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The New Zealand Nurses Union is “extremely concerned” about nurses working in managed isolation facilities and says the border system should be reconsidered.
The comments come as an investigation is launched into how two workers became infected with Covid-19 at a Christchurch isolation facility.
The second positive case, announced Tuesday night, worked alongside a health worker identified Monday as the first community Covid case in Christchurch since late July.
They both worked in the quarantine wing of the Sudima Airport Hotel. The wing houses 31 Russian and Ukrainian sailors infected with the virus.
READ MORE:
* Covid-19: Second confirmed community case for Christchurch, linked to isolation facility
* Covid-19: Christchurch case labeled ‘border fault’ by experts
* Case of the Covid-19 community of Christchurch a health worker in an isolation center
Kaiwhakahaere of the New Zealand Nurses Organization (NZNO) Kerri Nuku told RNZ that there were many pressure points in the MIQ facility and that the nurses were understaffed and overworked.
ALDEN WILLIAMS / Stuff
Covid testing at the Orchard Rd facility in Christchurch on Tuesday.
“We don’t know exactly where the problem is, what we see is that there are often nurses, few nurses, in charge of multiple patients or clients,” Nuku said.
The union was receiving reports of tired nurses and not enough support was available.
“These workers certainly don’t necessarily feel safe when they go home to their families,” he said.
Meanwhile, a review of personnel records, magnetic card data and CCTV images was underway to identify how workers were infected, Chief of Managed Isolation and Quarantine Darryn Webb said Tuesday.
Close contacts are being tested and self-isolation is also required. One contact, a Cashmere High School student, had already returned a negative test and two contacts from the second case were being examined, the Health Ministry said Monday night.
“At this stage, the ministry is not reporting the need to change the current focus. Both cases have a limited number of contacts and the incident is currently well contained, “said a spokesman.
STACY SQUIRES / Stuff
The management of the isolation facility at the Sudima Hotel, near the Christchurch airport, where the workers were infected.
Health Director General Dr. Ashley Bloomfield said unaffected sailors who were due to leave the hotel on Tuesday had their stay extended for at least another 48 hours as a precautionary measure.
A second group that became isolated in Sudima may not enter the country until the first group has been cleared and a deep cleaning of the facility has been carried out, he said.
Bloomfield said genome sequencing of eight of the sailors found three different lineages of the virus.
Genome test results that returned Tuesday night showed the first case was an exact match for five of the sailors, Bloomfield told Newstalk ZB on Wednesday.
The Countdown supermarket on Colombo St Beckenham underwent a deep cleaning on Monday night after news that the hotel’s first Covid-positive worker had shopped there.
Of 26 shoppers who entered the supermarket in a 15-minute period on Tuesday afternoon when Things visited, only three scanned the Covid QR code.
“I just do. I listen to the news. It’s good for everyone,” said Mark McTeague, one of three buyers who used the code.
Joseph Johnson / Stuff
Countdown Supermarket on Colombo St in Sydenham, which was thoroughly cleaned after a Covid positive patient shopped there.
Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel urged residents to use QR codes, practice good hygiene, stay home if they feel unwell and get tested for symptoms.
He also urged Cantabrians to wear masks in public transport and on airplanes.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said there had been a “decrease” in the use of the Covid Tracer app nationwide. He urged the public to continue using it, or manually log their visits.
The two Covid testing centers in Christchurch, on Orchard Rd near the airport and on Pages Rd in Wainoni, are open seven days a week between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Cashmere High School student Leila Cleland Hall, 18, was one of those who voluntarily took the test Tuesday.
“I think it’s just a cold, but prevention is better than cure,” he said.
He was a bit surprised when he learned that a student at his school had been in close contact with a positive case of Covid-19.
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Chief Health Officer Ashley Bloomfield and new Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins at the Beehive on Monday.
An emerging Covid-19 testing center will also be open on Wednesday, from 11:30 am to 4:30 pm, in the Princess Margaret Hospital parking lot. The site was selected because it is close to Cashmere High School and Countdown on Colombo St.
Meanwhile, University of Otago epidemiologists Professor Nick Wilson and Professor Michael Baker have urged the government to take action on the latest community transmission, describing it as a border failure.
But Bloomfield responded by saying that the system was working well to protect the border.
Sudima Airport is being used exclusively by the 235 foreign workers brought into the country to work on the fishing boats of Sealord, Independent Fisheries and Maruha Nichiro.
