Queenstown implements Covid-19 measures as gastro cases climb

The boil water notice for many Queenstown and Frankton neighbourhoods issued early on Monday evening by Queenstown Lakes District Council remains in place and supermarket shelves are being stripped of bottled water.

The edict was introduced after Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand National Public Health Service Southern confirmed an initial eight cases of the gastro illness caused by the protozoan.

A further seven cases were reported yesterday.

QLDC property and infrastructure general manager Tony Avery said there was nothing to link the disease with the town’s water supply, but the council was continuing to test water supplies and liaise with health authorities.

“Because we’ve now got 15 cases — and that’s unusual — the advice from Public Health is that we need to take a precautionary approach.

“We can’t prove that it’s not the water supply, but we can’t find any obvious link.”

Earlier indications pointed to the water supply at Fernhill-Sunshine Bay being a potential source.

Chef Kshitij Zungare tends to pots of water being boiled for guests and staff of Hotel St Moritz, in Queenstown. Photo / Matt Porter

“The council increased the frequency of its testing on Friday, September 8, following reports of people living in Fernhill feeling unwell.

“This monitoring tests for indicators of contamination via the presence of E. coli or total coliforms, and also checks residual chlorine levels.

“All results to date have been, and continue to be, normal,” Avery said.

“Additional testing for crypto in the water supply has been in place following the confirmed cases.”

He said raw water sources would be tested daily.

“Results take about three days, and we will update the community as soon as we’re able.”

NPHS Southern is continuing to trace the source of the cases to establish if they are linked, he said.

Fernhill resident Bethany Rogers isn’t convinced her water is safe to drink.

“Everybody is pretty frustrated,” she told the Herald.

“I’m not saying it’s the council’s fault, you wouldn’t normally test for [cryptosporidium], but people flagged this in early September, and nearly three weeks later everybody is like, ‘Oh, we were all right’ - it’s pretty serious.”

Rogers, a swimmer, became quite unwell for several days after doing laps at the start of the month.

Initially, she assumed it was a gastro bug, but the illness continued to return.

“I jumped online to chat with neighbours, and everybody was like, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve had it too, and the kids have it’,” she said.

“I’ve been up and down for two weeks, but some of my friends are pregnant or have young kids - these kinds of things can be quite serious for people like that.”

Queenstown Medical Centre chief executive Ashley Light said he had not seen a large spike in gastro bugs at the clinic.

“Fifteen cases out of a population of 35,000, it’s quite a small [percentage]. We wouldn’t call that a spike.

“We haven’t yet been asked by Public Health to do any lab testing.

“It’s a very uncertain, unclear situation.”

Hotel St Moritz general manager Jo Finnigan said she put her 134-room establishment into “Covid-mode” from Monday night.

“We were spinning on a dime communicating to guests in-house and informing them as quickly as we could of the situation,” Finnigan said.

Within an hour, the hotel had shut down any direct use of town supply water in its restaurant and bar and deployed large pots to boil as much water as possible, she said.

Queenstown Primary School principal Fiona Cavanagh sent an email to all parents and staff on Monday night informing them water fountains at the school would be shut down and asking for children to bring boiled water to school.

Cavanagh was at the supermarket at 7.30am yesterday buying bottled water.

“I had to buy flavoured water because the rest of the water had all gone.”

With 670 pupils and more than 50 teaching staff, supplying them with fresh water is “going to be a huge task”, she said.

Three days of the term remain, and a decision on whether the school remains open sits with its board of trustees, she said.

Foodstuffs spokeswoman Emma Wooster said there were enough supplies of bottled water.

“We’re replenishing bottled water to our stores in the area, and more stock will be available to customers as soon as possible.”

matt.porter@odt.co.nz.

Affected areas

• Queenstown town centre (north along Gorge Rd, including Industrial Pl).
• Queenstown Hill.
• Frankton Rd and suburbs on the hill above Frankton Rd.
• Fernhill and Sunshine Bay.
• Frankton including Five Mile, Remarkables Park and Glenda Dr.
• Quail Rise and Tucker Beach Rd.
• Kelvin Heights.
• Hanley’s Farm.