As Auckland’s numbers tick along each day and the Delta variant spreads through the community, the Government is looking at new ways to house the infected
It was just a matter of months ago that any report of positive community cases would have caused double-takes the length of the country. But all too quickly, New Zealand has found itself back in the daily wait to hear the magic number.
By any metric, Sunday’s 60 new cases was unpleasant news. And as restrictions lift in Auckland as the virus continues to spread, health officials are looking at isolation facilities and evaluating whether there is going to be room to keep housing the infected.
Speaking on Monday afternoon, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the R value of the virus had not decreased - hovering somewhere between 1.2 and 1.3, meaning Aucklanders can’t reasonably expect smaller numbers as the week goes on.
In what Ardern has called this “new territory” of New Zealand’s pandemic response, the policy of isolating all community cases and close contacts in converted hotels may become difficult to keep up as rooms in isolation facilities are filled.
As of Monday afternoon, 50 percent of Auckland’s 420 rooms in isolation facilities are occupied, by both community cases and cases picked up the border.
Meanwhile, 119 rooms have been put aside for close contacts of community cases - with 77 people occupying 50 of these rooms, all in Auckland.
So Auckland has around 210 rooms available to put up infected cases from the community - space for more than 210 people if more than one are in each room.
But the high daily case numbers of the last week show how quickly the number of cases in the community can jump up, and how quickly vacancies in isolation can be filled.
The Ministry of Health’s response to the rapidly-evolving situation begins with a community-based alternative to isolation in facilities - infected people isolating at home, in motels or in DHB-arranged accommodation.
“Since 2020, the Ministry of Health has been working with DHBs around the country to develop a community-based isolation and quarantine service to respond to potential community outbreaks,” said Joint Head of MIQ Brigadier Rose King. “The service has been designed to help community cases and/or their contacts safely self-isolate and may include alternative accommodation. It’s important to stress that these do not involve MIQ facilities.”
While the programme supposes people may be able to isolate in their own homes, it intends to provide other options when this is easier said than done.
People who live with vulnerable people, in large households, or who may be unable to support themselves and their families while isolating at home will be provided with another place to go.
The ministry said while the service will be government-funded, DHBs will tailor the approach to each region of New Zealand, working closely with Māori and Pacific providers.
“Any community cases and contacts whose needs are best met in an MIQ facility will continue to be transferred there, wherever possible,” said a ministry spokesperson.
However, the Government was unable to put an exact date on when this new approach to isolation will be seen.
“As the service is DHB-led, the timing and exact nature of the rollout will vary from DHB to DHB,” the spokesperson said.
In Auckland, where almost 300 cases were found in the community over the last week, this service may be a necessity sooner rather than later.
Another option to increase isolation capacity lies in the regions outside of Auckland.
On Monday, the Distinction Hamilton MIQ facility was converted to community isolation, giving the region 110 quarantine rooms for community cases.
The facility was given a new name by Tainui waka iwi: Amohia - Community Isolation Quarantine facility.
Brigadier King said bringing in a new facility in Hamilton will help maintain quarantine capacity in Auckland.
“We know that the safest way to contain community cases is by quarantine and close management. We are stepping up as we have in Auckland, and previously in Wellington, to support care of local cases for the benefit of the community.”
As the facility is reportedly dedicated to providing close isolation for cases in the Waikato region, this would ease the burden on facilities in Auckland that ordinarily would have to be shipped up.
However, this means while the ongoing “tentacle” of the outbreak remains largely confined to Auckland, it is solutions within Auckland that will be needed to prevent running out of space to isolate people.
At the moment, the lion’s share of quarantine rooms are where they are most needed, with almost three-quarters of the 583 rooms in Auckland.
Like so many aspects of the response to the Delta variant, necessities change on a dime. Three hotels full of rooms seemed to be a large contingency at the beginning of this outbreak, but if Auckland continues to see numbers like those over the weekend, this may not be true for long.
With 209 free rooms in Auckland, it would only take four or five days of similar numbers before officials have to look at another plan.
The question remains whether people will be able to safely isolate at home or in alternative accommodations before this happens - or, if capacity is reached before the initiative is ready for its rollout, will people be trusted to isolate at home before the right safety measures have been reasonably stress-tested?
