There’s two new Covid cases, a couple who have returned from India. They tested positive after 12 days in isolation and have been moved from the Grand Millenium hotel to the Jet Park quarantine hotel.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield says this shows the system working as intended, but I would have thought that being tested when they came into the country would make much more sense. They have risked contact with others at the Grand Millenium, where everyone now needs to be tested. This just doesn’t make sense.
RNZ: Two new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand
A couple who have returned to New Zealand from India and were in isolation have tested positive for Covid-19.
The couple returned to New Zealand on a repatriation flight from Delhi – AI-1306 – and arrived on 5 June. They also have an infant who has not been tested due to age.
The couple showed no symptoms and returned a positive result after being tested on day 12 of isolation.
“This morning the couple and their child have been transferred from the hotel where they have been, the Grand Millenium, to the Jet Park quarantine hotel.”
People at the Grand Millennium Hotel are being tested, as well as people who were on the same flight. Dr Bloomfield said they should all be tested by the end of the day.
He said the cases demonstrated that the system of testing incoming people at day three and 12 was working.
What about people who have been at the Grand Millennium and have left in the last 12 days?
Have any of the people from the same flight been allowed compassionate exemptions?
I really don’t understand why people coming into the country aren’t put into strict quarantine straight away and stay there until they have been tested and have a negative result. Even waiting three days until they test as they say they are doing now seems too slow.
And this all should have been in place weeks ago.
| Total | Change in last 24 hours | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of confirmed cases in New Zealand | 1,159 | 2 |
| Number of probable cases | 350 | 0 |
| Number of confirmed and probable cases | 1,509 | 2 |
| Number of recovered cases | 1,482 | 0 |
| Number of deaths | 22 | 0 |
| Number of active cases | 5 | 2 |
| Number of cases currently in hospital | 0 | 0 |
I don’t see an issue with getting a few active cases again, that’s to be expected with more citizens and residents returning to New Zealand, as they should be able to do.
But it’s critical they get the isolation and testing right. I still have concerns about how they seem to be doing it.
New Zealand rankings (Worldometer):
- Total cases 1,509 – 115th
- Total cases per 1m population 302 – 118th
- Total deaths 22 – 121st
- Deaths per 1m population 4.4 – 137th
- Active cases 5 – 169th
- Total tests 335,167 – 54th
- Tests per 1m population 67,005 – 34th
- Population 5,002,100 – 122nd
This suggests our cases are about the same as our ranking in population, our deaths and deaths per 1m are a bit better than our population ranking, and our testing rate is much better than our population ranking.
Meanwhile cases keep climbing around the world. Brazil has now over a million cases, and their reported 49,000 deaths seems light when compared to the case/death ration in other countries.
Cases in the US are trending back up again as states remove restrictions and open up.
As coronavirus infections surge nationwide, 21 states see increase in average daily new cases
Health officials warn that mass gatherings of any type could worsen the spread of the virus, as the 2020 election heats up and nationwide protests against racism and police brutality stretch into their third week.
However Early Data Show No Uptick in Covid-19 Transmission From Protests
Public health experts say preliminary test results are encouraging; outdoor locations and masks may have helped
Early coronavirus testing data from a handful of U.S. cities and states suggest that recent protests against racial injustices haven’t yet led to a marked uptick in new cases. Public-health officials warn that the data is still preliminary, however, and protest-related cases could still rise.
Why protests aren’t as dangerous for spreading coronavirus as you might think
The evidence is becoming clear that wearing a mask can substantially lower the risk of spread and severity of illness. We are seeing more and more masks worn by protesters. A second feature of gatherings that affects the spread of the virus is whether they happen outdoors or indoors. Here, too, research suggests that outdoor activities are much safer than indoor ones.
Finally, although this is more preliminary, evidence suggests that if you’re going to be in a crowd, a mobile one is better than a stationary one. None of these three aspects will protect you from infection definitively – but together they offer a modest level of risk reduction.
Maybe.
Several new studies published this month support wearing masks to curb the transmission of the virus.
Your NZ 
Geoffrey Monks
/ 20th June 2020Our border is being managed by half-wits. I am dumb-founded that his farce continues and that no one involved has even had a paycut.
Billions of dollars of national debt, hundreds of thousands out of work and some total twit tries to tell me that testing on day 12 is showing that the plan is working. If it is, what’s the effing plan?
Kitty Catkin
/ 20th June 2020A paycut ? How about having their head cut off ? It couldn’t make them any stupider. I have seen more intelligent headless chooks.
Now Siouxsie Wiles is saying that the early release of those who have C19 isn’t that bad and not really dangerous. Isn’t she the one who wanted L4 to go on for months ? More hair than sense; and, gallingly, she is described as an expert.
Duker
/ 21st June 2020This is what is happening in Victoria Australia
“It comes as 25 new cases of coronavirus were recorded in the past 24 hours alone, up from 13 on Friday, 18 on Thursday and 21 on Wednesday.
Our new cases are ALL overseas arrivals. The above numbers look like the start of a second wave which has often talked about ,but they never really ‘eliminated’ community transmission before easing restrictions . Half measures mean its back to square one
Pink David
/ 20th June 2020“The evidence is becoming clear that wearing a mask can substantially lower the risk of spread and severity of illness. ”
Really? The evidence linked is from the WHO and The Lancet. What’s their track record been like on Covid to date….
“A second feature of gatherings that affects the spread of the virus is whether they happen outdoors or indoors. ”
Amazing. That has been known for years. The very best thing you can do to spread a respiratory illness is to confine people indoors in close quarters such as forcing an entire population to stay at home and only venture out to a single place to get food indoors, while restricting their freedom to be outside.
Kitty Catkin
/ 20th June 2020Oh, I thought that was how to stop the spread. The PM says so. Siouxsie Wiles says so. Ashley Blomfield says so.
Confining people makes their immune system stronger, doesn’t it ? Oh, wait……none of our fatal cases were caught by young people out of doors but people whose immune systems were already damaged because of age, illness and isolation.
NOEL
/ 20th June 202012 days positive presumably negative at 3 days.
Would suggest negative result would have returned on arrival day.
Kitty Catkin
/ 20th June 2020Moronic question to a person leaving the hotel after the results of his test had arrived; was it negative ? Did they expect him to say that it was positive ?
Harry
/ 20th June 2020Why are “probable cases” included in the total? Either they are confirmed or they are not. More media dishonesty.
Kitty Catkin
/ 20th June 2020MoH dishonesty, too. The problem is that they needed to make the lockdown seem necessary, I suppose.
If there’s no evidence that someone had it, they shouldn’t be counted. There might be a case for a separate ‘possible/unproved’ category.
NOEL
/ 20th June 2020Not so. standard in any pandemic.
Perhaps you missed this explanation of a probable case
“This is a person who has returned a negative laboratory test result but the clinician looking after the person has diagnosed them as a probable case due to their exposure history and their clinical symptoms. These cases are actually treated as if they were a positive laboratory confirmed case and the actions taken are the same as for a confirmed case. That is self-isolation and active contact tracing.”