‘Business as usual’ from home for Covid-positive mayor
Southland District Council mayor Gary Tong has tested positive for Covid-19, but it will be business as usual for him, he says.
Tong woke up at 2am on the early hours of Sunday with sweats and thought he should get tested, and it came out as a positive result.
‘‘I must admit the first word that went through me was: Bugger. I’ve been slowly getting better, so to speak, but I would hate to think what I would be like if I hadn’t been vaccinated,’’ he said.
Tong has had all three jabs, as well as a flu shot last week.
‘‘Which I must admit when the nurse gave that to me, she did indicate that I could have flu-like symptoms in about a week,’’ he said.
However, he felt like it was something more Sunday, he said.
Last year, Tong and Gore District mayor Tracy Hicks towed vaccine caravans throughout their districts with the help of health staff to get as many rural Southlanders vaccinated as possible.
Tong believed it was important that people still remained cautious.
‘‘I’ve been very, very careful. And last week, I’m not saying I let my guard down, but I did go to a number of meetings and met up with a few people outside of meetings where they weren’t wearing masks,’’ he said.
‘‘I encourage people to do so [wear masks] because we’re not really out of the woods yet in the south.’’
So far, Tong has been lethargic and his head has felt a bit muddled, but he has not had any major breathing issues, he said.
‘‘I would hate to see what somebody that hasn’t been vaccinated would be undergoing, and I can only guess that a number of those are probably in the ICU units in hospitals. Because it hit me. It hit me quite strong, quite hard.’’
Despite now having to isolate until Saturday, he will still be carrying on with council matters as usual.
‘‘It’s still business as usual. When you’re the mayor, you’re the mayor, and no matter what happens you need to be there for the people. There’s still work to be done.’’
Hicks and Invercargill mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt had both tested positive earlier this year.