‘Hesitant’ to host Covidcluster event

INVERCARGILL: A Bluff restaurant director says he was hesitant to host the wedding that’s now linked to one of New Zealand’s biggest Covid19 infection clusters.

Sixtytwo people who attended the wedding, held at the Oyster Cove restaurant and bar on March 21, have so far tested positive for Covid19.

The Government announced the country was going into national lockdown two days after the event, which about 80 people, including restaurant staff, attended.

The restaurant’s director, Ross Jackson, said they took precautions in case someone had the virus.

‘‘We stepped up our sanitising, we had sanitising stations at the two entrances into the restaurant where all of the guests were asked to sanitise their hands.

‘‘We were constantly sanitising all of the surfaces that were being used . . . we said to staff, where possible create a bit of distance between yourself and the guests. I think we took all of the practical precautions we could’ve, given the information we had at the time,’’ he said.

At the time, going ahead with the wedding seemed like the right thing to do, but ‘‘if we knew then what we know now, we probably wouldn’t have done it’’.

He was hesitant to host it, but at that time events with fewer than 100 people were allowed.

‘‘It would’ve been a pretty hard call just to ring someone up and say, the day before your wedding, ‘Look we don’t want to go ahead with this’. We were cautious, that’s why we took the extra precautions at the time.’’

The couple held their wedding reception at the restaurant and bar, which Mr Jackson called a ‘‘nice’’ and ‘‘orderly affair’’. However, he said, they had a more relaxed gathering the next day at another location.

Wedding guests travelled from across the country, including from Invercargill, Wellington and Wairarapa, he said.

Mr Jackson said all of his staff had tested negative for Covid19. — RNZ