Further layers of protection mooted

WELLINGTON: More frequent border testing and a standdown period before cleaners can board an international flight after it lands are being mooted as further layers of protection against Covid19.

The suggestions follow the case of the Auckland airport worker who appears to have caught the virus after cleaning a plane that arrived on April 10 with a passenger who later tested positive.

An investigation is under way into how the cleaner became infected, and it is unclear whether they had any persontoperson contact with passengers.

‘‘It’s a huge challenge to figure out how they got infected because they were doing all the right things with PPE and being vaccinated,’’ University of Otago epidemiologist Prof Michael Baker said.

The cleaner might have brushed past the passenger, who had travelled from Ethiopia via Dubai, on an air bridge, or in the aisle inside the cabin.

Leaving the plane empty for a period of time before it was serviced might help, Prof Baker said.

There was also merit in more frequent testing of relevant workers, he said. In New South Wales, for example, highrisk workers including airport cleaners, are given a lessinvasive saliva test every shift.

‘‘There are almost certainly benefits for both New Zealand and Australia in increasing harmonisation of Covid19 control measures.’’

The cleaner is the latest of 15 borderrelated cases since July last year.

She worked three shifts during the infectious period, and 17 of her 25 close contacts are workplace contacts.

Seven have so far tested negative, one is being followed up, and others will be tested on day five.

No further locations of interest have been identified beyond those already released: Westfield St Luke’s Mall food court, Bunnings New Lynn, and Movenpick Dominion Rd, all last Saturday.

Prof Baker also implored the Government to set up a system to monitor highrisk border workers, including when they are tested, and when they should be tested.

‘‘It’s critical to find that higherrisk population. It’s got multiple occupational groups, and different groups have different levels of exposure and risk — so it’s pretty basic to have that. ‘‘You’re flying blind if you don’t.’’ The Government can datamatch across two registers to see when the 4500strong MIQ workforce is at work and how often they are tested.

But it is reliant on employers to ensure compliance for the 10,000 or so extra border workers who are legally obliged to be tested regularly.

Covid19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said there had been not been a systemwide audit of the hundreds of employers at the border to check compliance.

Asked why not, he said: ‘‘Just the practicalities and the potential expense involved in doing that . . . Ultimately the legal requirement is clear. People need to follow the law here.

‘‘We don’t audit every New Zealander to determine whether or not they are following the law.’’

He said he was writing to the chief executives of all the agencies working at the border to remind them of their legal obligations.

Mr Hipkins encouraged those who lived with border workers to get vaccinated — so far only 7478 out of 50,000 household contacts of border workers had had two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

There had been 183,351 doses of the Pfizer vaccine administered as of Tuesday, including 140,580 who had had one shot and 42,771 people — including Mr Hipkins — who had had two doses.

He defended airport protocols that allowed the cleaner to work in the airport’s red zone one day and then the green zone on a different day.

The worker had also cleaned a plane before it flew to Australia on Monday, the first day of the quarantinefree transtasman bubble.

Australia used the same protocols, he said. — The New Zealand Herald

❛ It’s a huge challenge to figure out how they got

infected