Concerns raised about MIQ

Briefing to minister: Quarantine unlikely to handle widespread community outbreak

New Zealand’s managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities would be unlikely to be to accommodate all Covid-19 cases if faced with a widespread community outbreak of the virus.

That’s according to a November 2020 incoming minister briefing document for Chris Hipkins, which has only been released publicly recently by the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment.

New cases of Covid-19 have been directed to quarantine facilities since the middle of August, following a direction from director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield.

The direction given in August was renewed on October 14 the document said, and if case number were “low”,

accommodating community cases would “likely” be manageable within existing contingencies.

However, this option would be unlikely to sustainable if the country faced a widespread community outbreak, it said.

“At present, it is difficult to forecast with any accuracy possible demand

from domestically acquired cases. However, if community transmission were to become more widespread, and the number of domestically acquired cases required to enter MQFs significantly increased, an approach of accommodating all community cases in MQFs is unlikely to be sustainable.”

MBIE said in a statement additional rooms for quarantine can be made available as part of MIQ’s contingency planning.

“If New Zealand experienced a widespread Covid-19 outbreak, it is unlikely that we would be able to fit everyone in our existing quarantine facilities. However, by this stage, New Zealand would likely be in a level 3 or 4 lockdown where people would be isolating at home.”

MIQ works closely with the Ministry of Health and is constantly monitoring the demand for quarantine in facilities, it said. “There are contingency plans in place if we see a jump in positive cases returning to the country that demand an additional quarantine capacity.”

This comes off the back of concerns of staff shortages and instability raised by nurses working at managed isolation facilities.

The problems were recognised in an audit by the Ministry of Health in October, and while the ministry said the matters had been addressed — RNZ reported health care professionals at border facilities disagreed.