Parts of Waikato to move to Level 3 after two new Covid-19 positive cases

Sunday, 3 October 2021

Raglan, Te Kauwhata, Ngāruawāhia, Hamilton City and Huntly will move to alert level 3 on Monday morning.

Thousands of Waikato residents will awake to a Level 3 lockdown on Monday, as the region wrestles with an incursion of the Delta strain of Covid-19.

Parts of Waikato, including Hamilton city, will move to Level 3 lockdown from 11.59pm on Sunday.

In Hamilton, city mayor Paula Southgate implored any eligible person who wasn’t vaccinated to get one, and fast.

Long queues formed outside testing centres at Claudelands Event Centre, and Founders Theatre while throngs of anxious shoppers headed to supermarkets and hardware stores to beat Sunday's minute to midnight deadline.

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The move comes after the Ministry of Health reported two new positive Covid-19 community cases in Waikato on Sunday morning. The lockdown would be reviewed in five days.

Level 3 would extend from Raglan, north to Te Kauwhata, Huntly, Ngāruawāhia and Hamilton City.

One case is in Raglan and the other is in Hamilton East. The cases are not connected to the Auckland outbreak but there is a connection between the two new cases.

People are starting to queue at Raglan’s Rugby Sports Club.

All initial tests from household members of Covid-19 cases in Hamilton East and Palmerston North on Sunday evening returned negative results, the Ministry of Health announced.

Results were received for two household members of the Auckland-based truck driver who is isolating in Palmerston North, and eight household members from the case in Hamilton East.

The results of three household members of the Raglan case, who have now all been moved to an Auckland quarantine facility, are expected back later tonight and will be announced tomorrow.

Waikato DHB said that there was a strong response to calls for people in Hamilton with symptoms to get tested. Testing centres at Founders and Claudelands reached capacity on Sunday and the DHB wants anyone who hasn’t been tested on Sunday to get tested on Monday.

Testing opportunities in Hamilton and the Waikato available on Monday from 8am include some GP clinics, and these will be listed on the Healthpoint website.

The DHB said Hamilton residents who are symptomatic should self-isolate and seek a test on Monday. Alternatively they can visit Victoria Clinic & Urgent Care at 173 Anglesea Street, Hamilton, before 8pm, after calling first on 07 834 0333 to make an appointment.

PM Jacinda Ardern has urged people in the affected areas to work from home, if they can.

Get vaccinated – Jacinda Ardern

At a press conference in Wellington, the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urged unvaccinated people to get the jab as soon as they could.

“Get vaccinated today if you want to avoid Level 3 in your community.”

Ardern said in Hamilton 1500 vaccination bookings were available on Sunday and 2800 would be available on Monday.

She said the Government was taking a similar approach in Waikato as it did with the recent lockdown in the upper Hauraki area.

“In terms of management of the boundary, the Auckland boundary will remain in place. There will be spot checks at Hamilton borders but it will not be a hard boundary. Unfortunately it is just not possible to establish a workable hard border in such a highly networked area.”

The case in Raglan is self-isolating at this stage and will be moved to a quarantine facility.

The Waikato District Health Board is carrying out further interviews with this person.

The Raglan case was tested on October 1 after the person began feeling unwell. Their infectious period is determined to be from September 27.

This person has three household contacts who are also isolating.

A pop-up testing centre will be operating at the Raglan Rugby Grounds car park on Cross Street from 1pm and anyone in Raglan with symptoms is urged to get tested.

The second case in Hamilton is a known contact of the Raglan case and was tested after becoming unwell.

Reiki Ruawai, left, and Hamish Ahern wait in line to be tested.

This person was transferred safely to Waikato Hospital where they are being treated for Covid-19-related symptoms.

Their household contacts are currently self-isolating.

Anyone in Hamilton who has Covid-19 symptoms is asked to get tested and isolate until test results return.

There are also walk-in vaccinations available in Hamilton at the super-site at Te Awa – The Base, as well as other sites around the city.

People waiting for their Covid-19 tests in Raglan were shocked while others were not surprised a positive case had been identified in their town.

Merren Tait, left, and Janine Cushing line up to be tested.

In Raglan Merren Tait and her mum Janine Cushing were among those waiting at the pop-up testing centre at the Raglan Rugby Grounds car park.

Tait said her reaction was “nothing you could print” but she wasted no time in getting down to the testing station on Sunday morning.

“We were about 8th in line but then some people turned away when they found out the testing station wasn’t going to open until 1pm.

“My feeling is one of shock, dismay, and anxiety, that probably sums it up.”

Tait, who had lived in Raglan for about 12 years, said vaccination rates in town were good. A local marae held an open day for people to get vaccinated and there was “massive turn out there”.

“But there is a staunch group that are opposed to vaccination and the impression I get is that they don’t recognise the seriousness of the situation.”

Sitting further back in line were Neve Masters, Lennox Reynolds, Hamish Ahern, Reiki Ruawai who worked locally and attended university.The flatmates heard the news of the positive Covid-19 case in Raglan and jumped in the car to head to the testing station.

Reynolds said he had been feeling sick so getting tested and remaining in isolation would be the priority now.

“I read on the group chat that there was a Covid case and I thought, no way, you’re having a laugh mate and then I looked it up and sure enough,” he said.

They were not surprised by the positive case given all of the visitors from Auckland the town normally attracted.

The alert level change would mean more time off work and away from university.

“We will just be doing the right thing and chilling out at home,” Ruawai said.

Meanwhile, Canterbury University mathematics professor, Michael Plank, said Sunday’s developments were concerning for the whole country.

'The fact that the Waikato cases don’t have a clear link to the Auckland outbreak and have been infectious in the community for several days is concerning. It suggests there could be additional undetected community cases. Moving this area to Level 3 for five days buys some time for testing and contact tracing to establish how widespread transmission in Waikato is.

'These events show that, even with a relatively small number of cases in Auckland, keeping the virus contained to one city is difficult.

“If the Auckland outbreak grows much larger, it will become even harder to prevent Covid spreading to other parts of New Zealand. The message is clear: Covid is here and it’s a matter of time before it spreads across the country.”

Hamilton City Council advised that rubbish, recycling and food scraps collections will continue, and essential services will be maintained. However, all Council facilities, including playgrounds, will close to the public.

Building inspections, construction activity and other services that can be performed safely according to public health guidelines and border controls will continue.

Thirty three new community cases of Covid-19 were reported on Sunday, 32 are in Auckland and one is in Waikato. The other Waikato case would be included in Monday’s Covid tally.

For a list of all testing centres open today, please visit Healthpoint.