Covid-19: Bay of Plenty leaders back snap lockdown, concern for businesses

COVID COMMUNITY CASE LATEST* New Zealand lockdown - four new Delta cases including Auckland Hospital nurse
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There are concerns for Bay of Plenty businesses as New Zealand plunges into a Covid-19 level 4 lockdown after a community case was identified in Auckland.

Auckland and Coromandel have gone into level 4 lockdown for seven days – and the rest of the country for three days.

The lockdown took effect from 11.59pm.

There are four new community cases of Covid-19, including a fully vaccinated nurse at Auckland Hospital - all have the Delta variant and all are linked to the Devonport case that saw New Zealand enter a snap lockdown overnight.

The Covid-positive Auckland case was a 58-year-old man from Devonport. There was no obvious link between him and the border at this stage, Director-general of Health Ashley Bloomfield said.

The man was considered to have become infectious on August 12.

Takitimu Drive in Tauranga this morning. The country went into Level 4 lockdown at midnight. Photo / George Novak

He and his wife travelled to Coromandel township on Friday last week and stayed the weekend. Locations of interest have been identified there.

About 70-80 people were in a Coromandel hotel on Friday and Saturday nights when he visited at the weekend, the bar said.

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Matt Cowley said the lockdown was the event businesses hoped didn't happen "but we planned for it to".

"The test will be whether it lingers. I have full confidence businesses will be encouraging staff to take precautions, as businesses are already treating people as if they've got Covid. They are doing everything right."

Cowley said the Government's early announcement of a business support package was welcomed.

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Matt Cowley. Photo / NZME

Tauranga City Council commission chairwoman Anne Tolley said she "really feels" for businesses.

"It's just the stop-start ... winter's a tough enough time as it is, especially for the hospitality industry."

She urged people to follow the rules and use the contact tracing app, and hoped things would be back to "business as usual" next week.

"Don't panic, wear masks, keep your distance."

She hoped no connections to the case would surface in Tauranga.

Western Bay of Plenty District mayor Garry Webber said it was imperative that "as a country, a community or individual, we play our part that the Government is asking of us".

Webber asked people to check on their neighbours or anyone they believe may be vulnerable to make sure they were okay.

Age Concern Tauranga general manager Tanya Smith encouraged elderly community members to reconnect with friends and family.
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She was expecting the service's phones to go "off the hook" during the lockdown.

"Don't hesitate to ring Age Concern, we will all be working from home. We will reach out to everybody that we can," she said.

Western Bay Mayor Garry Webber. Photo / NZME

Tauranga MP Simon Bridges said he supported the move "but it's important we start vaccinating again as soon as possible". The vaccination rollout has been paused for two days.

Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller said people should look across to Australia as an example of why a lockdown was the "right thing to do".

Ngāi Te Rangi's chief executive Paora Stanley said he was encouraged by the Government moving quickly following the community case.

"We have been preparing for this to happen again for a while now and it is about activating our different systems."

His message to the community was to "join together and look after each other."

Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller says the lockdown is a good move. Photo / NZME

Hospitality NZ chief executive Julie White said this was another disappointment for the industry.

"This will be another big blow for struggling businesses, though they're not the only ones, and we know it's necessary."

"We will be okay."

Priority One chief executive Nigel Tutt did not believe a three-day lockdown would impact the economy "too much" with many people and businesses able to work from home.

He said new cases were always "highly likely". While not ideal, he said an initial short and sharp response was a good move.

Even before the lockdown was confirmed, the case saw a rush on supermarkets.

At Pak'nSave in central Tauranga, an Ōmokoroa couple said they had travelled to Tauranga to get their first Covid-19 vaccination jabs and on hearing about the possible lockdown decided to do a big shop as well.

"I think if the Covid-19 recent community case is the Delta variant then it definitely makes sense for us to go into lockdown even if it is for a few days, particularly with what is happening in Australia and in the UK," one of the shoppers said.

At Countdown on Cameron Rd, Tauranga, a shopper from Ōmanawa said there was no panic but another shopper "glared daggers at him" when he picked up his normal three
1kg bags of flour.

The shopper said his only concern about lockdown was those people "doing it tough", including people living on the streets.

Coromandel link "unsettling"

Thames-Coromandel District mayor Sandra Goudie said the news of the region's link to the positive case was "unsettling".

"They will be dreading the discovery of any great infection spread because of the potential consequences of lockdown going forward."

But she expected locals to "hunker down" and do what they need to do to get through.

Support was in place for businesses that were locations of interest, and they were encouraged to contact their local area officer for support.

"This is a government decision, so we just need to get on with it and make sure that we support each other through it."

Thames-Coromandel District Mayor Sandra Goudie. Photo / File

Star and Garter Hotel manager Mariya Kravchenko said they closed their doors for the evening after they found out about being a location of interest.

She said the bar was "quite busy" over the weekend and she hoped visitors had been scanning in. She guessed there would have been about 70 to 80 people on each night.

"Everyone just has to take care of themselves. We should all have been doing everything property like scanning in."

Karam Singh is the manager of the BP Gas Station on Tiki Rd, Coromandel, and the sole staff member working the day of the visit from the positive case was now at home isolating.

"We are checking everything, we will follow all the procedures of what we have to do.

"There are many people who come to the gas station, there are so many old people who come to the gas station. We can't remember each person. But we'll check the cameras to see what time they came in, now that we have a proper time frame.

"We are with the community, you know it is a problem for all of us. So we'll do our part to be safe and strong."

UMU Restaurant and Cafe owner Josie Fraser said the staff members who were working when the infected man was inside the premise had been instructed to self-isolate and get tested.

"We are now emptying the fridges and we will be leaving here."

Level 4 rules

- Everyone in New Zealand is to be isolated or quarantined at their current place of residence except as permitted for essential personal movement.
- Exercise is to be done in an outdoor place that can be readily accessed from home and two-metre physical distancing must be maintained.
- Recreation and exercise does not involve swimming, water-based activities (for example, surfing or boating), hunting, tramping, or other activities of a kind that expose participants to danger or may require search and rescue services.
- A child can leave the residence of one joint caregiver to visit or stay at the residence of another joint caregiver (and visit or stay at that residence) if there is a shared bubble arrangement.
- A person can leave their residence to visit or stay at another residence (and visit or stay at that residence) under a shared bubble arrangement if:
One person lives alone in one, or both, of those residences; or
Everyone in one of those residences is a vulnerable person.
Source - Ministry of Health NZ