Officials slient on why Waikato Covid-19 cases are 'hard to reach'

Thursday, 28 October 2021

Waikato cases are in 'a difficult-to-contact-trace' group of people, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says, but he wouldn't explain further.

Officials remain tight-lipped about why cases of Covid-19 in Waikato are “hard to reach” and contact trace.

There were four cases of Covid-19 in Waikato on Thursday, Covid-19 Response minister Chris Hipkins said. This took the region’s total to 101.

A group of cases in Waikato had been difficult to reach and contact trace, Hipkins said at Wednesday’s press conference, but he would not elaborate or provide specifics.

He said that did not mean they were being uncooperative, just that “it is a more difficult to contact trace group of people”.

**READ MORE:

Covid-19 Response minister Chris Hipkins said a group of cases in Waikato were hard to reach and contact trace.

* Covid-19: 74 new cases in Delta community outbreak in Auckland and Waikato

* Covid-19: Six new cases in Waikato, restrictions to ease

* Close to 95 per cent of Waikato DHB staff had one Covid-19 jab

When asked what hard to contact trace meant, Hipkins repeated himself. “It means it’s a difficult to contact trace group of people.”

When pushed on the topic, Hipkins repeated himself. “It means it’s a difficult to contact trace group of people,” he said.

He said it was similar to some groups in Auckland who had been hard to reach.

The Auckland Public Health team had been sharing lessons with the team in Waikato, “but the hard to reach are hard to reach where ever they are in the country,” Hipkins said.

“It's still a challenging situation.”

Waikato District Health Board and Ministry of Health representatives would not give any details about the cases, citing privacy reasons.

Hamilton East Labour MP Jamie Strange said the District Health Board had given him an update, but he was not comfortable divulging the information.

It remained a secret why the cases were hard to reach, or which cluster they were connected to.

Hamilton-based National MP David Bennett said the people in Waikato deserved to know all the information.

“There is public interest here, and people deserve to know what is going on. It’s just not good enough.”

Hamilton-based National MP David Bennett said the people in Waikato deserved to know what was going on.

Bennett said without the facts, rumours spread, and people were left feeling scared and frustrated.

“I think people have been angry for a while. The government hasn’t been open with us.

“The Minister, Ministry of Health and the District Health Board will know what is going on.”

He said 99 per cent of the public were following the rules, and deserved to know what the 1 per cent was doing.

A Ministry of Health spokesman said it did not share personal information about Covid-19 cases for privacy reasons, unless there were compelling public health reasons to do so.

“At this stage, the Ministry has no further information to add about these cases.”

A Waikato District Health Board spokesman said it did not share details on individual cases either.

“Public Health officials have been able to confirm links for almost all cases to date.”

There had been concern about the lack of locations of interest in the region, but the spokesman said contact tracing indicated that exposure events were between individuals in private settings.

He said this was supported by testing data, and the Covid-19 cases popping up.

“Sometimes it takes some time to establish this information, particularly where people are not easily contacted and/or do not use the New Zealand Covid Tracer app.”

The region was sitting in Level 3 Step 1 alongside Auckland, and restrictions would be reviewed on Monday.