Our contact tracing defence

Along with the rest of Northland, I was hugely relieved when the Prime Minister announced on Friday that COVID-19 restrictions would not be increased for our region. We remain at Level 2 until Wednesday 26 August. This means the coronavirus is contained, but the risk of community transmission remains.

It’s a different story in Auckland where Level 3 restrictions remain for now due to the significant risk the disease is not contained. Schools and early childhood centres are closed for most children, people are being asked to work from home, public venues are closed and travel outside greater Auckland is tightly controlled.

We are not immune to Auckland’s situation. Most Northlanders will be concerned about friends and whanau living in our largest city. Our farmers will be concerned about a fall in demand for fresh produce, and domestic tourism into the Far North will be seriously impacted by the travel restrictions.

The most important thing we can do now is stop further spread of this disease. If we act decisively, we have a good chance of again eliminating community transmission. Most Council staff are working from home. Our service centres, libraries, refuse transfer stations, community recycling centres and i-SITES are open, but physical distancing and contact tracing are in place. Most Council meetings and gatherings have been taken online or cancelled. I have also cut back my own travel around the district.

I was pleased to see during a recent visit to town that many businesses are displaying QR codes so customers can record their visit using the New Zealand COVID Tracer app. Unfortunately, customers seem much slower to get into the habit of recording where they have been. I saw very few logging their visit using the phone app or in any other way. It was also surprised by the low number of people I saw across our district wearing face masks or practicing physical distancing.

With greater knowledge about how this disease spreads, medical experts agree that face masks and physical distancing help reduce your chance of catching or passing on the virus. They also agree that tracing the contacts of anyone who may have been exposed to the virus is one of the best ways we have to break the chain of transmission. Please, let’s make sure this virus does not gain a foothold in our district. I’m urging all Far North residents – and I also need to remind myself of this – to get into the habit of wearing face masks and physical distancing in public. Please also scan QR codes every time you visit the supermarket or other business. If a code is not on display, ask the business to provide one.

We only need to look overseas to see how quickly this virus can take hold. You can help prevent that occurring here by taking precautions in public, and by making contact tracing part of your daily routine until we have the virus beaten. Go to the covid19.govt.nz website to download the contact tracer app or QR codes. We all have a part to play.