Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation co-chairman Dr Luke Bradford said the country was in the twilight-zone waiting for an outbreak. Photo / File
Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation co-chairman Dr Luke Bradford said the country was in the twilight-zone waiting for an outbreak. Photo / File
Medical centres are bracing for an onslaught of patients as coronavirus continues to spread around the world, forcing event cancellations to be considered.
One centre in Whangamata has told the Ministry of Health it won't be able to cope in the event of a local outbreak, but a Tauranga doctoris feeling confident in his centre's ability to manage.
The Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation co-chair and 5th Avenue Family Practice GP Luke Bradford said the country was in the "twilight zone" of waiting for Covid-19 to arrive in force.
"If it does come and it really starts spreading through the community then we will have centres for assessment, which is separate from surgery.
If Covid-19 does outbreak in New Zealand and settles Dr Bradford said, then designated treatment and management centres would most likely be established.
"The planning as we go forward is to keep the patients separate so that business as usual, routine health care will be managed in a place and those presenting with [Covid-19] symptoms will be assessed in another."
He said if the virus established in the community the communication on what to do would be clear, "but we are still at the point that we are planning that".
He said the Ministry of Health had rural communities at the front of their thoughts because of concerns centres in those areas could not "cope" with an outbreak.
"They are not going to be forgotten."
Dr Michael Miller from Whangamata Medical Centre. Photo / File
Across New Zealand, medical centres are reporting people are presenting with serious respiratory symptoms and asking to be tested for Covid-19. This contravenes official advice to call Healthline before turning up in person.
Staff at Whangamata Medical Centre - serving one of the country's largest concentration of elderly residents per head of population - has sent an urgent message for such people to use the phone first.
It has told the Ministry of Health it has few resources to cope in the event of an outbreak.
One of four doctors at the centre, Dr Michael Miller, said: "In a mass outbreak, we have few resources. We have limited ability to treat anybody with Covid-19 in Whangamata, we would be assessing and transferring to secondary care services which would be quickly overwhelmed."
Whangamata is on the Coromandel Peninsula, which has a high population of elderly. The median age is 51.2 compared to 38 nationally.
Covid-19 is more lethal for older patients and is highly contagious, especially in close-contact situations.
Minimum precautions for limiting spread of acute respiratory illness include avoiding close contact with people suffering from any acute respiratory infection; frequent hand washing and drying and avoidance of touching the face, practising cough etiquette and staying home if unwell and suffering acute respiratory symptoms.
"We've got big signs on our doors saying stop, don't come in, and they still walk in," Dr Miller said.
"And they know. They want to know if they have got Covid-19 and they sit in our waiting room.
"It's been publicised loud and clear - ring Healthline on 0800 358 5453.
"If they're feeling unwell they need to ring us and we can assess them by telephone."
Will Covid-19 risk disrupt events?
Event organisers in the Bay of Plenty and Coromandel are tuning into Government advice as they consider whether coronavirus will force cancellations.
Organisers are waiting on advice from the Ministry of Health to determine when the event will go ahead. Photo / File
The Whangamata Medical Centre has "grave concerns" about the upcoming influx of up to 95,000 visitors to the town - population 4500 - for the Repco Beach Hop 2020.
Repco Beach Hop organiser Noddy Watts said eventgoers have been advised to stay home if feeling unwell or worried about Covid-19.
A meeting is scheduled with the Ministry of Health on Thursday next week to determine whether the event goes ahead - and at this stage, it will.
"If the worst-case scenario was we couldn't run the event, we could possibly look at running it later in the year, so it's still 2020 but delayed until this thing has calmed down."
Tauranga City and Western Bay District councils have acknowledged the threat of an outbreak and said they will follow advice from the Ministry of Health.
Tauranga community services general manager Gareth Wallis said: "At this stage, we haven't been advised to cancel any council-run events, but if we are, we will, of course, follow those recommendations."
Western Bay District Council chief executive Miriam Taris said the ever-evolving situation was being reviewed daily.
Sport Bay of Plenty, which helps schools run sports events, was also monitoring official advice.
A spokeswoman said at this stage schools had not indicated the postponement or cancellation of events because of Covid-19.
However, the Waipuna Hospice Superhero Walk/Run, which was scheduled for March 22, will be cancelled this year but will return again next year.
Ministry advice
At this stage, the Ministry of Health does not propose altering arrangements for public events. It advises event organisers to focus on:
• Reminding the public and event workers not to attend if they are feeling unwell. • Reminding the public and event workers not to attend if they have been in mainland China, Iran, Italy or the Republic of Korea (excluding airport transit) in the past 14 days. • Ensuring the event's emergency management plan is up to date. • Briefing event staff on how to practise good hygiene and making it easy for staff and attendees to practise good hygiene. • The situation is changing all the time. For the latest advice, organisers should check the Ministry of Health website.
