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LEARNING more than half the people at a pre-Christmas party caught Covid-19 – including herself – has prompted a Te Kūiti woman to remind people to report their illness.
The woman, who does not wish to be identified, was among about 18 people at the party, 10 of whom later tested positive for Covid.
“Hardly anyone knew about it, and we know it has ramped up since (Christmas), and a lot of people are choosing not to register it,” she said.
“You need to register it, because within a few hours of me registering mine a doctor rang me up.”
The contact was ongoing, she received calls from Whatu Ora/Health NZ Hamilton, and also from the local team at Te Nehenehenui Putiki hub.
As well as keeping in contact with people ill at home, registering also helped Manatū Hauora/Ministry of Health. It was where the raw data on infection numbers came from.
Manatū Hauora can be contacted via its website or by freephone 0800 222 478. There are 1867 active Covid cases in the Waikato region, all recorded as being active in the last week.
Dr Keith Buswell at the Te Kūiti Medical Centre said registering their Covid illness also helped medical staff assess people’s risk.
“If we thought they were low risk then we would send them a text acknowledging the fact that we know they have got Covid, and also give them information about who they can contact if they need advice. And if they are at higher risk, then we would usually ring them and have a phone consult with them and just assess what their needs might be.
“We can go through their vaccination status, the other things that might make them more susceptible to a more serious illness and asses their eligibility for antivirals – and a lot of people are eligible for antivirals, they might not even realise that,” he said.
The antivirals helped reduce the chances of people having the more serious effects of Covid, he said.
Registering Covid was better done though the health ministry rather than by ringing the medical centre.
“Everything gets collated, it adds to the understanding that the ministry has – how many people have actually got it in the community, and that’s quite important for them for making decisions about how it can be managed at a community and population level rather than just individuals.”
He recommends registering using the Covid App, if people still have it on their phone.
“It’s actually easier to do it using the Covid App, because that way you don’t have to wait and talk to anybody,” he said. “And of course, they will have information on you already.”
People were getting blasé about Covid and going into the medical centre for a check-up instead of doing a RAT test at home. There were quite a few people presenting at the medical centre who were testing positive on arrival, he said.
“That’s all we do; it’s a RAT test. We don’t do anything more sophisticated than that. But we have seen a lot.One day last week I think five people were diagnosed just coming in through the acute side where we assess people – which is quite a lot for us, because obviously a lot of people with Covid diagnose themselves.”
“I think around the country it’s been reported that there are a lot more cases and although the peak is supposed to have been dropping, I haven’t seen any official word on that. We certainly didn’t notice a reduction in numbers over the Christmas period.”
Many people weren’t testing because they didn’t want to learn they had Covid because of the potential restrictions, he said.
“But it’s not really the best way to manage something like this.”
