Covid 19 coronavirus: Mixed messages when Greenhithe pub owner is sent to Jet Park four days after telling officials, while his 73-year-old mother stays home

The owner of a Greenhithe pub at the center of New Zealand’s latest Covid-19 outbreak has been interned at the Jet Park managed isolation facility, four days after he told authorities that he lives with his 73-year-old mother. .

Kevin McVicar and seven other staff members at The Malt Tavern were told to self-isolate at home Wednesday night, when the Health Ministry told them that a customer who was at the bar on October 16 had tested positive. by the virus.

McVicar said he told the ministry that he lived with his mother, Eileen McVicar, 73.

He and his mother were both tested for Covid on Thursday and were told on Friday that they both tested negative.

McVicar and his staff, who also tested negative, were told to stay home until October 30, two weeks after their possible exposure to the virus. But Eileen McVicar was told she was free to go out into the community again.

Two days later today, a nurse from the Auckland Regional Public Health Service called McVicar and told him to go to Jet Park due to the risk to his mother.

“I’m just waiting for my prison shuttle,” he said.

“There were mixed messages. They said it’s because I can’t properly isolate myself from my mother while at home, which is true, but this should have been clear at first. If this is the case, why am I going in now, and not days before? “

He said his mother was in good health and a nephew who lived downstairs would be nearby if he needed help. But he questioned the advice they gave him.

“When he tested negative on day 2, they told him he was free to move. Now they tell him to isolate himself,” he said.

“I get it completely. It’s amazing that not everyone is on the same page.”

McVicar said the Health Ministry contact tracker who called him Wednesday night told him that he would receive a follow-up call the next day, Thursday, about next steps.

“I called them because I hadn’t heard from them. When I said I’m from The Malt, the guy didn’t know what he was talking about, which was really weird,” McVicar said.

“He put me with someone who knew what was going on. It has been a much better experience with the public health nurses than with the Ministry of Health.”

He said a public health nurse told him that he could get a special code to get the Covid test result faster, but when he called the ministry to get a code “they had never heard of a code.”

In the end, he didn’t need it because his doctor did the test and got the result quickly.

“It seems a little strange. They don’t share things,” McVicar said.

“I think they need to communicate a little better with each other. I mean, in the end we are succeeding, but the lack of communication was a little strange.

McVicar has been told that he will be released from Jet Park on October 30 if he tests negative again on October 27, and that his mother will then be allowed to “go out into the world” again.

It closed The Malt until Oct. 31 because eight of its 16-person team, including three managers, are in isolation. You have applied for a grant from the License Support Program, which pays $ 585.80 a week for full-time staff and $ 350 for part-time staff who have to isolate themselves due to Covid-19.

The Ministry of Health has been contacted for comment.

Meanwhile, no new cases of Covid were reported in New Zealand on Sunday.

Seven test stations are operating in Auckland this weekend at:

• Northcote Community Testing Center.

• Northcare Accident and Medical, Whānau House in Henderson.

• Western Springs Community Testing Center.

• The Whānau Ora Community Clinic in Wiri.

• The Pruetara Community Testing Center.

• The North Harbor Stadium car park in Albany.