A resident at Aura Apartments on Cook St believes residents have a right to know if people near them are isolating at home with Covid. Photo / Michael Craig
A resident at Aura Apartments on Cook St believes residents have a right to know if people near them are isolating at home with Covid. Photo / Michael Craig
A man living in a large inner-city Auckland apartment block is horrified he wasn't told he had Covid-infected neighbours isolating next door, saying the secrecy is putting everyone else at risk.
But the Aura Apartments building managers said they had advised everyone in the building some residents had caught Covid and it was following all Ministry of Health guidelines.
However, Ian Loan said he only learned on Wednesday his neighbours in the apartment next door had Covid after the building managers accidentally copied him into an email.
The managers had asked security to deliver food to the neighbours because they were in isolation and couldn't leave.
When Loan asked the property management firm Active Building Management why he hadn't been told - especially since the two Cook St apartments share a small corridor, which they both vent into - the firm cited privacy issues.
A QR code and notice prohibiting visitors during level 3 are on display at the entrance of Aura Apartments. Photo / Michael Craig
The managers told the Herald they put signs up on Tuesday night alerting residents there had been cases in the building.
But Loan said these were generic signs for the whole complex.
He believed extra notice should be given to those living in direct proximity to Covid cases, warning them they were near and should take extra precautions.
"It's crazy. A little bit of communication is not breaking people's privacy, so we can protect ourselves. What's wrong with that," he said.
"We are potentially walking into airborne particles from Covid coming from the next door apartment."
Loan also contacted Healthline, but workers there said they could not give out details of individual Covid cases because of privacy.
He said it was "morally wrong" residents were not being told.
Hiding behind the Privacy Act put other residents at risk, Loan said.
While it was fine for the Ministry of Health to allow people to isolate at home, he said apartment buildings added another layer of risk and a plan was needed to prevent transmission in these places.
"If this all goes off in this building with 600 people, we all use two lifts... the potential for us all to go down is huge," he said.
He said it felt like the ministry cared little about preventing further Covid transmission, now the nation had moved away from its elimination strategy.
The Aura Apartments building manager confirmed to the Herald a Covid-positive resident was self-isolating and it had arranged a food delivery for them.
It said the Ministry of Health had advised them not to disclose information about the infected resident for privacy reasons.
Notices were posted in the common area and in everyone's letterboxes on Sunday.
The next day the manager learned another resident had tested positive, before the ministry confirmed an additional two cases.
Notices were then posted in the building on Tuesday night to update residents.
"I believe we have acted as quickly as possible in communicating this with residents. We have not specified apartment numbers to protect the privacy of the Covid-positive cases, which follows the guidance provided by the MoH," the manager said.
Staff sanitised all touch points multiple times a day and hand-sanitising stations were placed around the building. Residents were urged to enforce the "one bubble per lift policy".
The Ministry of Health said it remained focused on minimising the spread and impact of Covid-19 in New Zealand and with every positive case it always considered whether it was safe for the person to isolate at home.
"Those living in apartments can isolate safely at home as part of this model," it said.
"They are given appropriate wraparound care to meet their health and social needs, including checks from a community health team to monitor symptoms and ensure they have essential items."
Health teams then worked with building managers to notify other residents.
It said where the risk to "other residents is non-existent or low" then no extra notice beyond emails, texts or letters alerting all residents to the presence of a Covid case is needed.
"These residents should follow the advice to everyone living in Auckland, including watching for symptoms and getting tested and isolating if any develop," it said.
