Quarantine worker tests positive Simmonds edges out Craig
AUCKLAND: A worker in an Auckland quarantine facility has tested positive for Covid19.
Because the person works at the facility and is not a returnee, the Ministry of Health considers it to be a community case.
It was reported to the ministry yesterday afternoon.
The person has been tested regularly as part of routine testing for staff in the facility. They were most recently swabbed on November 3 and returned a negative test on November 4.
The staff member developed symptoms on Thursday and was tested again.
That test has returned a positive result, the ministry said.
People in contact with the worker were being traced, isolated and tested.
Two businesses in Auckland have been contacted by Auckland Regional Public Health Service and notified that the worker visited their premises during their infectious period.
A push notification has been sent via the New Zealand Covid Tracer to everyone who scanned in to these businesses during the relevant time.
The ministry said in a statement that managed isolation workers were regularly tested.
It is not the first time Covid19 has been passed from inside a managed isolation or quarantine (MIQ) facility into the community.
The infection prevention and control measures have been audited twice and are being looked at by Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verral, who is an infectious diseases specialist, in light of recent cases among borderfacing workers.
On Thursday, Covid19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins told The New Zealand Herald that the use of N95 masks, which protect against potentially infectious air particles, was being considered for these workers.
The two Sudima hotel nurses in Christchurch who contracted Covid19 were wearing surgical masks to protect against potentially infectious droplets, but they were not using N95 masks.
Mr Hipkins said they also might have caught the virus when the Covidpositive mariners were moved from the isolation wing of the hotel to the quarantine wing.
There was one new Covid19 case in managed isolation yesterday.
The case reported yesterday arrived from Singapore on October 31 and has been transferred to the Auckland quarantine facility. — The New Zealand Herald
Three seats have changed hands since the provisional results: Labour’s Priyanca Radhakrishnan won Maungakiekie over National’s Denise Lee, Labour’s WillowJean Prime won Northland over National’s Matt King and Labour’s Emily Henderson won Whangarei over National’s Shane Reti.
Dr Reti will remain in Parliament as a list MP, but Ms Lee and Mr King are out of Parliament pending any recounts.
As for the referendums, the hopes of the procannabis legalisation camp went up in smoke.
The final referendum results were 65.1% (down 0.1%) supporting the End of Life Choice Bill in the euthanasia vote, and 50.7% (down from 53.1%) voting against legalising recreational cannabis.
Just 67,662 votes separated the cannabis vote.
Dunedin/Te Tai Tonga had the secondhighest number of procannabis legalisation results with 27,299, behind Wellington Central/IkaroaRawhiti/Te Tai Hauauru/Te Tai Tonga’s 36,933.
Ms Simmonds, the former chief executive of the Southern Institute of Technology, said she was relieved and very grateful for the Invercargill outcome.
She was in a meeting in Auckland when the results were released and only learnt of her victory when she received a text message saying ‘‘you’re in’’.
She believed the close nature of the Invercargill race was due to the ‘‘tremendous red tide’’ that swept the country and delivered a huge victory to Labour.
‘‘It was very, very hard to resist that.’’
Her priorities for the term were the transition from Tiwai Point, farming regulations and the polytechnic sector reforms.
Dr Craig said she would continue to work hard for the area.
She will remain in Parliament on the party list.
She thanked the community for its support, and also congratulated Ms Simmonds.
‘‘I’ll continue to work with her, as I have in the past, on things as we advocate for Southland together.’’
The national results, which as expected were positive for Labour, were welcome, she said.
‘‘I’m really pleased . . . I think it’s just a really good result across the board.’’
— Additional reporting The