Covid 19 coronavirus: Auckland out of lockdown - Jacinda Ardern sounds warning, Professor Des Gorman criticises alert-level response

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* Covid-19: What if we never solve the infection mystery?
* Cafe owner refuses to appear in court for not displaying Covid-19 QR codes
* What you need to know about using public transport in Auckland under level 2

Staff at a South Auckland workplace where a woman tested positive for Covid-19 have all tested negative for the virus.

LSG Sky Chefs, based in Māngere, made the announcement in a statement to media just before 10.30am.

"A comprehensive test of all LSG Sky Chefs employees - conducted mainly on site by a task force from the local health authority - showed that no other member of the workforce is infected," a spokeswoman for the company said.

"All test results returned 100 per cent negative."

A health expert has blasted the Government's alert-level responses of the past week, saying people were confused over an inconsistent approach - and distressed at the "political theatre" of the Beehive announcements.

Aucklanders are waking up to more freedom today but the source of the latest outbreak, which now involves six confirmed community cases, remains unknown.

And Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is warning that although the outbreak is contained, there is "every chance" more community cases will be found.

But both she, and director general of health Ashley Bloomfield, are confident the Auckland outbreak has been "contained".

The Māngere facility for LSG Sky Chefs, near the Auckland international and domestic airports, is the workplace of a woman from the family in Papatoetoe that tested positive for Covid-19 - and resulted in Auckland going into an alert level 3 lockdown at the weekend.

However, Auckland University Professor of Medicine Des Gorman said today the Government was "all over the place" in determining the level of risk.

Asked by Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking whether the move to level 2 was the right call for Auckland, Gorman said: "It really depends upon how you view risk and what risk you're prepared to live with.

"I'd say that over the last week it's been impossible to follow the response of the Government in terms of determining what the level of risk is that they're living with.

"For example, the Ministry of Health on Saturday night decided not to tell the Government for 12 hours - for 12 hours, according to the Prime Minister - that there was an outbreak, which meant that any opportunity she had to shut down the Big Gay Out and America's Cup [on Sunday] had gone.

"You have to say that in that context, we're prepared to live with a lot of risk. And then we went to level 3, which means we're not prepared to live with any risk at all. And now we've gone to level 2, which means we're prepared to live with a modest level of risk.

"I think we're all over the place in terms of our risk acceptance.

"What's the right thing to do depends entirely on how much risk you're prepared to live with. I don't think we've sorted that basic premise out."

Gorman believed the responses were being driven by optics, not science.

"Certainly, if you take Sunday, for example, if we need to be in level 3 - and you and I would say that was a reasonable response to the unknown at the time - then how on Earth did they let the Big Gay Out and the America's Cup go ahead?

"No wonder people are anxious and when you add that political theatre we are seeing in terms of the level announcements. People are becoming quite distressed by all this and part of that is, they simply can't see any predictability to the response."

A Government spokesperson disputed Gorman comments and said the response to the Auckland community cases was consistent with the COVID-19 resurgence plan and identical to the approach taken to the Auckland August outbreak.

Daily updates, media appearances and press conferences mean the public are kept up to date with the latest health information and thinking.

There is now an understood pattern to these occurrences and the overwhelming feedback from the community is there was a high degree of certainty as to how alert level changes were rolling out.

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Auckland will stay at level 2 until Monday when Cabinet will make the call as to whether the region can move back down to level 1.

Although pleased to be able to move New Zealand's biggest city out of lockdown, Ardern was clearly not wanting to appear complacent. "I will never be comfortable with Covid-19," she said.

"There is an indescribable anxiety which comes with the daily grind of managing a pandemic and I think we all feel it. But you do learn things – you undoubtedly learn things."

She also defended the three-day lockdown against those who said it was a "false alarm".

"I think everyone would agree it was much better to have a 72-hour [lockdown] than make the wrong call and have 72 hours of a community outbreak."

But New Zealand is not completely out of the woods yet. "There is every chance we will find further cases," Ardern said.

Any of those cases, however, are expected to be linked to the current community group.

It has been revealed that one of the six new community cases works at the Cavendish Drive McDonald's outlet in South Auckland.

That outlet and four more locations of interest relating to the community cases have been released by the Ministry of Health. The new locations include two fast-food outlets, a shoe shop and an electronics store.

The new locations are:
• Subway Ōtara - 15 Feb - 12.30pm-1.30pm
• JB Hi-Fi Manukau - 14 Feb - 1.30pm-2.45pm
• Skechers Manukau - 14 Feb - 2.00pm-3.00pm
• Westfield Manukau City Mall - 14 Feb - 1.30pm-3.30pm
• McDonald's Cavendish Dr - 13 Feb -11.30am-4.15pm

The new locations join the already announced list of locations of interest relating to the Auckland cases below.

Bloomfield said he was still confirming the exact details of the situation but a spokesperson for McDonald's said the Cavendish Drive restaurant had been closed for an "immediate deep clean".

The six cases are the original family - a mother, father and daughter - and three additional cases announced yesterday - a brother and sister who attend Papatoetoe High School and a person who lives with them. They are all in isolation.

The Government had not been told of any new cases overnight, associate minister of health Ayesha Verrall said today.

The newest family group includes a mother, a son who is in Year 12 at Papatoetoe High School and his younger sister, she told Newstalk ZB.

There is a confirmed genomic link between the two families. "The genome sequencing shows there's just one mutation different which is keeping with the infection being connected with each other."

The move out of alert level 3 will come as welcome news to frustrated parents, as level 2 means schools and daycares reopen. It's also good news for businesses, as many are eligible for the Government's new business subsidy scheme.

Health experts responded to the Government's move with optimism – but one argues it's still not cautious enough.

"We still don't have any clear idea how the pandemic virus got through the border and many test results are outstanding," prominent epidemiologist Professor Nick Wilson said.

And, epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker said he'd be much more comfortable with the change if it had come with a more sophisticated approach to managing Covid-19 containment, including additional alert levels like 2.5 and 1.5.

He said those additional levels would help make things like mask use requirements clearer, better describe limits on indoor gatherings and manage movements outside of areas where there is a high risk of transmission, like in Auckland at the moment.

The alert level decision yesterday came after Bloomfield revealed testing had turned up the three new additional community cases.

One is a student who went to school with case A – the Papatoetoe student revealed on Sunday as one of the three initial community cases.

The other two were family members of the newly infected student.

Bloomfield said it was encouraging that all of the cases have clear epidemiological links.
Ardern said she wanted to stress that this was "good news".

"What this tells us is we don't have a widespread outbreak, but a small chain of transmission which is manageable by our normal contact tracing and testing procedures."

Ardern said there have been close to 23,000 tests taken since the first new community cases were discovered.

Although the vast majority of Auckland students can go back to school, Papatoetoe High School will remain closed until Monday.

When it does reopen, only students who have had a negative test result will be allowed back.

For the rest of the country, level 1 means life returns to normal. However face coverings are still required on public transport, regardless of alert level.

And there is a silver lining for Auckland businesses too – eligible firms will be able to claim the new business subsidy payment.

Any business which had experienced a 30 per cent drop in revenue because of the alert level increases is in line for a cash payment from the Government.

The payment consists of a $1500 lump sum, plus $400 per employee, up to a total of 50 full-time equivalent staff.

Level 2 rules

Alert level 2 is obviously not as heavy-handed as level 3 - but there are still restrictions to be aware of.

• No more than 100 people at social gatherings, including weddings, birthdays, funerals and tangihanga.

• Businesses can open, but they legally must follow public health rules. These include physical distancing and record keeping.

• Alternative ways of working are encouraged where possible.

• Talk with your staff to identify risks and ways to manage them.

• Ask everyone — workers, contractors and customers — with cold, flu or Covid-19 symptoms to stay away from your premises.

• Keep workers one metre apart and customers in retail businesses two metres apart.

• Businesses are legally required to display a QR code and provide an alternative contact tracing system.

• Face coverings are strongly encouraged if you are in close contact with others.

• Reduce the number of shared surfaces, and regularly disinfect them. Wash your hands.