cases have clear epidemiological links.
Ardern said he wanted to emphasize that this was “good news.”

“What this tells us is that we do not have a widespread outbreak, but rather a small chain of transmission that is manageable by our normal contact tracing and testing procedures.”

Meanwhile, health officials will continue their mass testing campaign.

Ardern said about 23,000 tests have been done since the first new community cases were discovered.

It has also been revealed that one of the new community cases works at a McDonalds in South Auckland.

Bloomfield said it was still in the process of confirming the exact details of the situation, but a McDonald’s spokesperson said the Cavendish Drive restaurant had been closed for “immediate deep cleaning.”

Yesterday’s new cases mean that there are a total of six Covid-19 positive community cases in New Zealand, all in isolation.

Although the vast majority of Auckland students are able to return to school, Papatoetoe High School will be closed until Monday.

When it reopens, only students who have had a negative test result will be able to return.

For the rest of the country, level 1 means that life returns to normal. However, face covers are still required on public transportation regardless of the alert level.

And there’s a silver lining for Auckland businesses too: Eligible businesses will be able to claim payment of the Startup Grant.

Any business that has experienced a 30 percent drop in revenue due to alert level increases is ready to receive a cash payment from the Government.

Payment consists of a lump sum of $ 1,500, plus $ 400 per employee, up to a total of 50 full-time equivalent employees.