With so much focus on incoming passengers and the risk they pose to our level 1 freedoms, the fact that port workers could be exposed to Covid-19 on foreign vessels is a huge hole that needs plugging.
Foreign workers who are transiting through New Zealand are not being testedfor the virus and are spending shorter stays in managed isolation.
A contractor for Ports of Auckland spent time working on a ship on Monday and Tuesday last week and tested positive four days later.
The ship, the Sofrana Surville, also spent two days docked in Tauranga last week.
Eight crew members from the Philippines boarded the ship after having flown into the country and spending a short time in managed isolation – not the 14 days required for everyone else.
The Ministry of Health says it is reviewing current measures for ports and ship workers.
But this should have had the same focus as passengers and crew arriving via airports.
We are an island nation and are extremely lucky to have preserved our public health when it comes to the global pandemic, but the only way to stay that way is to make sure all gaps are plugged.
It beggars belief to know that crew in transit are not routinely tested.
It is clear that the only way Covid-19 can get into this country is via our borders, and taking our eye off the ports is dangerous.
All incoming passengers and crew on ships or planes should be tested and isolated.
Crew in transit need to be kept away from anyone who could transfer the disease to the general public.
Maritime Union national secretary Joe Fleetwood says all foreign seafarers need to be tested before they land here.
"It should be mandatory for foreign crew to be tested as well - it's madness that they're not."
