Editorial: 'System' is creaking, and Hawke's Bay might pay

Ashley Bloomfield's admission of a "system failure" is cold comfort for Hawke's Bay. Photo / NZME

OPINION:
Delta has dawned in Hawke's Bay, accompanied here in a bubble of administrative incompetence.

Some perspective to start - Covid was always coming, and Auckland's border reopening in mid-December meant it was always a month away at best anyway.

That extra month without the stress would be nice to have, though.

A Covid case seems to have arrived in Napier from Auckland on Sunday, November 14 after taking a test earlier in the day.

If you think we should throw a tonne of bricks on this man for bringing the virus to the region, forget it.

Catching Covid could happen to any of us, and he is currently fighting a battle against a disease that can be deadly when it finds the right person.

But what is needed is a hard look at the Ministry of Health's actions.

It seems to be creaking under the strain of NZ's outbreaks, and Hawke's Bay could be the next region to pay.

The director general of health Ashley Bloomfield noted in a post-Cabinet press conference on Monday that it was a "system failure" that meant the Covid-positive was sitting in Hawke's Bay with Covid, potentially for up to six days, without Hawke's Bay District Health Board knowing.

"This person was tested in Auckland and then travelled from Auckland down to Hawke's Bay," Bloomfield said.

"When the positive test was notified by the lab and the person was notified and isolated they were in Hawke's Bay by that time."

At least the timing of the Covid case's Big Barrel visit hasn't flip-flopped around. Photo / NZME

He said Healthline had then taken over the man's ongoing care and was making daily phone calls, but their callers had assumed the man was still in Auckland and failed to notify the DHB.

"This was just something the system should have notified the public health unit.

''It didn't and we've followed up to make sure the system will do that in the future," Bloomfield said.

"We now have a flag for them to notify the public health unit."

That's appreciated, but it's cold comfort for Hawke's Bay which now has a situation where we have two locations of interest from eight days ago, and every day counts with Delta.

That was then immediately followed by the bumbling of the dates of the two (just two) locations of interest that Hawke's Bay does have.

They were first released on Monday evening, 6pm, by Hawke's Bay DHB and the Ministry of Health. The problem is, their dates were different.

MOH changed their date to reflect the DHB's date. But as it did that the DHB was calling Paper Plus to tell them it had got it wrong and the date was November 15.

The DHB then sent out a public release stating that November 15 was the correct date and apologising for the incorrect information it had sent out on Monday.

MOH's website then changed quickly after the DHB statement, but not immediately, from November 16 to November 15.

There's very few words to describe how frustrating this is, because there are only two locations of interest in Hawke's Bay.

A mistake with the first of what could be many in coming months is an inauspicious start.

The public would have forgiven DHB or MOH administrative staff for having a bob each way by saying it could be either November 15 or November 16, but in future they won't forgive inaccurate information being circulated.

If you haven't already, take a deep breath, cross your fingers, and get vaccinated.