August 17 2021
Auckland and Coromandel will go into level 4 lockdown for seven days – and the rest of the country for three days – from 11.59pm tonight.
Rotorua's mayor has urged residents not to panic after the announcement New Zealand was going into lockdown after a Covid-19 community case was identified in Auckland.
Auckland and Coromandel will go into level 4 lockdown for seven days – and the rest of the country including Rotorua for three days.
A near empty Fenton St in Rotorua on Wednesday morning. The country went into Level 4 lockdown at midnight. Photo / Ben Fraser
Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said the Covid-positive Auckland case was a 58-year-old man from Devonport, and there was no obvious link between him and the border at this stage.
Bloomfield said the man, who was considered to have become infectious on August 12, travelled to Coromandel township on Friday and stayed the weekend.
Locations of interest had been identified there, he said.
Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick said there was no need to panic.
Her advice was to "remain vigilant" given the close proximity the region has with the Coromandel Peninsula.
"I think it is very good that we have gone high and hard. I thought it might've been around Auckland but it is quite right. STORY CONTINUES AFTER BLOG
STORY CONTINUES "We all just have to remember not to panic and it shows very much the importance of the Covid-19 app tracer.''
Chadwick said the community had to deal with this outbreak as if it was the highly contagious Delta variant.
Chamber of Commerce Rotorua chief executive Bryce Heard was happy the Government was "erring on the side of caution".
"I would much rather a short, sharp response than a long lingering one," he said.
At the time of the print deadline, Heard also said he was still waiting to hear the details of the economic response package the government had said was available.
Rotorua MP Todd McClay. Photo / NZME
Rotorua National MP Todd McClay said the situation was extremely concerning for the whole country.
"It is going to affect Rotorua significantly, economically. If it is only for three days that harm is not as much as last time but we must see in a couple of days.
"Rotorua is more than a tourist town. As people are locked away and businesses can't open, they will be concerned and worried about debt - the answer is that New Zealand will get through this.''
McClay reminded those to check in with their loved ones for the psychological and mental health of those who will be affected most.
Rotorua Moteliers Association chairman and owner of the Arista of Rotorua motel and Capri on Fenton, Mike Gallagher said moteliers were going to have a busy day today cancelling bookings.
"No doubt many of them will have thousands of dollars worth of cancellations but overall I think the accommodation sector has had a good run.
"A good clusters of motels have been doing emergency housing and that has caused good overflow to motels that haven't been doing it.
Gallagher's biggest concern was tourist attractions and the hospitality industry which had been "hit really hard" and still struggling as a result of the pandemic.
Hospitality NZ Bay of Plenty regional manager was not able to comment.
However, chief executive Julie White said this was yet another blow for sector businesses.
"This will be another big blow for struggling businesses, though they're not the only ones, and we know it's necessary.
"Hospitality New Zealand met with our counterparts in Australia last week, so we know first-hand just how dire things are there as they deal with the Delta variant, and we want to avoid that.
"So there's no alternative but to go into Level 4, however much that's going to hurt.'' "As a whole, we will be okay," White said.
Te Arawa Lakes Trust chairman Sir Toby Curtis. Photo / NZME
Te Arawa Lakes Trust chairman Sir Toby Curtis said he believed the Prime Minister and her cabinet had made the right decision, particularly given it was assumed the positive Covid-19 community case was the highly contagious Delta variant.
"I am quite confident the Prime Minister and her cabinet have played their cards very safely for the protection of the whole country.
"I think the country will support the Government taking this brave step, and we all need to support this decision and take the lockdown rules very seriously,'' Sir Toby said.
Te Arawa Covid-19 Responses hub kaumatua Monty Morrison said he also fully backed the Prime Minister and her cabinet for making this wise decision.
"Firstly, we know it was going to happen, it just a question of when,'' he said.
" It's vital that everyone follows the health messages being promulgated and we work together to ensure we can get through this lockdown as we have done before.''
Supermarkets were busy even before the lockdown was confirmed.
In Rotorua, a shopper at New World described the scene as "manic".
"It was really busy in the car park. Inside it was busy but not absolutely crazy. There were lots of people going around getting heaps and heaps of toilet paper.
"One woman bellowed out 'stocking up for the lockdown'.''
Coromandel link "unsettling"
Thames-Coromandel District mayor Sandra Goudie said the news of the region's link to the positive case was "unsettling".
"They will be dreading the discovery of any great infection spread because of the potential consequences of lockdown going forward."
But she expected locals to "hunker down" and do what they need to do to get through.
Support was in place for businesses that were locations of interest, and they were encouraged to contact their local area officer for support.
"This is a government decision, so we just need to get on with it and make sure that we support each other through it."
Thames-Coromandel District Mayor Sandra Goudie. Photo / File
Star and Garter Hotel manager Mariya Kravchenko said the business closed their doors for the evening after they found out about being a location of interest.
She said the bar was "quite busy" over the weekend and she hoped visitors had been scanning in. She guessed there would have been about 70 to 80 people on each night.
"Everyone just has to take care of themselves. We should all have been doing everything property like scanning in."
Karam Singh is the manager of the BP Gas Station on Tiki Rd, Coromandel, and said the sole staff member working the day of the visit from the positive case was now at home isolating.
"We are checking everything, we will follow all the procedures of what we have to do.
"There are many people who come to the gas station, there are so many old people who come to the gas station. We can't remember each person. But we'll check the cameras to see what time they came in, now that we have a proper time frame.
"We are with the community, you know it is a problem for all of us. So we'll do our part to be safe and strong."
UMU Restaurant and Cafe owner Josie Fraser said the staff members who were working when the infected man was inside the premise had been instructed to self-isolate and get tested.
"We are now emptying the fridges and we will be leaving here."
Level 4 Rules - Everyone in New Zealand is to be isolated or quarantined at their current place of residence except as permitted for essential personal movement. - Exercise is to be done in an outdoor place that can be readily accessed from home and two-metre physical distancing must be maintained. - Recreation and exercise does not involve swimming, water-based activities (for example, surfing or boating), hunting, tramping, or other activities of a kind that expose participants to danger or may require search and rescue services. - A child can leave the residence of one joint caregiver to visit or stay at the residence of another joint caregiver (and visit or stay at that residence) if there is a shared bubble arrangement. - A person can leave their residence to visit or stay at another residence (and visit or stay at that residence) under a shared bubble arrangement if: One person lives alone in one, or both, of those residences; or Everyone in one of those residences is a vulnerable person. Source — Ministry of Health NZ
