Covid 19 coronavirus: Contacts of the ‘weak positive’ case living next to an Auckland student tracked urgently

A neighbor of a student with Covid-19 has returned a “weak positive” test result, as the Health Ministry supports the comments labeled categorically false at the student’s workplace.

Three positive cases were announced yesterday, all international arrivals in managed isolation, after 5,400 tests were conducted in a single day in Auckland alone.

However, the ministry also announced that a person living in a neighboring apartment on Vincent St to the AUT student with Covid-19 had returned a “weakly positive” result.

They have already been identified as a close contact and at the Jet Park quarantine facility, the ministry said in a statement.

A weak positive result means that there is a very small amount of virus in the sample, which may mean that a person was tested towards the end of the illness. Covid tests are not 100% accurate.

“The individual’s initial test result was negative, but a subsequent test returned a weak positive result. Additional testing is now underway. It is currently considered a case under investigation,” the ministry said.

“Auckland Regional Public Health [ARPH] He had already done an initial analysis of the scope of this case and will now be doing more detailed work on tracking and tracing pending close contacts. “

There were no updates on investigations into exactly how the student was infected. They became symptomatic on Monday, November 9, and their test came back positive on Thursday, causing Auckland’s CBD to go into near lockdown on Friday.

The fears lessened after genomic tests linked her infection to a Defense Force military man who contracted the virus at the Jet Park facility. The military man ate at a cafe just 82 meters from the AZ Collections store, where the student worked as a shop assistant.

That workplace came under fire after public health director Dr. Caroline McElnay said Thursday that the student reported ill after taking the test but ended up working after speaking with her manager.

The owners of AZ Collections later released a statement through their attorneys, Focus Law, saying their employee never told them she was sick, tried to call to report sick, or said she had been tested for Covid.

That version of events was supported by a student statement, also released by Focus Law, stating that the language barrier issues meant that ARPH staff “made a lot of mistakes in recording my whereabouts, previous actions and contacts.” .

The Herald on Sunday was unable to speak to the student. The ministry defended the information “as an accurate reflection of the information that was provided,” a spokesperson said.

“The ministry works quickly on the basis of the information available at the time that the public health services work to verify independently when possible.

“The most recent information does not substantially affect the public health actions that are being taken and the ministry will not comment further.”

ARPHS had confirmed that “a Chinese-speaking nurse attended the interviews and offered to interpret, but that the case chose to speak in English,” the ministry spokesman said.

In the meantime, masks will be mandatory on airplanes and public transport in Auckland, via a public health order to be presented to Cabinet tomorrow. The order could be ready on Thursday.

Despite the latest Covid scare, preparations for a travel bubble with the Cook Islands are progressing, with New Zealand officials landing there yesterday.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been reluctant to give a deadline, but has said that if given the green light, the borders could open in a few weeks.