NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Covid 19 Coronavirus: Man behind the vicious managed isolation breach rumour speaks

NZ Herald
18 Aug, 2020 02:08 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

There are 13 new Covid cases in the community, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says. Twelve are linked to the current cluster and one remains under investigation but is believed to be linked.

The man behind a malicious online rumour about the origins of Covid-19's return to New Zealand admits they are awaiting a visit from cops.

He had claimed that a member of the family at the centre of the new cluster had supposedly entered a managed isolation facility.

In a detailed account of how the rumour started, film-maker David Farrier has published a conversation with the man behind the debunked conspiracy claims that led Government ministers and the country's top health official to publicly denounce the fictitious claims.

The man, who works in international development and aid, says he is incredibly remorseful and ruing the three minutes it took to compose and post the harmful rumour.

"I made a poor decision to put that in writing on Reddit," he told journalist Dylan Reeve in a transcript published on www.Webworm.co.

"After I deleted the post, I was wondering about the 2015 Harmful Digital Communications Act. So I am half expecting to see if I am going to get called up there ...

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"To be honest I may be hung out to dry, and it may be fully justified for the police to put me up under the act.

"I would almost rather the police charge me, and I can do the proper reparations.

"I will take the consequences, because honestly it's one of the worst things I 've ever done, articulating that, " adding what he did was inexcusable.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In a text to Reeve published after the interview he wrote: "If the police contact you about me, then send them my way, I want to make it right with the family in whatever way I can."

He said he would be willing to pay the family at the centre of the rumour as much as he could afford to compensate for the distress he has caused because of the baseless rumour.

The man, who has posted on Reddit for the past nine years, said he had been in a fight-or-flight mode for the last 48 hours.

"I just realised how bad it was on Saturday, which is when I went in and tried to clean up as much as I could, but by then it's got a life of its own."

The man said he thought the rumour was legitimate at the time as he had army friends involved in isolation facility security.

Discover more

New Zealand

What is a significant Covid 19 cluster?

17 Aug 11:22 PM
New Zealand

Managed isolation hotel worker tests positive for Covid-19, not linked to cluster

18 Aug 12:33 AM
New Zealand|politics

'Patently wrong' Don: PM shoots down Trump's NZ Covid claim

18 Aug 02:56 AM
New Zealand

Think you know who's most vulnerable to conspiracy theories? You may be wrong

18 Aug 08:17 AM

However, he believed after chatting with people at his work he had a second source that confirmed his version an isolation breach at the heart of the latest outbreak.

"And that was why I put it down there in a bullet-pointed list, and people could see that and go, 'Oh, there was a guy in ...' he told Reeve.

"It was like I had perfected this message of self-destruction without even realising it."

Finally, please be cautious about the information you are getting about COVID-19 on social media. We need all hands on deck to beat the virus. Rumours are designed to create panic, fear and confusion. Please think twice before sharing unverified information.

— Unite against COVID-19 (@covid19nz) August 16, 2020

But he said when hate groups started republishing the rumour he knew it was out of control.

He said he had deleted the post before the end of the day and was horrified where it went online but ready to face the consequences of his actions.

Health Minister Chris Hipkins said in a press conference on Saturday that people should not believe everything on social media.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The Covid-19 response team then tweeted: "We've heard reports of a rumour that the current cluster is linked to someone entering one of our managed isolation facilities.

"There is no evidence to support this. We ask people to stop circulating those rumours as they are counter-productive to our efforts against Covid-19."

This morning Farrier told the Herald he hoped sharing the transcript could help people better understand better how conspiracy theories spread and the victims they leave in their wake.

"This recent piece demonstrates the origins of the conspiracy theory we all saw shared en masse on social media over the weekend.

"It's my hope that if people can see the origin of what turned into deeply racist posts, people will learn to be less quick to share and boost these bad ideas.

"People are suffering from brain worms at the moment, and we have to treat that!"

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Today police were assessing information relating to these rumours which were peddled on social media over the weekend.

A police spokesperson said that included taking into account the views of the individual who was at the centre of the false information.

She and the family just wanted "to move on from this matter" as they focused on their health and wellbeing.

Police would be making a further assessment as a result of the news published today to see if any further investigative steps were required, said the spokesperson.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

'A let-down': Iwi challenges DoC, minister over ski field deals

18 Jun 09:18 AM
New Zealand

Police investigating after body found in Christchurch carpark

18 Jun 09:17 AM
New Zealand

Numbers revealed for tonight's $25m Powerball jackpot

18 Jun 08:23 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

'A let-down': Iwi challenges DoC, minister over ski field deals

'A let-down': Iwi challenges DoC, minister over ski field deals

18 Jun 09:18 AM

They allege the Crown ignored Treaty obligations by not engaging with them.

Police investigating after body found in Christchurch carpark

Police investigating after body found in Christchurch carpark

18 Jun 09:17 AM
Numbers revealed for tonight's $25m Powerball jackpot

Numbers revealed for tonight's $25m Powerball jackpot

18 Jun 08:23 AM
Premium
Has Tory Whanau's experience put women off running for mayor?

Has Tory Whanau's experience put women off running for mayor?

18 Jun 07:26 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP