Mayor praises Katikati Covid case for getting tested, vaccinated, using Tracer app

October 10, 2021

“It’s the only way we’re going to stay ahead of this pandemic,” Garry Webber says.

Western Bay of Plenty District’s Mayor says while it’s unwelcome news that a person has tested positive for Covid-19 in Katikati, it was a “blessing” that the person had followed the rules. 

“It is what it is - it’s arrived at our back door, so we’ve just got to manage it now,” Garry Webber said. 

The Ministry of Health confirmed on Saturday night a fully-vaccinated person tested positive for Covid in the Bay of Plenty. 

The person lives in Pukekohe in Auckland and is in the process of moving to a rural area near Katikati, north of Tauranga. 

Because the person was moving house, they were given permission to cross the Auckland boundary and had taken part in regular surveillance testing. 

The person had returned five negative tests before their sixth - taken on Friday - came back as positive.

They are thought to be in the early or late stage of their infection because of that test’s high CT value. 

Webber said the person did everything right under the law because they got tested, were already vaccinated, and used the Covid Tracer app consistently. 

“That’s a blessing to us, but it’s a wake-up call to this community that vaccination is absolutely critical, and we’ve just got to get out and get it done.” 

His message to his community was to get vaccinated. 

“It’s the only way we’re going to stay ahead of this pandemic and turn New Zealand around and get us back to where we want to be.” 

Webber said he was speaking with public health teams to make sure all communities in the Bay of Plenty could get access to Covid jabs. The region has one of the lowest levels of vaccine uptake in the country

“We’ve got a lot of small, deprived communities, and a lot of rural areas. 

“We’ve got to go out to those people - those people that haven’t got vehicles, all the RSE workers that are here … English language is a second language to them.”

Pop-up sites have been established in the Bay of Plenty after Saturday's positive test result.

A large number of Katikati locals got tested on Sunday morning after the case was found. 

There are also numerous locations of interest in Katikati

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