The day Delta was found in New Zealand coincided with the first time the country had hit a record 55,000 vaccinations. Testing stations are swamped and vaccination centres are closed when they're most needed, writes political editor Jo Moir.
Frontline health workers were stretched thin, exhausted and in need of a break before Delta smashed its way into New Zealand this week.
Nurses were due to strike in protest over unsafe working conditions and poor pay – the irony being they now can’t strike because they’re working even harder and longer hours in even more unsafe conditions.
Two Auckland hospitals have been hit by the virus causing severe disruptions and requiring staff to isolate.
Testing stations in Auckland are drowning under the pressure of cars lined up for kilometres and anxious symptomatic Kiwis, including contacts of positive cases, waiting hours to be tested and in some cases turned away and told to try again tomorrow.
All the while the best-case scenario for Auckland right now would be having as many people vaccinated as possible, or in the process of getting their first or second jab.
Only 19 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated to date due to supply arriving much later than it has in other parts of the world, and the ramp-up only beginning in recent weeks.
They said frontline workers weren’t being listened to and political decisions were being made without their input.
Delta making its way through the border is no huge surprise, in fact officials and experts have been preparing scenarios for exactly that – but it seems they’ve still been caught off-guard.
One frontline health worker told Newsroom there weren’t enough staff to both vaccinate and test in Auckland.
They said frontline workers weren’t being listened to and political decisions were being made without their input.
Despite officials running various scenarios about how to continue to vaccinate, test and contact trace in a fast-paced Delta explosion they’ve still ended up in a position where five of Auckland’s 13 vaccination centres are now closed.
They’ll remain closed, according to Director-General of Health Doctor Ashley Bloomfield, until the surge in testing drops off.
With more locations of interest being announced every day, the need for high levels of testing isn’t going to dissipate anytime soon.
On Friday Bloomfield told Newsroom Delta had thrown up a couple of unexpected “curve balls”.
“One of the very first cases was a health worker at Auckland Hospital, so that created some challenges there,’’ he said.
Another was parts of North Shore Hospital being closed for a deep clean after a positive case spent time there last week.
That’s caused significant staff shortages when Auckland’s health system is already under severe pressure.
Bloomfield told Newsroom he was working with District Health Boards to try to plug the gap.
“We’re working to see how other staff can be deployed, for example, we’ve talked to universities about potentially training students to assist with swabbing.
“So that’s getting underway and likewise we’re working with all DHBs across the country about them providing staff to be able to support Auckland,’’ he said.
Staff shortages have long been a problem but over the last three years the Government has funded DHBs for an additional 3000 full-time nurses, yet half of them remain vacant.
Testing is at explosion levels in part because of the Delta variant and its infection rate, which means the net for contacts is cast even wider than normal, says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
This is not new information and presumably officials and health experts knew to plan for it.
Ardern acknowledged on Friday that in “some parts of the country there have been long waits and we want to address that the best we can’’.
If Bloomfield is relying on District Health Boards to meet ramped-up testing demands while maintaining high vaccination rates, good luck to him.
Considering the incredibly unambitious targets for vaccination in some parts of the country - and a complete unwillingness from some DHBs to do better - it would be a long shot expecting them to both improve vaccination targets and test as much of their population as possible in coming days.
