No cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the Bay of Plenty area. Photo / File
No cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the Bay of Plenty area. Photo / File
Call ahead and stay calm.
That is what Bay of Plenty doctors are urging people to do if they fear they might have coronavirus.
As of yesterday, five cases of Covid-19 had been confirmed in New Zealand and none of these was in the Bay of Plenty region.
Ranolfs MedicalCentre nurse practitioner, Caerlie Picken, urged people to call ahead and expect to be seen in their car if they were worried about having coronavirus.
Picken said the clinic was looking at assessing people over video call in addition to phone calls.
Dr Luke Bradford, from 5th Avenue Family Practice in Tauranga, said he had received "a couple" of calls from people inquiring about coronavirus last week but overall the mood was calm.
He said a person was only at risk of contracting the virus if they had contact with someone who was ill or if they had recently returned from Italy, China or South Korea.
People who had flu-like symptoms and had visited an outbreak country or had contact with an ill person were told to self-isolate and call ahead to their doctor instead of showing up to the clinic.
Lakes District Health Board chief executive Nick Saville-Wood. Photo / File
Dr Bradford, also the co-chair of the Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation, said the next four weeks would be key in controlling the virus.
"If they do stamp it out, we'll be fine but if they don't flu season could be interesting."
Thorough handwashing and good cough etiquette were important, along with getting a flu vaccination when the jab became available at the start of April.
Toi Te Ora Public Health medical officer of health, Dr Jim Miller, said symptoms of Covid-19 were similar to a wide range of other illnesses and included fever, a cough and difficulty breathing.
Miller urged people to regularly wash their hands, cover coughs and sneezes and stay at home if they felt unwell.
If someone had recently travelled overseas, or are concerned they may have been in close contact with someone with Covid-19 and are unwell, they should first contact Healthline for free advice on 0800 358 5453 (or +64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs).
Meanwhile, Lakes District Health Board chief executive Nick Saville-Wood said in a written statement that all health care providers struggled with staffing during the winter period due to increased demand coupled with staff sickness.
"The additional pressure of a Covid-19 outbreak would make it very challenging to provide the level of staffing we normally expect," Saville-Wood said.
