Well that is a bit shit. Auckland level 3. Rest of NZ level 2

Written By: - Date published: 10:14 pm, August 11th, 2020 - 48 comments
Categories: covid-19, health, jacinda ardern - Tags: , , ,

Just been reading the NZ Herald. “Covid 19 coronavirus: Auckland in lockdown, rest of country in level 2 – Four cases of community transmission“.

Four cases of community transmission from the same family – presumably without an obvious cause. Lock down for 3 days in the Auckland super city area at level 3 starting noon Wednesday. Level 2 for everywhere else outside of Auckland.

This is a good response as it will allow time to contact trace people who need to be tested, and to try to figure out how covid-19 got into the community.

Ardern said more than one workplace was involved, and it wasn’t just one distinct suburb in Auckland that was likely affected.

An Auckland man in his 50s was tested yesterday after having symptoms. He had no history of overseas travel and was tested a second time today. Both tests were positive.

Six other people were in his family, and three of them have tested positive. The other three tested negative.

Close contacts have been isolated for 14 days regardless of their test results. Casual contacts are also being isolated and cannot leave until they test negative.

Bloomfield said he was expecting to find other cases because they didn’t know the source of the infection.

Ardern said more questions needed to be answered, Ardern said, including tracing the case to its source.

NZ Herald: “Covid 19 coronavirus: Auckland in lockdown, rest of country in level 2 – Four cases of community transmission“

This allows a few days to do the contact tracing and see if there is a causation. The PM was informed at 4pm, and Bloomfield at about 3pm. There was a suspicious case yesterday and the test(s) came through today.

Essentially a precautionary lock down because at present they don’t know how covid-19 got into circulation in this family. They will be looking both at testing possible contacts of known cases, and also to find out how they got it.

48 comments on “Well that is a bit shit. Auckland level 3. Rest of NZ level 2 ”

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  1. anker 1
    11 August 2020 at 10:20 pm

    bugger. but swift action. Will be staying home for a while because I can

    • lprent 1.1
      11 August 2020 at 10:24 pm

      I've almost entirely been home since Wednesday – mostly working. Was planning on bike to work tomorrow to commune (gently – no hammers) with a recalcitrant machine.

      I guess that won't be happening.

      • xanthe 1.1.1
        12 August 2020 at 4:54 pm

        Lift it up 100mm and drop it on one corner. Always workssmiley

        Oh and wonder of wonders reply is working on this tablet and chrome thanks

  2. Herodotus 2
    11 August 2020 at 10:37 pm

    I feel for the family – I nope they are able to maintain some anonymity
    Don't be shocked if there is some venting of anger out there, especially if this is extended beyond Friday. The stress many are under needs an outlet.

    Sure you can justify what we endured March-May, but if we shut down every time a new case appears, not sure that we can continue under that M O longterm.

    So those currently in Auckland can leave, doesn't that have potential for the virus to spread ? I already know of friends who reside in Auckland already returning to their family home or to see partners in the Waikato and BOP. I only hope the virus doesn't move out of Auckland – due to this 15 hour window of opportunity.

    And I cannot go and water blast the house or wash the car.

    • lprent 2.1
      11 August 2020 at 10:44 pm

      And I cannot go and water blast the house or wash the car.

      Sure you can provided you have the gear – it is inside your bubble if it is your residence. But it'd give time to do it the old fashioned way – bucket and brush? hose and broom?

      But this is always likely to happen. It is a very sneaky virus. Fortunately it does respond very well to hard lock downs, and having swabs stuck deeply into peoples noses.

      And the testing is up to capacity and with a fast turn around time.

      • Niki 2.1.1
        11 August 2020 at 11:28 pm

        He's complaining about our Auckland water restrictions. No hose use, you can wash the car with a bucket!

  3. Jum 3
    11 August 2020 at 11:00 pm

    Unfortunately, there will always be a few who think they are more important than anyone else and will ignore the rules.

    I feel for those who basically survive day to day re income and food.

  4. Brendan 4
    11 August 2020 at 11:01 pm

    "Well that is a bit shit"

    Well said. And it sucks.

  5. gsays 5
    11 August 2020 at 11:02 pm

    The weakness in the system that I perceive is the health workers at the isolation facilities.

    I have a friend who has done 2 weeks work at a 'green' rated facility in Hamilton. (Green = no symptoms, no contact with positive folk, tested and negative). There was a week back at home in between and he has been able to do shifts at our local ED. He has chosen not to.

    He has not been tested.

    While I get he has been at arms length from the possibility of Covid, I would have thought these workers would be getting regular (daily) throat swab tests.

    I think I heard that testing of the health workers is starting/being ramped up.

  6. Anne 6
    11 August 2020 at 11:22 pm

    You almost get the feeling allied countries are thrilled to bits we've got community Covid again:

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12355769

    • Chris T 6.1
      11 August 2020 at 11:30 pm

      How

      People seemed happy enough with all the glowing reports of Covid free, but not the other way round?

      • Anne 6.1.1
        11 August 2020 at 11:54 pm

        I was being a bit tongue in cheek Chris T. A bit of off-shore envy because we have have done so well compared to them.

  7. McFlock 7
    11 August 2020 at 11:31 pm

    A hundred days was a pretty good run, although I'd hoped for a bit more.

    If the new cases are all clustered in a family unit, that's a sign that it might be close to the source. I suspect that's why Auckland (or at least parts of it) isn't going straight to L4.

    We killed this type of dragon once, we can do it again.

  8. Byd0nz 8
    11 August 2020 at 11:42 pm

    I wonder if the West will start to like Russia? 'Vaccine Sputnik V'

    https://sptnkne.ws/DrJa

  9. Devo 9
    11 August 2020 at 11:48 pm

    The rest of the country is rooting for you Auckland. Stamp it out like we did last time

  10. Brian Tregaskin 10
    11 August 2020 at 11:51 pm

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12355776

    National Party leader Judith Collins blasts Govt; says it let Covid-19 back into NZ

    politicising the situation for sure, the only backlash that will happen is against this ungrateful disgrace of an opposition leader.
    Will be on her to Welly to gatecrash the PM’s media Conference tomorrow I reckon?

  11. PaddyOT 11
    12 August 2020 at 12:46 am

    Can't understand the rationale wtf.

    ALL domestic flights out of Auckland to all NZ destinations are still going ahead.

    https://www.aucklandairport.co.nz/flights

  12. SPC 12
    12 August 2020 at 6:26 am

    My guess would be the person who recently tested positive day 12, may have earlier infected people who left the facility after passing their own day 12 test (infected in the day 10-14 window).

    They should do a profile of the virus of this day 12 positive case and compare it to the virus profile in this family as fast as.

    My advice on quarantine remains

    week 1, isolated to rooms
    week 2, people allowed out for exercise/fresh air at times scheduled based on their second week day – day 8 9-10 am, day 9 10-11 am, etc

    (I’d actually enforce a full two weeks confined to the room as they do In Oz to reduce the risk even further, and thus the above is the moderate form of more secure managed isolation).

  13. Psycho Milt 13
    12 August 2020 at 6:34 am

    Take-home message from this is "Take contact tracing seriously." Our prospects depend on all of the infected people being able to tell the contact tracing team everywhere they went and when, and who they met, for the last two weeks.

    It's all fun and games to take the piss out of the govt's contact tracing app and not bother using it, but unless you've got some better method of keeping track of where you've been and when, use the damn thing. And keep a record of when/where you go that doesn't have the govt's QR code.

    • PaddyOT 13.1
      12 August 2020 at 12:35 pm

      We had been using the QR tracing. Problem was playing 'hunt the poster' at retailer's . One bookshop it was in a corner on the glass window and meant leaning over the large display.

  14. Ad 14
    12 August 2020 at 7:30 am

    Well, two political upsides:

    – National won't be able to launch their campaign, scheduled for Sunday in Manukau. Labour had already launched theirs last weekend.

    – Labour should be pumped back up to 55%

  15. Graeme 15
    12 August 2020 at 7:53 am

    Judith and Gerry's tinfoil hats will be glowing that much they might get installed at Tiwai as a new potline.

  16. Anker 16
    12 August 2020 at 8:16 am
    • If Collins et al try to score political points out of this (as appears to be happening already) I believe it will backfire horribly.

    chris T you said. Labour have been politicising Covid. Can you give me some examples as I don’t think they have

  17. Stuart Munro 17
    12 August 2020 at 9:01 am

    Props to the family who went and got tested: You are legends.

  18. Brian Tregaskin 18
    12 August 2020 at 11:09 am

    COVID-19 App working great –no trouble downloading and registering -seamless

  19. SPC 19
    12 August 2020 at 11:18 am

    This is now a worst case scenario.

    Some of the family went to Rotorua at the weekend including to tourist venues (people from around New Zealand could have had contact – it would only have been worse if school holidays).

    We will be at level 3 nationwide for a month by the weekend. The election will be delayed by a month and Collins will Bridges old role in Committee for the month. The wage subsidy will also be extended for a month.

    • Incognito 19.1
      12 August 2020 at 11:24 am

      No need for another round of ERC; Parliament has adjourned. Imagine the long commutes for Judith; she’s prone to making long detours.

    • mauī 19.2
      12 August 2020 at 11:54 am

      Still seems to me like there is a very low risk it has spread in Rotorua. My understanding is that you're much more likely to catch it from someone you have close contact with. So contracting it from someone else at a tourist attraction, who you have fleeting contact with is unlikely. But say if they visited a cafe and stayed there for an hour and a closeby table did too, then that would be cause for investigation.

  20. Ad 20
    12 August 2020 at 11:24 am

    PM delaying the dissolution of Parliament is quite a deal.

    She can:

    – reconvene Parliament

    – up-stand the Epidemic Response Committee, and

    – delay the election (clearly Auckland cant vote in level 3)

    Pretty serious.

  21. Ad 21
    12 August 2020 at 11:27 am

    Great moment for Collins to invite Ardern to a fully bipartisan approach on all health and security issues.

    Can she do it?

    • red 21.2
      12 August 2020 at 11:49 am

      Ardern wont do it, last time Helen Clark did that was over smacking law with John Key, that was the end of Helen Clark

      • observer 21.2.1
        12 August 2020 at 12:10 pm

        Key acted in good faith (on that issue anyway). He subsequently kept that law he voted for, and even ignored the Smackers' Referendum.

        Collins burnt off her good faith long ago.

  22. observer 22
    12 August 2020 at 12:05 pm

    There's some good old nonsense being trotted out about the election date.

    The virus doesn't care about election timetables, campaign periods and so on. It is entirely possible that there could be positive cases only a week before election day. Should it be cancelled if that happens? Imagine the response ("latest polls bad for Party X, so they want delay" or "Party Y can cash in, so no delay" etc). Everything will be seen in political terms, regardless.

    This is equally true of a date in September, or October, or November. Or 2021.

    If people want an election date when there is no risk of the virus for the whole campaign period, then they don't want an election at all, probably for years.

  23. Uncle Scrim 23
    12 August 2020 at 12:49 pm

    NZ has postponed a few elections before: the one due in 1917 (for 2 years) because of WW1 and the fact there was a wartime Reform-Liberal coalition government; the one due in 1934 (for one year) because of the Depression, when there was a United-Liberal coalition government; and the one due in 1941 (for 2 years) because of WW2 and a bipartisan War Administration. The Depression delay was seen as a desperate attempt by the government to stave off defeat and was very unpopular, though, and all involved at least some bipartisan approach between the then two largest parties.

    On the other hand, while there'd be some difficulty in running an election at level 3, the issues wouldn’t be insurmountable. The 1943 election was held during wartime and involved counting the votes of c 90,000 service personnel overseas, through postal votes and booths at military camps – everywhere from Iceland to Trinidad and Guandalcanal, and mobile polling booths in North Africa. It ran very smoothly, and military votes helped ensure the Labour government’s victory.

  24. Jum 24
    12 August 2020 at 1:28 pm

    Over lockdown and post-lockdown, I've kept a diary of places visited during day and kept the dockets of any purchases that show time and place and business. No break in between. Works very well for me.

    Any businesses not showing the app poster should be closed. They're obviously not working for the team of 5-6 million.

    It's very convenient for collins that the day before parliament closes before the election, a covid case happens and delays enable her dirty politics to ramp up. Remember john key intends to help her in any way he can. Oh dear.

    Meanwhile, everyone keep safe.

  25. Enough is Enough 25
    12 August 2020 at 2:28 pm

    I think we should know the extent of the outbreak within 48 hours.

    This has woken the country up and in Auckland and Hamilton the testing stations are being overidden. With contact tracing and massive public testing going on, we should know whether this is isolated, or out of control sooner rather than later.

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