New Zealand records Fresh cases of COVID19

[jakeseven7]

Omg. For one case. Seriously? Do they not have any contact tracing capability at all?

Waiting for Australia to slam the borders shut....

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Omg. For one case. Seriously? Do they not have any contact tracing capability at all?

Waiting for Australia to slam the borders shut....

Most States already have heightened restrictions for travellers from Auckland. I think only Qld (and WA who have never accepted NZ as very low risk) have designated more than just Auckland ie NZ

 

[jase05]

Omg. For one case. Seriously? Do they not have any contact tracing capability at all?

Waiting for Australia to slam the borders shut....

Sounds that way.

Ardern said there was a "cause for concern" as this person has been infectious for a week and not been in isolation.

Cabinet met this afternoon after the new case was detected.

That person had been to a number of "well-populated sites".

Apparently the selfish person went and got tested and proceeded to go to the gym afterwards instead of isolating until results were returned

 

[milehighclub]

Apparently the selfish person went and got tested and proceeded to go to the gym afterwards instead of isolating until results were returned

I think this is what has triggered it. They have been symptomatic since Tuesday, only got tested Friday and didn't isolate after the test yesterday. So they think he has been out in the community for 5 days spreading it. The mother is also infectious now, but asymptomatic.

In addition there isn't a link, although they suspect it could be from the last outbreak. The daughter tested negative 3 times (she went to the school were the infected student did).

 

[burmans]

Short sharp lockdowns seems to have worked well NZ and I don’t think can be reasonably compared with lockdowns that last a month or more here or overseas.

 

[kiwitripper64]

There has also been a lack of ability from the district health team. From original case there were many contacts from school and huge numbers of people linked to this have been self isolated and tested. But there have been individuals and families have not self isolated and continued to go to work and socialise. One group were phoned texted and social media messages were left but they still went out, worked and met friends at dinner. It seems that no official ever went to the house to check when they couldn’t “contact” the family . We do have a payment scheme where people requested to elf isolate will still get paid.
so it’s disappointing that you don’t need lockdown just people helping by following rules

 

[nickykim]

Feeling for all Aucklanders caught up in the lockdown. My sister had her daughter, son in law and two energetic teenage boys move into their smallish home for two weeks (between property sale and settlement on new house). It’s going to be crazy!

 

[Lynda2475]

New cases in NZ today, from ABC:

Auckland Airport worker had been vaccinated​

We just heard a bit more about the Auckland Airport worker from New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Ms Ardern said the worker "boards planes to clean them after they've come from places where there is COVID, carrying passengers with COVID".

"All of the signs here pointing very much to the fact that this was a border worker who did work in an environment where they were coming into contact with the planes that are used to transport people from red zones. So from high-risk countries," she said.

But Ms Ardern said the person had been vaccinated:

"I can confirm that that was someone who was vaccinated and fully vaccinated, quite early on in the campaign

"This is also someone who is part of routine testing.

"So they were last tested on the 12th and then the 19th — so regular testing.
"And it was their most recent test in which this case has been picked up.
"So you can see those protocols there, working as we would intend."

Interesting that it was a fully vaccinated worker, will be interestign to understand the variant.

 

[Must...Fly!]

So a question is how long since this person had the initial vaccine and booster, given we know it takes weeks to build an immune response.

 

[Lynda2475]

NZ is all Pfizer, usually considered fully vaccinated 2 weeks after second dose (so 5 weeks form first shot).

Hopefully someone will leak the dates involved, but its not unlikely being a priority worker that its been more than 2 weeks since their seocnd dose.

The variant is the more interesting piece of the puzzle, if South African likely came from India.

 

[drron]

Though this was found on routine testing so he is likely to have been asymptomatic.
Even with Pfizer there can be cases of the original virus if fully vaccinated. So get used to it this is going to happen again and again.

 

[Lynda2475]

ABC has clarified:

The person has been fully vaccinated – they received two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine early in the vaccination campaign – in February and March. We know the Pfizer vaccine is highly effective, but at 95% effectiveness a small number may not be protected.

So given we well into April the worker would have been considered to be fully vaccinated.

We now wait to see if the vaccine has at least stopped spread:

Five household contacts have been tested and have returned negative results. Close contacts from the person’s workplace are being identified, isolated, and tested.

So far, we have identified that the person has 16 close contacts. This number will likely change as further scoping of this person’s movements identifies other people they have been in close contact with.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Though this was found on routine testing so he is likely to have been asymptomatic.
Even with Pfizer there can be cases of the original virus if fully vaccinated. So get used to it this is going to happen again and again.

Sentiment of the studies so far so far seems to be:

• very good at preventing death/serious illness.
• greatly reduces the likelihood of infection, but does not fully prevent transmission occurring (so some people will still get infected even if vaccinated)
• how likely a vaccinated person who contracts Covid 19 is to be contagious is still not really known, but it is considered it will be less likely

Do Covid-19 vaccines stop coronavirus transmission? Here's what research says.

A handful of recent studies suggest that the coronavirus vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna not only prevent people who are exposed to the virus from contracting Covid-19, but also prevent them from spreading the virus to others—and some experts say public health messaging should start...

www.advisory.com

Can vaccinated people still spread the coronavirus?

You’ve been vaccinated; can you now safely see your friends and family? New research hints that vaccinated people may be less likely to transmit the coronavirus, but they are not 100% in the clear.

theconversation.com

 

[lovetravellingoz]

​

​

New Zealand COVID case at Auckland airport believed to be from international passenger​

A worker at Auckland airport is believed to have contracted COVID-19 from a passenger who arrived in New Zealand on an international flight more than a week ago.

Results from genome sequencing overnight showed a match between the strain of COVID-19 the airport worker contracted and a passenger who arrived into Auckland from a 'red zone' country on April 10 while infectious.

Minister for the COVID-19 response Chris Hipkins revealed the details this morning.
The country and variant of the virus was not yet been released.

Officials previously said the worker did not have face-to-face contact with passengers and may have contracted the virus from cleaning planes.

The worker returned a negative result two days after the passenger arrived but was found to be positive by a test on Monday, nine days later.

COVID case at Auckland airport believed to be from international passenger

An Auckland airport worker is believed to have contracted COVID-19 from an international passenger over a week ago.

www.abc.net.au

So it would seem that this case is one of the rare cases from fomite transmission.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

With news last evening See below) of the traveller from Sydney having visited Wellington, so far there are 6 exposure sites being investigated, and 4 close contacts have already been tested.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

NZ ministry of Health Media Release.

Further locations of interest, Wellingtonians and visitors urged to check​

Media release​

23 June 2021
Eight further locations of interest in Wellington visited by an Australian traveller from Sydney last weekend who has tested positive for COVID-19 upon their return to Australia have been published on the Ministry of Health website.

COVID-19: Contact tracing locations of interest

New Zealand’s contact tracing team are working with their Australian counterparts to gather more information about the visitor’s movements and the website will continue to be updated as further exposure sites are confirmed.

Wellingtonians and visitors to Wellington last weekend are urged to check the website and continue checking throughout the day.
The visitor was in Wellington from Saturday 19 June until Monday 21 June.

People who have been at these locations at the relevant time should immediately isolate at their home or accommodation and call Healthline on 0800 358 5453 for advice on testing.

COVID-19 testing centre in Wellington​

A COVID-19 testing centre, open 10.00am – 4.00pm, seven days, is located at: 196-200 Taranaki Street, Wellington.

The Ministry reminds anyone with symptoms to get tested. This advice applies to Wellingtonians and visitors to Wellington last weekend, not just those who visited locations of interest. Public health officials are ensuring additional testing capacity is available.

At this stage, four contacts in New Zealand have been identified and are isolating, following public health advice.

Passengers in New Zealand who flew on the following flights should also immediately isolate at their home or accommodation, and call Healthline on 0800 358 5453 for advice on testing and isolating:

• Sydney to Wellington – QF163 (Qantas): Departed Sydney Friday 18 June 7:05pm (AEST), arrived Wellington Saturday 19 June 00:12am (NZST).
• Wellington to Sydney – NZ247 (Air New Zealand): departed Wellington Monday 21 June 10:13am (NZST), arrived Sydney Monday 21 June 11:33am (AEST).

Australian health authorities will be contacting those on the return flight to Sydney to provide advice about testing and isolation.
The Ministry reminds everyone to please remain vigilant and stick to the basics: stay home if unwell and get advice about having a test, wash hands regularly, cough and sneeze into the elbow, wear masks or face coverings on all public transport, and keep track of where you’ve been – scan QR codes wherever you go and turn on Bluetooth tracing in the app dashboard.

The Ministry is closely monitoring the situation and will issue updated health advice if and when required.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

The number of Exposure Sites has grown in Wellington.

There are some substantial exposure periods at sites like a bar and multiple restaurants where you would anticipate reasonably close contact and so hopefully the traveller is part of the 80% of people who tend not to transmit, rather than the 20% who do.

COVID-19

About the Ministry of Health’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and our long-term management strategy.

www.health.govt.nz

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Restrictions have now been imposed in Wellington NZ

By Jacqueline Howard, ABC News

New Zealand authorities announce restrictions in Wellington as a result of the growing Sydney outbreak​

Health minister Chris Hipkins said New Zealand's health authorities are concerned the Sydney traveler had extensive potential exposure in the Wellington region.

Wellington will therefore move to alert level 2 from 6:00pm tonight, which will continue until 11:59pm Sunday.
The rest of New Zealand will remain on alert level 1.

Alert level 2 means restrictions on gathering numbers and a renewed emphasis on social distancing. Face masks are compulsory on all public transport.

Mr Hipkins says this is the first time the alert level has been raised in response to the potential of an outbreak.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the Sydney case used the tracing app "extensively" while in Wellington, which has been an enormous help to contact tracers.

Dr Bloomfield said authorities believe they have now identified all of the locations of interest and those have been published here.

 

[kiwitripper64]

It would be embarrassing if they had visited any ladies of negotiable charm during the weekend

 

[lovetravellingoz]

It would be embarrassing if they had visited any ladies of negotiable charm during the weekend

Well not yet added, but they have now added Princes Barbers.

They have also added not surprisingly now a number of airport exposure sites, including food courts.