A non-Covid patient who has visited Middlemore Hospital twice this week before testing positive has led to fears of two possible Covid-19 exposure events.
Middlemore Hospital ED. Photo: Stephen Forbes / Stuff / LDR
As of this morning 42 patients and 18 visitors have been identified as contacts, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
The Counties Manukau District Health Board has advised the ministry that the person went to the hospital's Emergency Department on Monday 4 October.
The person was assessed and discharged, after answering no to all screening questions and being asymptomatic.
The patient arrived at the ED again yesterday.
Following discussions with medical staff, the patient was isolated, tested and moved to a negative pressure room. They subsequently returned a positive result.
Although asymptomatic on their first visit, the Auckland Regional Public Health Service has decided that their infectious period encompasses this date and as such are acting out of an abundance of caution in identifying potential contacts, the statement said.
So far 60 people have been identified as contacts.
No staff are required to stand down as they were wearing the appropriate PPE.
While there have been a number of exposure events at Middlemore, this is not unexpected as there are a number of subclusters in South Auckland, for which Middlemore is the local hospital, the ministry's statement said.
Middlemore Hospital reported another possible exposure event, after a person who went to the emergency department last Friday later tested positive for Covid-19.
While they answered no to all Covid screening questions, clinical staff noted the patient was displaying a Covid-like symptom while in triage.
They were then moved to a Covid-19 isolation ward at the hospital.
Two days earlier, on 29 September, another two people who turned up at the emergency department later tested positive for Covid-19.
In mid-September five people who had no idea they were positive were treated at the hospital before it was found they all had the virus.
This led the hospital to introduce testing for all new patients, including those who are asymptomatic.