KK Cafe & Bakery and the Bakehouse Cafe in this block of shops in Leith Place in Tokoroa have been named as places of interest after a Covid-19 positive person visited last week. Photo / Google Street View
KK Cafe & Bakery and the Bakehouse Cafe in this block of shops in Leith Place in Tokoroa have been named as places of interest after a Covid-19 positive person visited last week. Photo / Google Street View
Two Tokoroa bakeries on Leith Place have been listed as locations of interest because the ministry is unsure which one they went to.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Health revealed the person who tested positive for Covid-19 after boarding a flight from Rotorua Airport last week spent the night in Tokoroa before flying.
Last night, The Bakehouse Cafe and KK Bakery & Cafe were named as locations of interest.
Those at either cafe between 5.15am and 6am on October 21 are urged to self-monitor for symptoms for 14 days after being there. If symptoms develop they should get tested and stay home until a negative test result and 24 hours after symptoms resolve.
She and her staff were all fully vaccinated and followed the ministry's instructions to get tested.
Eng said the cafe was still open and were now strictly enforcing scanning in, mask-wearing and sanitising.
Now they were waiting to hear more information about the situation and she hoped the bakery would not need to shut.
KK Bakery & Cafe's owner, who only want to be known as Lee, said he wanted to urge the public to not abuse either cafe or the staff.
"We are trying our best, and we have done our best. We've all done our bit, it's just these little things that pop us everywhere."
He said the situation was a "scare, and it's more frustrating ... as long as there's no abuse to both bakeries and the staff".
The fully vaccinated team was tested and was well, and was told by the ministry it could remain open.
They were told by the ministry this was due to the low-risk case, the quick time in the cafe, and that no one had developed symptoms in the five days since.
A person with Covid-19 flew through Rotorua Airport last Thursday. Photo / NZME
Rotorua Airport was added as a location of interest over the weekend after a person who flew to Blenheim via Wellington tested positive for the virus. The person was unvaccinated.
The case was on Flight NZ8231 Rotorua to Wellington on Thursday and was believed to be linked to the Te Awamutu cluster.
Those at the airport between 4pm and 5pm on Wednesday, October 20, and between 6.30am and 7.15am on Thursday, October 21, are asked to self-monitor for symptoms for 14 days. If symptoms develop they should get tested and stay home until a negative test result and 24 hours after symptoms resolve.
The Rotorua Daily Post has asked the Ministry of Health why it was unclear which bakery the person went into and whether they had been scanning into places.
The ministry did not answer questions about whether the person was given an exemption to cross the level 3 border.
A ministry spokesman said the two bakeries are in close proximity and it was not possible to confirm which of the two was visited.
This prompted Waikato health officials to identify both as locations of interest, "out of an abundance of caution".
"The advice for people who were at these locations of interest is based on a public health assessment of the risk of transmission, including how long the individual may have spent at the location, the likely infectiousness of the individual at the time, and other factors.
Nelson Marlborough public health officials have found the individual case and their close contacts helpful in establishing movements in, or en route to, Blenheim and in identifying any further locations of interest, he said.
Any further locations of interest identified will proactively be published online and people living in Tokoroa and Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough, in particular, are asked to monitor this.
