Two of the new Covid cases travelled to Rotorua while showing virus symptoms and visited tourism spots. People in Rotorua will need to be vigilant, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said. Video / Chris Tarpey
Masks are flying off the shelves with local mask makers "running around like bees in a bottle" trying to keep up with orders.
Rotorua business Rozcraft has a team of 10 women working around the clock trying to keep up with the "thousands" of mask orders received in the lastcouple of days.
Owner Roz Hunt said they used to make Kiwiana souvenirs but lost 90 per cent of their business when the borders closed.
FACEMASK
She decided to move to make reusable masks in lockdown and her team of one moved to a team of 10, she said.
"We have been fairly manic for a while now," she said. They had been selling masks to Australia for the last few months and it had been "astronomical".
"We are running around like bees in a bottle at the moment."
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The team was pumping out hundreds of masks a day, with an expert sewer able to complete a mask every five minutes.
While there was an elastic shortage, Hunt said she was getting around it with her stocks.
The business was providing local pharmacies with reusable masks and they were in hot demand.
Ranolf Pharmacy owner Charlotte Schimanski said masks were selling like mad and stocks were becoming quite hard to come by due to border restrictions.
Ranolf Pharmacy owner Charlotte Schimanski. Photo / Supplied
For this reason, she said prices had gone up "significantly".
She said reusable masks and surgical masks were the most popular, but the KN95 ones that "filtered more particles" were also favourable but more expensive.
Reusable masks sat around the $20 range while a pack of the KN95 ones could get up to $60, she said.
Taupō's Life Pharmacy owner David Stewart said the KN95 mask was "fully sealed" and had a good filtration rate. However, the downside was that it was difficult to talk and they were quite uncomfortable.
He said the surgical masks were a more comfortable alternative for essential workers or those who were taking particular care of their health.
As far as homemade masks go, he said they were great for people practising social distancing and wearing a facemask for the protection of others.
"But you have to be careful if you are going to sneeze. A sneeze can come out at the speed of 160 kilometres per hour. I am not sure if the homemade masks will retain that."
