Covid-19 contacts in Hawke's Bay double, Number expected to grow in coming days
The number of Covid-19 close contacts in Hawke's Bay has almost doubled and the Ministry of Health expects the number to grow in the coming days.
In data obtained exclusively by Hawke's Bay App, as of 8am today, 62 individual contacts had been registered in the National Contact Tracing Centre register as currently isolating in Hawkes Bay District Health Board region.
A Ministry spokeswoman says the information provided is from a live database that is constantly being updated, therefore the figures provided should be regarded as a snapshot in time.
Contact tracing is carried out by Public Health Units and is coordinated by the National Contact Tracing Centre at the Ministry of Health.
Address data is not known for all contacts identified and is collected when contact tracers place the contact tracing call.
"Until this call is made, quarantine address data for contacts cannot be confirmed or reported on," she said.
The system does not rely solely on self-reporting. There are multiple ways contacts can be identified including through case investigation where cases can provide the Ministry detail on contacts known to them, through lists of contacts provided by educational facilities, workplaces, event organisers and others, and through self-identification through Healthline.
"We expect the numbers of identified contacts to continue to grow across the coming days."
Earlier this afternoon, Bayleys Hawke's Bay confirmed thirty-three staff, including partners, were self-isolating after attending the company's national conference and awards event in Auckland at the beginning of the latest community Covid-19 outbreak.
More than 1000 attendees of the event at Spark Arena in downtown Auckland on Friday, August 13 - including those who travelled from other parts of the country - were classified as close contacts of a bar worker who later tested positive for the Delta variant of the virus, and mandated to self-isolate for 14 days.
James Macpherson, Principal of Bayleys East Coast, said his employees, from Napier, Hastings and Central Hawke's Bay, have all been tested at least once and received a negative result.
They are currently just awaiting the results of the second test for a few people. They had been reliant on a booking system for tests.
"I think it's very important to say that everybody has tested negative so far. We were just having a teams meeting, with most of the company on there and those who have got their second test back have all tested negative as well, and that's the same for all the 1100-1200 people who were at Spark Arena that night," Mr Macpherson said.
"I don't think anybody is waiting in fear and trepidation, but everybody has been compliant. That's the main thing, as one would expect."
The region's self-isolators are also nearing the end of the 14-day incubation period from what the Ministry of Health calls the "last date of exposure."
Mr Macpherson said they were informed of the potential exposure last Thursday - two days into the country's snap lockdown. But as they were already following the rules, Mr Macpherson says it didn't change much.
"It was a wee bit of a shock but, hey, not surprising. With something as virulent as that, I think the potential was there and Auckland obviously is where most of the people come in and out of the border through the airport, so it's not surprising.
"Everybody just complied straight away. It's pretty easy to communicate with the team and everybody went to get tested immediately when we knew about it and that's gone smoothly."
He says it is just about being "sensible". They have also been transparent with their clients from the outset, Mr Macpherson says.
Havelock North Real Estate Agent Gretchen Paape also won the National Auction Growth Award.
"We're pretty pleased to be in the regions because we've got space, even when we're locked down, as much as we don't want to be. We can still function and communicate to a fairly high level."
The night before the Bayleys event, up to 1000 people attended a Mitre 10 awards evening where the same infected bar worker was rostered on.
Mitre 10 New Zealand Ltd said they understand that people will be concerned.
"Attendees were notified that they had been at a location of interest and advised of the actions they and their households needed to take regarding self-isolation and testing.
"The country was at Level 1 at the time of the event and appropriate protocols were in place, including QR codes and contract tracing capability."
The spokesperson declined to answer questions on how many staff from Hawke's Bay were isolating, citing privacy reasons.
