There was one Covid case yesterday here in New Zealand, not far north of Auckland. The patient was a recent returnee from Europe, had finished her 14-day managed isolation (MIQ) period, & sent back home, but somehow presented symptoms 5 days after. How do I know all of this?
Because yesterday at 4pm the NZ government Covid task force held a national press conference about this case. Let me repeat, yesterday there was a NATIONAL press conference about THIS ONE CASE.
Since her positive test, her husband has been tested (negative). All her close contacts have been identified and tested. All those who had been in the same MIQ hotel during the same period have been contacted for tests and told to self isolate while awaiting results.
The index patient has been scrupulously recording all of her movements since leaving MIQ facility. How? It’s easy. We’ve been doing the exact same thing. There’s a QR code everywhere that you can scan on your phone, plus a Bluetooth capacity that can even do it automatically.
So, everyone who has recorded themselves visiting the same places during the same period as this patient has now been informed that they may have been exposed. You can also check on the Covid site to see a detailed listing of her movements since she left managed facilities.
All of this. From one covid case in the community.
DNA typing is underway to identify the exact strain of this virus to locate precisely where she had acquired it. CCTV footage from during her managed isolation period are being investigated to try to find any potential failure in the system to allow this case to get out.
Yes, all of this, from one covid case here in New Zealand.

Meanwhile, 172K new cases yesterday back home in the US.
And some Karens (and Bobs) are still screaming in Trader Joe’s about how requiring a 😷 is oppression. Good luck contact tracing them.

😢
Clarification:

There’s a total of 79 Covid cases currently in NZ, but there’s only one “in the community”, in the wild you can say. The rest are caught at the border in Managed Isolation/Quarantine in government-controlled facilities & posing little to no risk to the community
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