Covid cases rise in Mid-Canterbury

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

From local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
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Case numbers in Mid-Canterbury are expected to rise in the coming days, but officials are urging there is no need to panic.

Ashburton College, Hampstead and Allenton schools have all reported positive cases while a hair salon in the Ashburton CBD has also confirmed an exposure event, which made for a big line at the Covid testing centre at Ashburton Hospital - with 334 swab test across the district since Thursday.

As the number of cases in the district begins to rise following the first cases being announced last week, mayor Neil Brown said the situation with case numbers is worrying but no cause for panic.

“It is definitely no time to panic. It’s under control. We have been expecting it for some time.

“Just keep up with mask use, scanning in, distancing where you can, and be ready for it if you do become Covid positive.”

Case numbers are only confirmed to a DHB level, with 269 active cases in Canterbury, and 10 in South Canterbury, but several institutions have confirmed they are aware of cases.

Ashburton College principal Ross Preece confirmed a senior student had tested positive. The student was isolating at home and working through the contact tracing process.

As of Monday, no college staff or other students were deemed to be close contacts, he said.

Allenton principal Bruce Tilby confirmed a pupil was a positive Covid case.

“All parents and caregivers at the school were advised [on Sunday] that there was a confirmed case and were kept up-to-date with developments ... a number of children have been identified as close contacts. Those children will have a Covid test and are currently isolating at home.

All parents were advised their children were able to come to school, unless informed otherwise.

Hampstead School also confirmed a positive test result of a pupil who had been absent from school since February 15. As a precaution the pupils from the class were sent home on Monday to await an update.

Tanglez Hair Studio staff were exposed to a Covid positive case last week and all its staff except one are isolating at home.

If Covid sweeps through the community, “we will come out the other side pretty good because we have taken all the precautions", Brown said. Canterbury had the highest rate of vaccination in the country.

The Ministry of Health has stated that if there have been no, or few locations of interest published, it shows that contact tracers may have been able to identify the people that they need to. That means not all exposure events require a location of interest to be published.