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Levin hosted the latest emerging community testing center in the country, and the Mid-Central District Board of Health hosted a testing day for everyone.
Photo: RNZ / Harry Lock
It came as the Ministry of Health seeks to continue high levels of test numbers, both inside and outside Auckland.
Although the humid weather meant the drought of foot traffic, both Levin’s staff and locals persisted – the parking lot was continuously busy throughout the day.
It is the first time that the DHB has installed such a test center for the city of Horowhenua, and while conditions caused people to take a little longer to collect samples, the staff still passed nearly 350 tests in the tests. six hours they were open.
“This is in our plan to create pop-up sites, and this is for asymptomatic people, that is, people without symptoms,” said site manager Alison Russell.
“We started at 10, but people were very interested in coming in. Some people were here at ten past nine, but they were quite happy reading their book.”
The center passed almost 350 tests.
Photo: RNZ / Harry Lock
The test station was installed in part due to community demand, but also for other reasons.
“It’s really just to make sure that number one, we don’t actually have any positive Covid cases within our district,” said Dr. Kelvin Billinghurst, DHB medical director, “and number two, that we can respond in a number of different areas if we have to speed up testing. “
- if you have symptoms coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 health line at 0800 358 5453 (+64 9358 5453 for international SIMs) or call your GP – do not show up at a medical center
Equally enthusiastic and happy to wait were the ones who came for a swab at lunchtime, most of the people said they were happy to get something like this put on them.
One person queuing for a swab was Margaret Taplin.
“There are a lot of older people in Levin, and that’s why we come here, not necessarily because we have symptoms, but for reassurance,” he said.
Test center staff said demand was stable throughout the day despite the humid weather.
Photo: RNZ / Harry Lock
Another person waiting to be swabbed was Ian Chadburn. “I’d rather be safe than sorry – it would be disastrous if it ever made it to Levin, just imagine the place! It would be closed immediately.
“Many other people are doing it, I think part of what we are doing is also for the community.”
The DHB said that demand was stable throughout the day and they managed to reach the number of swabs they expected, despite bad weather.
Dr. Billinghurst said it is an important tool that they will be able to return to in the future.
“We want to know what is happening in the community. If we recognize that there is an emerging risk, then we want to be, as much as we can, ahead of the game in order to provide the best options for the community.”
