Greenhithe locals and businesses are being proactive after a person who later tested positive for Covid-19 visited a pub in the Auckland suburb.
Today, locals are heeding authorities' advice and getting tested after the person visited The Malt, Greenhithe from 7.30pm until 10pm on Friday, October 16. The case is a workplace contact of a port worker who previously tested positive for the virus on Saturday.
The public was made aware of the case who visited the pub late yesterday.
One person at a local testing station today told 1 NEWS their son had worked at the pub on Friday night. She said she was told the wait may be as long as two hours.
Another local waiting for a test, who had been at the bar, urged others in the community to be vigilant and get tested.
A site manager at the pop-up testing station said about 85 tests have been completed this morning.
The person who later became infected visited The Malt in Greenhithe on October 16.
Normally, testing sites get about 30 swabs done in a day, they said.
They said a lot of people seemed to have been at the Malt Bar on Friday night.
A DHB spokesperson said: “Most people in the pub are considered casual contacts, but are being asked to get tested as soon as possible."
“They should stay at home in self-isolation until they receive a negative test result.
“Staff will also be asked to get tested.”
Meanwhile, a bakery next door to the Auckland pub visited by the Covid-19-positive case is today imposing Alert Level 3 restrictions on itself as a precaution.
Manager Daryn Forbes says they want to keep people safe after a Covid-19 case visited the pub next door.
Baked at Greenhithe manager Daryn Forbes said the store was only taking orders ahead of time, and will be operating in a contactless way.
“[It’s] to make sure the community is safe and to keep ourselves safe as well.”
He said staff had put in place a bench to keep customers socially distanced, and is prominently displaying an NZ COVID Tracer QR code.
“We do this anyway, but we’re just being a bit more cautious today.”
Forbes said the community was “really supportive”.
“We’ve just got to work with it,” he said.
Health Minister Chris Hipkins this morning urged people who visited the pub while the positive case was there to stay home, self-isolate and get tested.
“We want to keep them as isolated as possible. If our contact tracing systems work at speed and we can isolate people who are contacts of positive cases, then the need to escalate alert levels shouldn’t be as necessary,” he said.
The Northern Region DHB said the following additional pop-up stations will be available today:
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