Follow rules to minimise Covid
Take heed: Only get tested if it’s needed
As Covid cases increase across the country, Hamilton City Council is preparing to be hit by staff shortages and supply issues.
The council is asking the community to be patient and understanding in the face of the expected impact of Omicron.
Of the 3297 new Covid community cases in New Zealand on Wednesday, 297 were in Waikato.
City council chief executive Lance Vervoort says: “Our focus is making sure our core council activities including supply of water, treating wastewater, and rubbish and recycling collection can continue the best they can as Omicron cases rise. We’re doing everything we can to minimise this impact but recognise that there will be disruptions for the community. “Our absolute priority is to provide for the health and safety of our community and our staff.”
The council’s infrastructure response manager Trent Fowles says many core council roles are specialised and can’t be replaced at the drop of a hat.
“We are already using separated staff bubbles to manage the risk of exposure, but this is causing delays in some areas. For Three Waters services in particular, we are experiencing significant delays for new connections, but would like to assure Hamiltonians the team is still working hard to assess and prioritise incoming applications.”
Vervoort says the best way for Hamiltonians to support the city’s response was to minimise the spread and severity of the virus.
“Wear a mask, maintain your physical distancing, use location scanning, keep up with your vaccinations and wash your hands. If we can slow or reduce the infection rate, we can spread the impact out over a longer period and make it more manageable.”
Meanwhile, rapid antigen testing (RAT) was available at Hamilton’s Greenwood and Founders Theatre carpark testing sites from Tuesday.
Selected other Waikato testing sites were set to roll out RATS throughout the week.
The only groups qualifying for a RAT include fully vaccinated critical workers who have been identified as a close contact but do not have any symptoms, workers in some healthcare and emergency service workforces like police, GPS and aged care, asymptomatic unvaccinated over 12-year-and-3-month-olds who are wanting to travel domestically with a transport company that requires testing.
Waikato District Health Board Covid-19 response executive lead Maree Munro says the response from the Waikato community to get tested and follow guidance has been fantastic. “As the guidance is updated to reflect the latest data and what is happening in our community, we’re asking people to please continue getting tested, but to make sure they match the testing criteria so our system remains responsive and accessible and our public health resources are allocated effectively.”
The DHB is urging people to ensure they meet the criteria for testing as demand is high and they continue to see people turning up when they do not meet the criteria.