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National suggests locking down suburbs to contain Covid-19

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 10 Sep 2020, 9:44AM
Shane Reti. (Photo / NZ Herald)
Shane Reti. (Photo / NZ Herald)

National suggests locking down suburbs to contain Covid-19

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 10 Sep 2020, 9:44AM

National's floating the idea of lockdowns by suburb - not regions.

Four of yesterday's six new cases of Covid-19, are linked to a sub-cluster which has spread from the Mt Roskill's Evangelical Fellowship Church mini-cluster.

National health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti says setting rules for certain suburbs should be considered.

He told Newstalk ZB's Kate Hawkesby strict rules within a suburb aren't foreign - it's how we dealt with fruit flies - but it would be more intense.

"I thinkwe need to consider what would happen if we pulled down a suburb and said there are special rules here." 

Reti is suggesting increasing the number of community healthcare workers dealing with Covid.

He says he knows local primary care workers are very busy, but he thinks "good things" will happen if there's trust between workers and the community.

"If we bring back some of our primary care nurses who might not be rostered on certain days, or who recently retired, take that level of trust closer to the community, and I think good things will happen." 

Reti is "uncertain" the further spread from the church mini-cluster could have been avoided. "Hard to say, you know, if we were all as compliant as we could be with the regulations if this would have happened."

 

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