Border mask swap concerns passenger
A man who returned to New Zealand in December said he was shocked when forced to go for at least 30 seconds without a mask after disembarking from the plane.
A recent international arrival to New Zealand says a process to swap masks in a confined transit corridor left returnees mask-less for up to 30 seconds and is putting people at risk of a Covid-19 infection.
Jeffrey Buchanan returned to New Zealand from Bangkok, where he had been working for the United Nations, on December 29. After being flown from Auckland to Christchurch, 40 passengers disembarked the plane in groups of 10 to a transit corridor, where they were lined up and asked to remove their masks and put them in a bin.
As of January 15, there were 433 Covid-19 cases at the border, with experts saying the large numbers are increasing risk of transmission into the community.
Buchanan, who was wearing a cloth and standard surgical mask, says it was not possible to stand 2 metres apart in the confined space.
After disposing of the masks he was told to walk to a nearby handsanitising station and sanitise his hands before walking a few steps to pick up and put on a new mask – a single standard surgical mask.
‘‘It seemed to me an absurd breach, especially with Omicron which is so transmissible,’’ Buchanan said.
He calculated the returnees would have spent up to 30 seconds without a mask on. ‘‘. . . in a narrow tunnel, breathing out, and they are coming from the most infected places on Earth.’’
When he was sanitising his hands he told a staff member he did not have a mask on, and she said ‘‘don’t worry, there is no Covid in Christchurch’’.
Buchanan and his husband proceeded to stay in the Novotel MIQ facility for 10 days and completed four Covid-19 tests – which returned negative results.
But he is concerned the maskswapping process could raise the risk of Covid-19 transmission among international arrivals.
A spokesperson for Managed Isolation and Quarantine said it was recommended returnees replace masks upon exiting planes.
‘‘At Christchurch Airport the process is that returnees in groups of no more than 10 disembark the plane, while maintaining social distancing with masks on. They travel down the left-hand side of the transit corridor until they are at a mask-changing station. This is to promote air flow in one direction towards an air extractor.’’
Otago University professor of public health Nick Wilson said the process created an unnecessary risk of Covid-19 transmission. ‘‘They should be given the new mask so they can put it on straight away. There should be no reason for a delay, and they should be using N-95 masks.’’
He said even 30 seconds was potentially ‘‘a number of breaths an infected person could breathe out . . . and if they have people around them, that’s a problem’’.