Covid 19 Delta outbreak: Two Nelson schools closed after staff test positive

Health authorities say it's possible to "get around" the two Covid-19 cases at separate schools through contact tracing and isolation.

The cases at Enner Glynn School and Broadgreen Intermediate were announced yesterday evening.

Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said they were isolated cases seeded into Nelson which made it possible to get around them with contact tracing and isolation.

He said Nelson also had a high vaccination rate of 85 per cent.

The Nelson-Marlborough DHB will front a press conference at about 2pm today to discuss the cases.

Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese said contact tracing is now more important than ever.

"I really want to emphasise how important that contact tracing is, people need to be looking at those locations of interest and making sure that if they have been there they make contact with the Ministry of Health.

She said she thinks the community is anxious.

"They knew we were going to have Covid in our community at some point. The support is there, the most important thing is that we just keep talking.

"I know that Nelson's vaccination rate has been good but we are really encouraging anyway who hasn't started or completed their vaccination programme to get out and get vaccinated," she said.

Reece said she is confident Nelson will still start in orange under the traffic light system.

The two schools will close today after staff members returned a positive Covid-19 test result.

In a post to Facebook, Enner Glynn School board chairwoman Lisa Charles said a member of staff tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday and was infectious while at school on Monday.

"We are now required to undertake a contact tracing process to determine close contacts with this staff member."

Charles said the school will be in touch with families today to let them know what level of contact their child has had with this case.

Broadgreen Intermediate will also be closed after a staff member has tested positive for Covid-19.

In a post to Facebook, principal Pete Mitchener said the staff member was infectious from November 23 and was at school.

"A number of people are possibly 'close contacts' and will need to get tested immediately and self-isolate at home."

Mitchener said families will be told if their child is considered a close contact.

Yesterday there were 146 new cases. The new case in Nelson is in addition to yesterday's three but added to the tally today, Bloomfield said.

The first case in Nelson was someone who had symptoms for a "wee while", so there was a period of time that they were infectious in the community.

Genome sequencing will determine how they got infected. There was another person not associated with the first case - from yesterday - who wasn't linked and they were following that up. That person had workplace and household contacts that were isolating.

Seido Karate, in Blenheim, has also confirmed it will be closed on Thursday after a close contact visited its dojo on Friday.

A student that was at the Nelson dojo on Friday, Saturday and Monday has been identified as a close contact of a positive Covid-19 case.

"Twelve Blenheim students were at the grading in Nelson on Saturday, so as a precaution we have been advised to close the dojo until the test results are back."