Mayor: Not out of danger yet

Waikato residents turn out in their hundreds for testing after positive cases reported

While thousands of Waikato and Hauraki residents are housebound due to Covid cases in the area, it’s those living down the road that have leaders concerned.

Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield on Monday used his powers under the Health Act to order residents within a “bespoke” boundary around Kaiaua, Maramarua, Mangatawhiri and Whakatiwai to remain home selfisolating until Friday.

About 400 locals were tested for Covid-19 at a pop-up testing centre at Whakatiwai Marae.

The enforcement comes after a Black Power gang member became Covid-positive after being released from Auckland’s Mt Eden remand prison on electronic bail to the home he shared with eight others north of Kaiaua on the Hauraki Plains.

Two children at the home have since tested positive, while Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday confirmed a third household member had tested positive.

While the new boundary covers a large land mass, about half of it includes the Hunua Ranges with the rest split roughly 50-50 between Hauraki and Waikato districts.

Waikato Mayor Allan Sanson estimated there would be about 2000 residents affected in total.

He was pleased a lot of Waikato residents managed to avoid the short lockdown but said the wider Waikato region was not out of danger yet.

He said the danger wasn’t so much from domestic tourists travelling to the district, but locals making daily trips to nearby Thames; visiting supermarkets and other shops.

Sanson, who played a part in creating the “bespoke” boundary, said he was pleased it didn’t affect the wider region.

He had heard feedback from some locals that because they had received both of their vaccinations, they didn’t need to get a Covid test — but that wasn’t the case.

“I just think, regardless of whether you’re vaccinated or not, you should get tested if you are within this cordon. It puts yourself at ease and puts everyone else in the community at ease,” he said.

Thames Coromandel Mayor Sandra Goudie was frustrated by the whole incident and said the Government had “mucked up big time” as the gang member had gone from a level 4 area into level 2 without the appropriate testing.

She said the peninsula was lucky to avoid a large break-out after the recent incident in Coromandel town, however they did have a high vaccination rate.