Nelson outbreak features two clusters

How Nelson’s growing Covid-19 outbreak originated is still unclear and the region should expect more cases, say top health officials.

The Nelson Marlborough Health chief medical officer of health, Dr Nick Baker, and interim chief executive Lexie O’shea held a media conference yesterday afternoon as cases in the Nelson outbreak rose to 14 and two schools were closed.

Ten new cases were announced yesterday.

Baker said there were two clusters, one containing 11 cases and the other three, but ‘‘exactly how that pans out is still to be clearly determined.’’

‘‘Covid is here,’’ he said. ‘‘Expect case numbers to increase but it’s something we have been planning for.’’

He said those affected so far did not have severe enough symptoms to be hospitalised. But cases with even mild symptoms could be serious if they passed on the virus to immunocompromised or unvaccinated people.

He said officials did not have clarity about how Covid got into the Nelson community.

Baker said the region’s health services were vastly better prepared than during the first Covid outbreak last year when there was no vaccine that could prevent infections.

‘‘It reduces a lot of concern for staff. We have been preparing for this for a long time.’’

He thanked cases and close contacts for their co-operation which was critical to determining places of interest and contacts.

The number of household or close contacts often depended on the circles people moved in. It was not uncommon for Covid to spread in household or work contexts, but there may be other connections through sport.

Others in the community ‘‘absolutely’’ needed to get any symptoms tested for Covid. ‘‘The sooner we find cases, the sooner we can stop the virus in its tracks.’’

More than 1500 people had been tested between Monday, when the first case was announced, and Wednesday.

Baker said there had been no warning from wastewater tests and he didn’t know how frequently those tests were carried out.

Enner Glynn School and Broadgreen Intermediate were closed yesterday after one staff member at each tested positive for Covid on Wednesday. Baker said they were working out how many children were close or more distant contacts.

Asked why locations of interest in the outbreak seemed to take a long time to be listed, Baker said they were ‘‘published as fast as they are confirmed’’.

Only one new location of interest in Nelson was added yesterday, the Kiwi Bakery on Nayland Rd where a case visited at lunchtime on Friday and Monday.

Marlborough’s Primary Health team will spend two days in Nelson helping take Covid-19 tests.

Marlborough Primary Health Organisation chief executive Beth Tester said the team of eight were in their own testing bubble.

‘‘They are swabbing at the schools, and at a backpackers over there,’’ Tester said.

She said they were not aware of any close contacts of the Nelson cases in Marlborough.

‘‘But Covid will come. It’s a case of not if, but when,’’ Tester said.

Tester said there had been a surge in people coming in for their first dose of the vaccine this week.

In Marlborough, 95 per cent of the eligible population has had at least one dose of the vaccine. Of those eligible, 87 per cent were fully vaccinated in Marlborough.

Nelson Marlborough, as a region, was 85 per cent fully vaccinated, and 92 per cent had had their first dose.

While most doses had been of the Pfizer vaccine, Astrazeneca had recently become available in

Marlborough. Tester said this had also helped to boost rates.

‘‘People are coming for thirds, seconds and firsts at the moment,’’ she said.

She said there were a good number of people who would need a booster shot in Nelson Marlborough before Christmas, which became available this week.

‘‘Here in Marlborough we are prepared and ready for when it comes, and that’s probably about as much as we can do until it arrives,’’ she said.

The Covid-19 Protection Framework, or traffic light system, was the Government’s approach to managing Covid-19 from today, as the country shifted away from alert levels. It would eliminate almost all lockdowns and generally see schools open all the time.

Director-general of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said yesterday morning, news of the cases in Nelson would not move the region into a ‘‘red light’’ setting.

Businesses, events, organisations and others can use vaccine passes, but those who don’t want to request proof of vaccination would have strict limits on operation.

Under red, working from home was encouraged, and gatherings were restricted, even for venues that used a vaccine pass. Retail could remain open with capacity limits and a mask requirement.

But at orange, restrictions were significantly eased for those who used vaccines passes. Hospitality venues could have as many people as they wanted inside, and they did not need to be masked or seated.

Gyms could run at full capacity, and events such as festivals could run at full capacity, as long as everyone was vaccinated.

But for venues that did not use vaccine certificates, hospitality had to be contactless, and gatherings, such as church and weddings, were limited to 50 people.

At all settings scanning in was required, and masks were required on flights.