There are 20,989 new community cases of Covid-19 to report in New Zealand today, and there have been seven more deaths, including one in the Southern District.
Today's latest case figures and a regional update on Auckland's response to the Omicron outbreak were provided by Northern Region Health Coordination Centre's clinical leads Dr Andrew Old, Dr Anthony Jordan and Dr Christine McIntosh.
Dr Old announced the case numbers, saying 7172 of the new ones were in Auckland.
The number of cases in hospital is 856, with 601 in the Auckland region, and 20 patients in ICU or a high dependency unit.
"Sadly today we are reporting a further seven deaths. Five in Auckland, one in Waikato and one in Southern. This is the highest number of daily deaths we have had in this outbreak."
Although Omicron is mild for some people, for others, it is not, he said.
"Every death is a tragedy."
Southern death at aged residential care facility
The total number of publicly reported Covid-19 related deaths to date is now 98.
In its daily statement, the Ministry of Health confirmed one person was aged in their 50s, four were in their 70s, one was their 80s, and one person was in their 90s. Four were male and three were female.
In the Southern district, there are 12 people with Covid in hospitals today (eight in Dunedin and four in Southland) and 878 new community cases to report.
The Southern DHB confirmed this afternoon that a second death had occurred in an aged residential care facility.
"The family of this person has requested privacy, and we will not be commenting further."
The DHB said it was not the same residential care facility as the previously reported death.
In a statement this afternoon it said as the Omicron outbreak spread in the district, many aged residential care facilities are having staff test positive and some are finding Covid infection amongst residents.
"All aged residential care facilities who have staff and/or residents affected by Covid-19 have contacted family, whānau and loved ones of their respective residents to inform them of what is happening in their facilities.
"Some aged residential care facilities have closed to visitors in the short term as a precaution to protect their vulnerable residents. If you have a loved one in an aged residential care facility and are unsure if you can visit them, please phone the facility in question.
"All staff at these facilities are putting the care and safety of their residents at the forefront of all that they do. They will be more than happy to speak to you and advise you of any safety measures they have put in place. "
Please note, the Ministry of Health’s daily reported cases may differ slightly from those reported at a DHB or local public health unit level. This is because of different reporting cut off times and the assignment of cases between regions, for example when a case is tested outside their usual region of residence. Total numbers will always be the formal daily case tally as reported to the WHO. Due to the increased use of RATs and system lag issues there may be a discrepancy in the number of total active cases from the territorial authority breakdown.
Supported Isolation Quarantine facilities in South
The Southern DHB said it has supported isolation quarantine facilities(SIQ) in several locations throughout the district.
This accommodation is available for people and their whānau who have tested positive or been exposed to Covid-19, and who for various reasons are unable to isolate in their own homes. For example, they may be living with people who have underlying health conditions and are at higher risk from the virus.
As case numbers rise in the coming weeks, we expect to begin using one of our larger SIQ facilities; Aaron Lodge in the Dunedin suburb of Bradford.
"We are committed to the safety of all SIQ guests and neighbours. SIQ residents will not be allowed visitors, and they will not be permitted to come and go from the facility. There will be dedicated people on site who will ensure the smooth day-to-day running of the SIQ facility and it will be staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. "
'Getting Covid not inevitable'
Long Covid was a reason to remain vigilant, Northern Region Health Coordination Centre's clinical lead Dr Andrew Old said at the briefing today.
Getting Covid is not inevitable and he urged people to keep up with their health measures, including mask use. He said the numbers in Auckland gave rise for "cautious optimism".
He addressed the fact that some people were catching Covid-19 to "get it over with".
He said he had a colleague at work who did that and ended up in bed for three days.
"It's not just about you, it's about the people around you," Dr Old said.
"There is also the unknown about long Covid."
Looking at the other variants we've had, there are some effects which should give you pause, he said.
High hospitalisations and presentations were continuing to place pressure on the hospital system across the city.
A tough winter
Old says he wished he could forecast what winter would look like but everything we could do to help minimise the spread of respiratory illness will be very important.
He expected winter to be tough, and it was expected we would have influenza, RSV and possibly some Covid.
Covid-19 vaccination programme clinical director Dr Anthony Jordan said we are fortunate to have high vaccination and booster rates which meant many people had been able to avoid hospital rates and manage their illness at home.
For those who had not yet had their booster, his message was to go and get that done.
For those that had had Covid-19, the current advice was to wait three months for your booster, he said.
Jordan says while some may have built up some immunity by getting the virus, getting the booster would definitely help further in regards to re-infection. (edited)
Boosters and five to eleven-year-olds were still progressing well across the region.
New triage tool
Primary care co-clinical lead for whānau HQ Dr Christine McIntosh said a Covid triage tool had been developed.
She stressed teams were not able to call everyone who had Covid but said it was important if you were struggling at home to call Healthline or your GP for support.
She stressed it was important people reached out if their symptoms did get worse. And to call 111 if they got severe with no delay.
Old says since March 1, two million RATs has been distributed through community testing sites and collection sites.
More than 500,000 RAT results had been recorded, he said.
The positivity rates for these RATs ranged from 28 per cent for supervised tests at general practice up to about 46 per cent for self-reported samples, which reflected the smaller proportion of negative test results being self-reported.
"We are delighted so many people are taking up the opportunity to manage their testing at home. However, we are hearing many people are still uncertain as to whether they have done the test correctly."
Sue French, a nurse leader who has been involved in the testing response from the outset, did a demonstration.
'Phenomenal job'
McIntosh also recognised the incredible efforts of those across the health care sector.
That was on top of these people managing things going on in their own households, McIntosh said.
"We know it's pretty tough about there. We know you are doing a phenomenal job... I just really want to recognise that it is the work of all the health sector that is contributing at the moment... across Aotearoa."
"Our whānau HQ home isolation teams... are working extremely hard to manage the large number of people with Covid-19 and their households who are in isolation."
Isolation cut down
Following the Government’s announcement on Wednesday that isolation periods would drop from 10 to seven days, we wish to provide some further information to support people if they test positive for Covid-19 or are a household contact.
If you test positive for Covid-19, you are required to isolate for 7 days. You do not need to be retested after your intial positive result. If you still have symptoms after 7 days, stay home until you feel better and then wait another 24 hrs. Most people feel better after a week but if you are getting worse please do seek help.
If you are a household contact and you have done a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) on both day 3 and 7 of the isolation period of the first Covid-19 positive person in your house, and both tests are negative, you can leave isolation on day 8 if you are well.
If you are a household contact and return a positive RATs result while isolating, you will need to isolate for a further 7 days and wait till 24 hours after you are symptom free. Other household members do not have to reset their isolation and can leave isolation on day 8, the same day as the first case can leave isolation, provided they have returned negative RATs results and are not symptomatic.
If you’re a critical worker, and you have a person in your household who has tested positive for Covid-19, you may be able to continue working if you 1) are fully vaccinated 2) you do not have symptoms and 3) you return a negative RAT before each shift or day of work. Your employer will be able to tell you if you are a critical worker and what you need to do. When not at work, you need to isolate like any other household contact as outlined above. Critical healthcare workers that are household contacts or cases have some additional exemptions. More detail can be found here.
The key message for everyone is if you feel sick, stay at home.
- NZ Herald and Otago Daily Times
