"As a result of that we are looking at alternative options. We're looking at offering some additional testing capacity off-site to make sure we're not congesting the hospital.
"However, while demand is high there will be a wait for people seeking tests."
Simpson said the move to Phase 3 of the government's Omicron strategy – expected to be close – would bring a change in testing approaches.
"When there are high volumes of community cases, the focus will be on testing the priority population. There will also be a symptomatic testing shift to greater use of Rats [Rapid Antigen Tests] as a diagnostic, as opposed to PCR testing.
"At this stage, community transmission is becoming quite prevalent right across our district, and I expect that will increase in the coming days or weeks.
"We will run into challenges around testing capacity and that's why a move to Phase 3 with the Rats tests will be a significant development."
Simpson said it was likely that pop-up testing facilities in places like Marton would continue to be intermittent and dependent on the number of trained staff available.
Residents in Marton have expressed concern at limited community testing facilities in the Rangitīkei township of about 5200 since the initial cases were discovered over Waitangi weekend. The DHB is reporting 27 active cases in Marton.
Simpson said the DHB did not have the staff resource for dedicated testing centres across the district.
"We simply cannot provide a daily testing facility in each part of our district, apart from through general practice or other providers which are contracted either to the DHB or other funding channels.
"We had a dedicated testing centre in Marton in the early stages of Covid back in 2020. There wasn't a demand for significant testing at that time, so that testing centre was disestablished.
"We have the central CBAC here at the DHB, but we have mobilised pop-up testing in Marton as the need has arisen. We certainly look at areas that have clusters or a number of cases, which is likely to increase the demand for services at that time."
The most recent pop-up testing centre in Marton was on Sunday.
"We will continue to mobilise pop-ups as needed," Simpson said.
The Ministry of Health said there were 65 active cases in the region on Tuesday. The DHB confirmed there were 25 in Whanganui, 27 in Marton and two in Bulls. Locations for the rest were undisclosed.
Heightened levels of anxiety were likely as community transmission increased and there could be disruption to health services as the DHB reprioritises resourcing to care for people with Covid.
"We have a finite workforce that we need to distribute across all the healthcare settings.
"We are expecting and planning for disruption to our health services and hospital when Omicron numbers reach high levels.
"If you have planned surgery or a booked appointment this may be changed at short notice. You will be contacted about any change to your appointment, and you will remain on the waiting list to be seen as soon as possible.
"We understand that this may be distressing for some patients, but we will ensure that patients are seen in priority of urgency, much like we did in earlier Covid lockdown situations.
"The challenges that we're all going to face predominantly in the next three to six weeks, they're going to test all of us."
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
