Coronavirus Update #19
August 21 - There are 11 new cases today, 2 in managed isolation and 9 are part of the Americold/South Auckland cluster. There is also suspicion now that one case - a grocery worker at the St. Luke’s Mall who worked for several days with symptoms - may either be a new strain or possibly was infected by being on a bus at about the same time as a positive person. That whole situation is scary, and I’m very curious to see what the genomic testing on his strain reveals.
While the cabinet met today, there were no big revelations on what the future holds. They’re going to wait until Monday to reevaluate what will happen after Wednesday’s midnight deadline runs out. On the one hand I’m glad they didn’t indicate that Auckland will move down levels. On the other hand, it certainly sounds like they’re hinting that they will go down to level 2 on Thursday, and I am very apprehensive about that. It seems like it is way too soon for people to mix. Last time we were in Level 2, it was basically back to normal.
August 22 - There are six new cases in the community today. Four are tied to the Americold cluster and two are under investigation. The St. Lukes Mall case is definitely tied to the Americold cluster now, which I’m taking as good news. It isn’t a new strain. I’m trying not to think about how he probably got it from sitting on a bus. I’m also taking extra precautions with our mail. Two NZPost workers have tested positive now and over 70 are self isolating as they may have been exposed. We’re back to the Three Day Wait for everything again. Even worse, there are nine people in the hospital, three of whom are in the ICU.
And it is another gorgeous Saturday here in Auckland where people aren’t taking mask wearing or social distancing seriously. The queue outside of my favorite local coffee shop was about 15 people long, with another 15-20 waiting for their orders. To say it was crowded is an understatement. And I saw a total of three customers wearing masks, myself included. We better cross all of our fingers and toes that there isn’t any community spread here in the Eastern Bays.
August 23 - Only 3 new cases today, and only one of those is in the community and part of the Americold cluster. There are still nine people in the hospital with three in the ICU. The biggest development is that two infected people apparently rode the bus a lot and the Ministry of Health is desperately trying to track down all of the passengers on the assorted busses they took. There have been numerous articles published with the times and bus lines listed. It seems that most people have been contacted through their ATHOP cards, but a few didn’t register their cards or didn’t use them. I hope they are able to track down all of these people because otherwise there are some very big loose ends out in Auckland, especially since we know one of the two infected people on the bus got coronavirus on the bus.
August 24 - Nine new cases today, eight of which are connected to the Auckland cluster. It is also “D-Day” for Auckland. At 3 pm we found out that Level 3 is extended for Auckland until Sunday at midnight in order to contain the cluster. It is now New Zealand’s largest cluster ever at 101, and ten people are in the hospital, though the number of ICU patients has dropped to 2. The rest of the country will stay at Level 2.
Honestly, I’m relieved. I wasn’t comfortable sending the kids back to school with all of the unknowns out there, especially since there have been cases of stranger-to-strange transmission. (Side note - this gives a whole new meaning to Stranger Danger.) In response to the bus transmission cases, masks will now be mandatory on public transportation when we move to Level 2.
In other news, I got my second covid test today. Both Jon and I have developed a stuffy-nose-coughy-sore-throat-general-lethargy thing that I would normally attribute to the two small petri dishes known as our children. We decided to air on the side of caution and called our GP for guidance. They recommended we come in, and an hour and a half later we were getting our noses probed as well as a general check up. Jon also got a strep test because his throat is really bothering him. The total cost? $0. Last time I got my test results back the next day, and I’m hopeful that the turnaround will be quick this time, too. The most surprising thing was that our doctor said, “thank you for coming in and getting a test. It’s the right thing to do for the community.” I awkwardly gave her a double thumbs up in response because I was so shocked by this comment that implies people aren’t getting tests whenever there is doubt.
August 25 - I woke up this morning to an obituary from Austin in my inbox. It was for our old next door neighbour who died from complications from coronavirus. This is an insane thing to wake up to. Simultaneously I felt sadness for her family and terror as to what we would’ve done if we were still living next door. She was an older woman with dementia who had 24 hour care. She rarely left the house which meant it most likely came in from one of her caretakers. People who we chatted with regularly as they were coming and going. The closeness of this case has me shaking a little and thankful that we made the move. Every once in awhile something happens that makes me think, “I am so grateful we avoided this by moving. Can you imagine what would happen if we were still around for this?” This is one of those moments.
In New Zealand, there are seven new cases related to the Auckland cluster. One person in the ICU is in critical condition, but the total number of hospitalisations is down to eight. To say that I am uneasy about sending the kids to school next week is an understatement, and I’m not the only one. There is a lot of discussion on the mum’s facebook groups about whether or not it’s a good idea to restart school at this point, especially with a 10 person limit on most other activities. There are still more cases popping up every day, and I just read this article about how kids cary a larger viral load than adults in the ICU without fewer symptoms. In other words: they can spread germs like crazy (which is nothing new to anyone with school aged kids.) I’ll continue to monitor the cases this week and we’ll decide closer to time if we think it is safe or not to send the kids to school on Monday.
And I got my covid test results back, negative not surprisingly. It is still comforting to know!
August 26 - There are five new cases today and three are a part of the Auckland cluster. They’ve also asked for anyone attending services or a wedding at a Mt. Roskill church over a series of four days to contact Healthline and get a test. That gaping hole in the containment strategy as well as the case of a man on the North Shore who showed up at the hospital with covid but was previously an unknown contact of the existing cluster is concerning. (The North Shore case has been genomically linked to the cluster, but no one knows who he came in contact with.) Unfortunately, it feels like the economic pressures are beginning to outweigh the health ones. This cluster does not feel as contained as the officials claim it is, and I’m afraid we’re going to be back in lockdown in a few weeks. I hope I’m wrong.
August 27 - There are 7 new cases today, 6 in the community. This brings the total number of cluster cases to 118. The Mt. Roskill church group is growing and now sits at 8. Despite the continued increase in cases, the Ministry of Health is still saying there are no issues moving to Level 2 at the end of the weekend. I still have my doubts and right now we’re leaning towards keeping the kids home from school next week as a precaution.
In related news, New Zealand is putting aside a reserve account for vaccines when/if they are ready. It crazy to see the difference in the vaccine sales pitch here. The president of the Vaccine Alliance Aotearoa even said, “I don’t want to depress anyone, but it is going to take time. We have to be patient. My guess is two years.” The jist of the message I get from the US press is something like, “a vaccine will fix everything! We’ll have one soon!” This ties in with the difference in strategy, too. In New Zealand, it is all about lockdown, test, trace, isolate the cases because there isn’t an assumption that a magical fix is going to appear next week. While I know not everyone in the US thinks a vaccine is super close (or would take it right away if it was) there is certainly a large portion of the population that thinks a rushed-through-trials vaccine is going to make life normal again.
Given the situation in Auckland right now, would you feel comfortable sending your kids to school on Monday? Would you wait? Please leave your comment below.
