With no new cases, the Northland DHB has defended its position not to use the national contact tracing system. Photo / Michael Cunningham
With no new cases, the Northland DHB has defended its position not to use the national contact tracing system. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Northland District Health Board is defending its position not to use a national Covid-19 contact tracing system despite recent concern.
Last week, contact tracing experts raised concerns about 10 DHBs which made up the four regional public health units (PHU) that were not using the National Contact Tracing Solution system(NCTS).
This included the country's two biggest PHUs - Auckland and Wellington - as well as Christchurch and Northland.
The NCTS is a cloud-based platform that stores all case and contact details, linked by exposure events, and allows anyone accessing the system to see the status of a particular case.
Director general of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said he "expected Northland DHB to come onto the system within the next few days".
However, NDHB's Dr Bart Willems - the region's contact tracing lead - said he was unsure what Bloomfield meant by his comments. Willems said there was no need to use the system currently as Northland had no cases.
"We don't have anything to register on the system," he said.
Northland public health medicine specialist Dr Bart Willems. Photo / Supplied
Willems confirmed some Northland DHB staff had been trained to use NCTS in the event Northland had further cases. New Zealand only had one active case left, whereas Northland's last active case recovered on May 12.
"The idea is that we'll use it, but we're not using it right now," Willems said.
Willems, a public health medicine specialist, said the benefit of the system was it allowed for more efficient contact tracing and provided a national overview of New Zealand's case and contact management.
Whangārei's testing centre at Semenoff Stadium. Photo / Michael Cunningham
When asked if Auckland and Wellington's decision not to use the system was problematic, Willems speculated those DHBs were doing what they thought best for their communities.
"My feeling is those people who decide not to use [the system] would probably have good reasons and they would have weighed up the positives and the negatives, and decided the thing that's right for their population, but I don't know."
While he accepted there weren't enough staff trained to use the system should a large number of new cases appear in Northland, Willems said such an incident was unlikely and the number of staff trained would increase as time went on.
The NDHB also commended the region's Māori communities after Covid-19 testing data showed a strong Māori representation when Northland was at the height of its testing regime.
The Whakapiri Ora nursing team from Te Hiku Hauora. Photo / Supplied
Of the 10,165 people tested in Northland between March 5 and May 25, 44 per cent (4485) were Māori and 50 per cent (5118) were European.
Northland medical officer of health Dr Catherine Jackson said equity of access for Māori was a key focus of Northland's Covid-19 response.
"It was great to see the high rate of testing for Māori right from the first weeks of the response," Jackson said.
"Partnering with Māori [health] providers was a key success factor in reaching those living in more rural and remote communities."
Northland medical officer of health Dr Catherine Jackson. Photo / Supplied
Alongside seven community-based testing centres (CBTC), nine mobile testing stations were implemented, together with multiple Māori health providers.
The stations ensured testing was conducted as far north as Te Hapua and as far south as Pouto. Europeans made up 63 per cent of all people tested at mobile testing stations and Māori made up 34 per cent.
People aged 45-59 were in the highest-tested age group at 26 per cent, narrowly in front of those aged 60-74, who made up 25 per cent of all Northlanders tested during that period.
More Northland women were tested than men, making up 57 per cent of all tests done.
The Far North District was the most tested district, making up 47 per cent - in front of Whangārei by 2 per cent.
Te Hau Ora o Ngāpuhi nurse Rhonda Zielinski at Kaikohe's drive-through community-based assessment centre. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Northland's first Covid-19 case was reported on March 17 and its 28th and final case on April 16.
For the weeks before March 23, 371 tests were conducted across the region. However, during the week of March 23-29, which included the move to alert level 4, 246 people were tested. That increased by 200 per cent the following week.
Two weeks after the mobile testing stations started on April 21, testing numbers spiked to almost 2000 in the week of May 11-17. Over the 11.5-week period, testing primarily took place at the CBTCs and mobile stations, with 79 per cent (8025).
A team from Far North health provider Te Hiku Hauora performing Covid-19 in Awanui's main street. Photo / File
Jackson said she was impressed with Northland's response to the pandemic, particularly from the region's confirmed cases and case contacts.
"They were generous with their time and information, and followed the advice of our public health team," she said.
The Te Hau Ora o Ngāpuhi Covid-19 testing team ready for action in Kaikohe. Photo / Supplied
"Staying in isolation and quarantine as advised makes the biggest difference to limiting the spread of infectious diseases like Covid-19."
When asked what things could have been done better in Northland's Covid-19 response, Jackson said nothing stood out in particular, but work was being done with staff to assess where improvement was needed.
