‘It will get worse before it gets better’
13 new community cases 1 case in managed isolation Source still uncertain
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday warned the community outbreak in Auckland would “get worse before it gets better”. “Once again we are reminded of how tricky this virus is and how easily it can spread,” she said.
Her comments came as it was revealed there were 13 new Covid community cases in Auckland yesterday and one in managed isolation.
The 13 are all linked to the original four confirmed cases from the new outbreak in South Auckland and have gone into managed quarantine.
The new cases include children. One is a girl aged 1-4 while the other is a boy aged 5-9. Another girl who tested positive is aged 10-14, while a teenage male (aged 15-19) is among the new cases.
Family members of confirmed cases might also be required to go into quarantine, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield told a briefing yesterday.
He added that “a lot of thought” had gone into moving confirmed cases into quarantine facilities. It would help prevent spread between family members and limit the spread in the community from people coming to visit.
It would “really strengthen our response”, he said.
Bloomfield said they were confident there was the capacity for those people and the Ministry of Health was working with MBIE to ensure that.
Ardern said the latest numbers showed the “seriousness of the situation” but said it was being dealt with an urgent, calm and methodical way.
“We do have an expectation things will get worse before they get better.”
There are now 17 active cases in the community. Nineteen other active cases are in managed isolation and are directly linked to the border.
Given all the new cases are linked, they’re being treated as clusters and Bloomfield said they “fully expected” more cases.
Ardern said there wasn’t any evidence at this stage there was a “super spreader” event.
Bloomfield said he didn’t agree with modelling that showed there could be between 25 and 100 cases and they were working backwards to find the source.
The earliest time the confirmed case had symptoms was on July 31, which meant the first case could have been in the community “several weeks ago”, Bloomfield said.
Case visited aged-care centre
One of the people who has tested positive visited an aged-care facility in the Waikato, which Bloomfield said he wouldn’t name yet as family members were still being notified.
The visit was when the person wasn’t displaying symptoms but they
developed symptoms the next day.
All staff and residents in the unit will be tested.
Bloomfield said he didn’t think Waikato needed to move into a higher alert level because it was clear the focus was in Auckland.
He said they had learnt from the last outbreak, 95 per cent of cases happened in workplaces or households — not through casual contacts. Bloomfield said any pertinent information, such as travel
updates, would be shared as and when needed, not just at the 1pm press conferences.
One case in managed isolation
A woman in her 30s who arrived from the Philippines has also tested positive for Covid-19.
That brings the total number of active cases to 36. One of the community cases is a Mt Albert Grammar School student who is a relative of one of the already confirmed cases.
The student wasn’t symptomatic at school so the chance of exposure by anyone in the school community is low, Bloomfield said.
But they should monitor their health and contact Healthline if needed.
Another case is an employee of Finance Now — they were admitted to North Shore Hospital but have since been discharged. One of their family members is another confirmed case.