Eight Te Awamutu Covid-19 cases, only three places of interest
Wednesday, 20 October 2021
In the wake of eight cases of Covid-19 in a Waikato town, three locations of interest have been released.
There were six cases on Te Awamutu on Tuesday, and another two on Wednesday. Wastewater samples taken on Tuesday and Wednesday last week both tested positive for the Covid-19 virus.
Waikato District Health Board said, in a post on Facebook on Tuesday, the positive cases were mostly engaged in person to person contact and on private property.
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**
Waipā acting mayor Liz Stolwyk said people should take comfort in knowing there was minimal community spread at public locations.
She said now that locations of interest had been released, it was the community’s turn to recall where they had been.
“We are in a wait and see pattern, and we can only hope we don’t have community transmission.”
She said it was important the Waikato District Health Board communicated openly with the community, and was pleased to see it give reasons for the small number of locations of interest to reassure locals.
Google trends showed New Zealander’s were searching 'locations of interest te awamutu' and 'Waikato DHB Covid Cases' on Tuesday, after the announcement of six positive cases.
Waikato District Health Board said on Tuesday the low number of locations of interest indicated contact was largely limited to between individuals and in private settings.
It said locations of interest were published when contact tracers did not have a good idea of who was there at the same time, like at bars and supermarkets.
For exposure events where there was a good understanding of who was there, like in a private setting, it was easier to contact people directly.
“Those situations are closely managed by Public Health staff who may determine there is no need to publish a location as there is not a requirement for community members to self-identify as potential contacts.”
The health board said this was supported by testing data that showed cases were almost exclusively linked to known cases.
“Waikato is currently under alert level 3 which further reduces the risk of public exposure events.”
People were encouraged to get tested, because high testing rates provided confidence that there was no undetected spread of Covid-19.
The health board said not all the cases in the Waikato cluster had a permanent address, and as investigations progressed the locations may change.
An older case which was previously reported as Hamilton had now been moved to Whatawhata, where there was a total of two cases.
It said there was similar concern about the first cases reported in Hamilton, and the lack of locations of interest.
The District Health Board said at the time, the contacts were person to person and at private locations.