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September 21, 2021
Hauora goes hard getting Kaiaua Covid-free
Ellyce McLeod
Posted On September 21, 2021
Download AudioMore than 60 percent of the population around Kaiaua and Mangatangi were swabbed yesterday as authorities try to check any further leak of Covid-19 over Auckland’s southern boundary.
The scare was sparked by three cases in a whānau where the virus appears to have been brought in by a member remanded back on electronic bail on September 8.
Riana Manuel, the chief executive of Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki, says 477 people were seen at Wharekawa Marae and about 80 at Mangatangi Marae, which is near the school where two children with Covid went last week.
She says it’s unfair to criticise the whānau at the centre of the scare, and it’s a reminder children are most vulnerable because they are not as yet eligible for vaccination.
“Covid doesn’t advertise itself until it’s too late. People have to keep that in mind. You don’t even know you are carrying Covid until you develop the symptoms and for some people they won’t even develop symptoms. That’s why vaccination is key, whānau. If we get vaccinated we don’t ned to worry nearly as much about where Covid is,” Ms Manuel says.
As well as swabbing centres at Wharekawa and Mangatangi Marae, there is a mobile vaccination clinic set up today at the EcoQuest Education Foundation at Whakatīwai.
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