Coronavirus Update #22

September 11 - There is just one new case today, and it is related to the Mt. Roskill bereavement group. This is now a sub-cluster of a mini cluster within the greater Auckland cluster. There is more and more information about how this group got infected, and it really makes it clear why breaking the rules can lead to bad things. Basically, there was an improper group gathering and one person - who was a close contact of a known case and waiting for test results - went to the house of a fellow church member and unknowingly infected at least 13 other people. Not only was the gathering against the rules, but it is very clear that if you get a test, you must self isolate until your test results come in. This was a double-whammy and it putting all of us at risk now. It also goes to show just how sneaky this virus is.

September 12 - There are two more community cases today, both linked to the same bereavement group subcluster mentioned yesterday. One of the new cases is a student at a west Auckland high school. The number of children infected this time around seems much higher than in the past. There are currently 18 active cases for kids 0-9 and another 10 active cases for people 11-19. That is 28.9% of all active cases at the moment - a far cry from the “coronavirus doesn’t affect kids so don’t worry” line from the beginning of the pandemic.

It also makes me very nervous about schools in general and American schools in particular. Our friends in Texas started back at school this week and it was painful to see the pictures of kids starting either home schooling, schools with masks, or even scarier, nothing at all and just going for it. I hope everyone stays safe and is able to stay in school. I do not take our ability to send kids to school relatively normally for granted, but I’m still sending the kids to school with masks everyday even though I’m 99% sure they come off about 30 seconds into their school day.

September 13 - There are two more cases today. One is a returnee and one is a healthcare worker in the Jet Park Hotel, one of the quarantine facilities for returning Kiwis who have tested positive for coronavirus. This is the first worker at Jet Park and second worker from any quarantine facility to test positive for covid. However, until last week, there wasn’t any type of regular testing, so that may not be entirely accurate.

Tomorrow the government is going to meet to decide what will happen on Wednesday night when our current Level 2.5 is set to expire. The news reports and opinions from the experts floating around in the media indicate that we aren’t in a position to move down levels yet. There are still cases of community spread and there are still lots of loose ends with not enough time to determine if the current outbreak is under control. I hope we stay at the current level, too. Shops and businesses are open, people aren’t all that concerned with masks, social distancing, or checking in at public spaces, so it seems like the only safeguard in place is those gathering limits. It seems like there’s no great gain from moving down levels at this point and a lot to lose.

September 14 - There is one new case today, a young girl who is a family member of an existing case. She has been self isolating since August 30 which is good news. Unfortunately, another recent case (the Jet Park healthcare worker) was out and about on the North Shore recently and it was announced that there are 89 close contacts that must now self isolate because they took an exercise class with this infected person. That is sobering news because it shows just how quickly this virus can spread.

And the government announced no changes in our current level. Auckland is staying at 2.5 and the rest of the country is at Level 2. Next week, on the 21st, things will be reevaluated, but if things continue as is, the rest of the country will move to Level 1 while Auckland may move to Level 2. I’m glad things aren’t changing because people are already very lax about masks and social distancing. Hopefully if we can keep groups small, if there is more community spread it will be limited.

September 15 - For the first time in what feels like forever there are no community cases today. There are, however three imported cases - a family that flew in from Dubai. Now we just wait and see what happens with all of the close contacts of the Jet Park nurse who lives on the North Shore and may or may not have infected nearly 100 close contacts between her family and fellow gym-goers. Fortunately, it looks like the tracers have been able to contact trace just about all of the close contacts so far and they are all getting tested and self isolating.

September 16 - We have a second day with no community cases - just one new case that flew in from Dubai on the 9th. Unfortunately this positive news is tempered by very sad news: New Zealand had its 25th death from coronavirus today. To make matters worse, it is the brother of death #23. This poor family just had one funeral and now must plan another.

There is quite a bit of apprehension about the possibility of community spread on the North Shore following the Jet Park nurse who attended gym classes while infected. In addition to her close contacts, they are now trying to track down the contacts of those contacts to proactively have them self isolate. This race to track down the once-removed contacts shows not only how contagious the virus is, but also how extensive New Zealand’s contact tracing teams are. I’m hopeful we don’t see new cases popping up in a week or so related to this exposure.

September 17 - There are a whopping seven new cases today, but they are all imported cases. None are as a result of community spread. It is days like today that make me realize exactly how ubiquitous covid is every where else in the world. People who tested positive traveled from the US, India, Indonesia, and Uzbekistan.

Our totals to date are 1458 confirmed cases. 180 of those cases are in the current Auckland cluster, of which 44 are still active. There are an additional 33 active cases that were stopped at the border. There are 4 people in the hospital, though none are in the ICU. Shockingly, the largest age group of infected people is ages 0-9 with 19 active cases. More than half of the cases are under 30.

I’m feeling optimistic that we’ve gone several days without any community transmission. I think we’re all in a wait-and-see headspace following the North Shore exposures. Hopefully people were contacted and quarantined fast enough to keep the spread to a minimum!