“People with symptoms should stay home and follow the advice from their GP or Healthline, said Dr Meuli.
“From today there was an increased capacity for testing but people may still need to be patient while awaiting a test.
“If they are more unwell or concerned about their health they should re-contact their GP.
“Those who have travelled out of the region but do not have any symptoms do not need to be tested currently.”
Hauora Tairawhiti medical officer of health Dr Osman Mansoor said it was great see the community response.
“People want to make sure they don’t have the virus. The expectation is that we will soon be able to meet demand for timely testing. Please bear with us as we scale up.
“From today extra staff have been redeployed to enable more testing to be done.
Over the last few weeks, an average of 25 people a day have been swabbed in Tairawhiti.
“Yesterday, 120 people were swabbed in Tairawhiti and another 187 (as at 9am this morning) have been referred for testing,” said Dr Mansoor.
The sudden increase in demand has meant health services are quickly adapting to ensure everyone that needs a Covid test will get one.
“Healthcare workers are working as hard as they can to make sure that people who are sick can be seen and tested if required. There may be a delay to test everyone. That is why it is important that people who are sick stay home. Please keep calm and be patient.”
Dr Meuli said people with potential Covid-19 symptoms, such as cough, breathlessness, sore throat, runny nose, loss of taste or smell, should phone their GP.
“Please don’t just turn up. They will make a phone assessment and if testing is indicated, this will be arranged either in practice, or by referral to the nurse swabbing service.
“It is particularly important that anyone who has travelled out of the region and has symptoms is tested.”
Hauora Tairawhiti acting chief executive Lynsey Bartlett said no health services had been delayed or deferred after yesterday’s move to Level 2.
“If you have an appointment or surgery at Gisborne Hospital, presume it is going ahead unless you are contacted.
“For anyone visiting Gisborne Hospital, extra measures have been put back in place to keep everyone safe.
“All people will be screened at the entrances. Visiting hours are limited to 2pm to 5pm. A maximum of one visitor per patient is allowed at any one time.”
News of the Covid-19-positive family members’ visit to Rotorua sparked concerns across Gisborne-focused social media that they might have visited the Amazing Dinosaur Discovery interactive event, which is now in Gisborne.
However, those concerns were swiftly allayed by event spokeswoman Jeni Hou.
“The Covid family were there last weekend — three weeks after our event left Rotorua.”
Last weekend, 1500 people attended the Amazing Dinosaur Discovery in Gisborne. It is here for three more weekends.
“We are waiting for the updates from the Government. If we stay at Level 2, we will operate under the Government guidelines with the restricted number of 100 per session.”
In Gisborne, the message to wear masks if possible was adhered to with masks selling out at a host of places.
“We sold out of masks just before midday and we sold a lot of vegetable seedlings as well,” Mitre 10 Gisborne owner Geoff Taylor said. “We have more masks arriving later this week.
“We were surprised by the number of customers who thought all stores were closing at midday yesterday so there appears to be some confusion out there about what Level 2 means.”
With Aucklanders barred from leaving the Super City boundaries due to Level 3 restrictions, fears the struggling hospitality and tourism industries could face another blow are so far unfounded.
Hospitality NZ regional manager Alan Sciascia however, likened the situation to a moving feast.
“The sudden nature of Tuesday’s announcement has come as a surprise to everyone and businesses are still working out the various implications involved.
“For bars and restaurants it’s back to the three S’s —meaning that customers must be seated, separated and served by a single server (wherever practicable). Also they must again keep details of all customers and staff who enter the premises
“For accommodation providers, we are receiving reports of significant cancellations from various regions around the country, though no such reports yet from Gisborne.
The Gisborne Holdings Ltd-owned Waikanae Beach Top 10 Holiday Park seemed to be in good stead.
“We have seen minimal cancellations at this stage,” GHL commercial operation general manager Jeremy Raymond said.
■ Gisborne police are monitoring the social distancing provisions of the Level 2 restrictions and have been happy with public behaviour.
Officers are doing “reassurance patrolling” work at supermarkets and licensed premises and have been taking an “educational” approach in regards to compliance.
“We have also been there to support supermarket staff when it comes to panic buying but to date the shopping behaviour has been mostly normal in the district,” a police spokesman said.
Police have also been visiting bars and other licensed premises.
“Under Alert Level 2 bar patrons have to be seated. So far the compliance around that has been very good, too.”
