Covid case who presented at Middlemore lives at Mongrel Mob gang pad

September 15, 2021
Armed officers swarmed the scene in Taradale where a gun was fired during a fight between up to 40 gang members.

A woman who presented at Middlemore Hospital on Thursday last week and subsequently tested positive for Covid-19  lives at a Mongrel Mob gang pad.

She showed up at the hospital's emergency department for an issue unrelated to the virus, but submitted to a routine test being taken.

The woman was asymptomatic and unvaccinated and left the hospital before her positive test result was returned. 

The morning before she went to hospital, police officers "had dealings" with her and another member of her family. Seven officers were stood down as a result.

According to the Herald, the woman lives at a Mongrel Mob Pasifika gang pad on Takanini's Mill Rd. The chapter is part of Waikato Mongrel Mob Kingdom. 

The woman told the Herald she did not discharge herself, despite what health authorities say. Once she was given medication, she said hospital staff had told her she could leave as they were short of beds. 

Chris Hipkins and Dr Ashley Bloomfield speak at a news conference

Sources told the Herald a mobile testing station was set up outside the pad to test its occupants, with one testing positive as a result. 

When asked during Wednesday afternoon's press conference why this information was not disclosed to the public, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said information collected from cases is only shared "if there is a public health rationale to do so".

He said health authorities do not typically disclose the "background information" of positive cases or their contacts "unless there is a very good reason to do that".

"I don’t intend to start doing that now, but what I can do is provide reassurance to everybody that we’re seeing a great amount of cooperation and willingness to engage from the communities of all of those who we’re seeing testing positive in the community in the current outbreak."

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield jumped in to say people can discharge themselves from hospital. He said the residence the woman returned to "included her whānau".

This included her partner and a young child, he said.

"Both she and others who may have been contacts have been very well engaged and cooperative with the follow-up contact tracing.

"So that’s really what we’re after here is we need to find cases, and we just need to stop any further spread.

"And in this case there’s nothing I’m concerned about."

Bloomfield had revealed on Sunday the woman had been linked back to the Māngere church cluster through genomic sequencing.

However, the person-to-person link was not known for the woman at that stage.

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