Call for Covid test restrictions
Aucklanders who don’t need Covid-19 swabs are being turned away from community testings centres as health services prioritise those who are most vulnerable.
Community testing centres across Tāmaki Makaurau are experiencing ‘‘very high demand’’, similar to the height of the Delta outbreak and health professionals at the Northern Region Health Co-ordination Centre ( NRHCC) are urging people to only get tested when needed, or risk being turned away at testing sites.
Dr Andrew Old, Northland and Auckland district health boards chief clinical officer, said the rise of cases across Aotearoa has led to anxiety and an increase in people wanting tests.
He said most people getting tested over the past few days have not been symptomatic or close contacts.
Old said: ‘‘We had over 19,000 tests processed for Auckland laboratories on Monday – that is getting up to levels that we saw in our Delta outbreak. And we took about 20,000 swabs across Auckland – 70 per cent of those people did not need a test. Over the last few days, over 50 per cent of people coming through have not been symptomatic.
‘‘We think with the increase in cases, there is obviously a lot of anxiety out there, so people are presenting for testing, but if you don’t have symptoms, and you are not a close contact, you don’t need to be tested.’’
A detailed list of when to get tested can be found on the Unite Against Covid-19 website.
Old said 3.5 per cent of people tested in Auckland have returned a positive result, ‘‘which is a percentage point up from where it was last week’’.
He said the rise in demand for unnecessary tests is putting signifiant pressure on testing centres and laboratories and has also resulted in longer wait times.
Matt Hannant, Northern Region Health Co-ordination Centre director of operations, said in an effort to make sure the most vulnerable are being tested, people who do not need a test will be turned away.
‘‘We’ve been providing the testing sites with guidance, so they will now will start talking to people right before they get into the queue. We will start telling people if they don’t require a test, and they will get some additional information in a written format.
‘‘This is just making sure that we are prioritising the right people. We really do want you to come and get a test if you’re a close contact, if you’re symptomatic or if you’ve been told by a health practitioner. We’ve always expected and planned for high volumes at our testing centres, but we are now getting up to levels where we need to prioritise.’’
Old said NRHCC appreciates that rising Omicron case numbers are making people are anxious, but testing sites will start to struggle if testing numbers continue to climb.
‘‘If we are seeing about 15,000 symptomatic or close contact tests today, then we’re quite comfortable at that level, but if we were seeing demands of more than 20,000 over days then we would start to struggle.’’
Hannant said the best protection right now is to make sure you have the booster dose of vaccine.
To date, 58 per cent of Aucklanders have had their Covid-19 booster, ‘‘but we need the other 42 per cent to get their booster’’.