The A-Z Collection store on High Street where a worker has tested positive for Covid-19. Photo / Dean Purcell.
The A-Z Collection store on High Street where a worker has tested positive for Covid-19. Photo / Dean Purcell.
Tenants at a city apartment block where a person has tested positive for Covid-19 say residents earlier mixed with people staying at a neighbouring managed isolation hotel after a fire alarm this week.
The Ministry of Health today confirmed a resident at the Vincent Residences on Vincent St in innercity Auckland had tested positive for Covid.
The apartment block was also located next door to the managed isolation facility at the Grand Millenium hotel where a fire alarm forced guests to spill out onto Vincent St on Monday evening.
Residents Alex Holmes and Taituha Netana-Patrick said they saw people from the Grand Millenium mingling with tenants from the Vincent Residences.
A woman who recently tested positive to Covid-19 lived at the Vincent Residences at 106 Vincent St. Photo / Supplied
Holmes claimed fencing at the Grand Millenium was opened, allowing the guests to spill out onto the footpath with some gathering close to the front of the Vincent Residences.
"I think the other night when the Millenium Hotel got evacuated probably the case came from there," Holmes said.
However, Director of Public Health Caroline McElnay said at a press conference about the positive case that the fire alarm was unlikely the source of infection of the woman.
That was because the woman began displaying symptoms before the alarm went off, she said.
"We are aware of media reports around a fire alarm at the managed isolation facility at the Grand Millennium that saw returnees on the street near today's case's accommodation," McElnay said.
"The fire alarm was 8pm on Monday 9 November. This is not likely to be a source of infection for this case."
Air Commodore Darryn Webb - the head of Managed Isolation and Quarantine, also said he was confident the isolation facility's integrity was not compromised during the fire alarm.
He disputed claims that those in managed isolation had "freely mixed and mingled" with members of the public.
MIQ staff and hotel security had worked in conjunction with police to ensure all guests evacuated the premises safely and were contained in the identified assembly areas outside the hotel, he said.
"The safety of our staff and returnees is our top priority to ultimately ensure the safety of our community," Webb said.
"Throughout the situation, NZDF staff, wearing high visibility vests, assisted hotel security and MIQ staff in cordoning all guests in the allocated assembly areas. Guests were continuously monitored and contained. Staff ensured returnees were social distancing, face coverings were worn and that bubbles were maintained."
All MIQ facilities operated in an alert level 4 environment, Webb said.
"In evacuation situations where guests need to come outside strict infection prevention controls, developed by the Ministry of Health, are followed to manage the risks of spreading Covid-19. These protocols include use of PPE and masks and physical distancing rules."
Auckland remained at alert level 1 but authorities were unsure how the recent positive case caught Covid-19.
The person, a woman aged between 20 and 29, became symptomatic on the morning of November 9 and was tested on the 10th.
The positive test was confirmed this morning and the woman has been moved to quarantine today.
Health officials are going through the woman's movements to contact trace and try to ascertain the source of the infection.
The woman lives alone, has limited community outings and is a student at AUT and hasn't been to classes since mid-October so there isn't a concern of transmission on campus.
She works at the A-Z Collections store in High St.
Bloomfield said he didn't want to pass judgment on the woman who got the test but then didn't stay home and didn't have information on whether she was advised to stay home.
There is no review of alert level settings at this stage, said Bloomfield.
Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield said health officials were "urgently working" to work out where the woman was infected and doing genome testing.
Holmes said he only heard about the positive case at the Vincent Residences when told by media.
"We could potentially get isolated now because of that, which isn't fair on us," he said.
"I'm kind of annoyed, rent here is expensive so we need our job to support ourselves"
Raquel Ortega, a student at the University of Auckland, only moved into the Vincent Residences one week ago.
She had been called by her husband, who asked her to come home.
She was heading off to get tested and then planned to stay at home, she said.
"For sure, I'll stay at home until I get the results negative," she said.
Connor Chambers said he had just popped out from his apartment for a coffee, only to return to see media cameras and find out there had been a positive case in the complex.
He said there were 15 stores at the complex and potentially 16 apartments on each floor.
There was a shared gym, sauna and swimming pool in the building.
"Fortunately I haven't used that in the past week," he said.
He said it was concerning to hear about the case but he feared more for the elderly residents, saying many were migrants.
He had also called his girlfriend who worked with older colleagues and advised that she should probably come home until they knew more about what had happened.
He was going to try and contact his building manager, he said.
