Te Atatu's CHT St Margarets rest home has been linked to 15 coronavirus cases. Photo / Supplied
Te Atatu's CHT St Margarets rest home has been linked to 15 coronavirus cases. Photo / Supplied
The son of a woman at an Auckland rest home linked to at least 15 coronavirus cases is still waiting to hear if his mother has caught the virus or not.
Residents at Te Atatu's CHT St Margaret's residential aged care home - which has been confirmed as one of the country's coronavirus clusters - were recently tested, the man said.
Te Atatu's CHT St Margarets rest home has been linked to 15 coronavirus cases. Photo / Supplied
"My wife rang the rest home this morning, and she was told all the residents were tested yesterday," he said.
"They expect to get the results of those tests today or tomorrow."
"I have to act now because several aged care facilities now have clusters of the disease and sadly a number of people have died," Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier said.
His team would now visit rest homes, interviewing management, staff, residents and some families.
CHT Healthcare Trust chief executive Max Robins earlier also confirmed the coronavirus cluster in St Margaret's.
"As with some other clusters around the country, this one includes people from both within CHT St Margaret's and also in the community, all linked by transmission," he said.
Due to the evolving situation, Robins would not provide a breakdown of who was a positive or a probable Covid-19 case, or how many people were in precautionary isolation.
He was not sure how the virus got into CHT St Margaret's.
The first positive result in the cluster was confirmed in early April, with the facility closely working with Auckland Regional Public Health Service since then.
The son of a woman living in the home said he last saw his mother shortly before the lockdown began.
Visitors were already barred from entering the rest home and so he and his children were allowed to speak to her through a window.
Since then his mother had been following news of the outbreak but was doing okay.
He claimed rest home staff did not call to tell him about the outbreak at St Margaret's, despite saying publicly they had reached out to all families.
However, he believed the staff and rest home were doing their best in the trying circumstances as they sent him photos of his mum and video messages from her.
The man also received a letter from CHT's Robins on Tuesday stating rest home staff were working with health officials.
"The Auckland Regional Public Health Service and Waitemata DHB are working very hard in collaboration with us, to provide all the resources, extra staff, PPE and support we need to continue providing the very best care for all our residents. "We are strictly following the Ministry of Health instructions for the prevention of further cases and the assessment of any residents requiring testing."
Robins said in the letter the "news may be troubling to hear" and that he knew it was hard to be separated from a loved one during the crisis.
"But please know that our entire team remains committed to providing the very best care for your loved one, while still ensuring we are protecting their health as well as our staff."
Health director-general Ashley Bloomfield today said there were 15 new coronavirus cases in New Zealand made up of six confirmed and nine probable.
Twelve people were in hospital, including three in ICU and two in a critical condition.
Four per cent of cases were now classified as "under investigation", including 23 cases since March 24.
Five of those cases were due to overseas exposure and 13 were connected to known cases.
There were no new significant clusters, however, so the total stands at 16.
