The Southern District Health Board (SDHB) medical officer of health Dr Susan Jack, chief executive Chris Fleming, chief medical officer Dr Nigel Millar and other senior executives began meeting early this morning (Wednesday August 12) to discuss the implications of the return to alert level two for the health system in the Southern district.

The Prime Minister announced last night all of New Zealand would return to alert level two from noon today, with the exception of Auckland which returns to level three.

In addition to the SDHB chiefs, Public Health and WellSouth primary health network leaders are also meeting this morning to put an action plan in place.

“At this stage we do not need to take any additional actions in terms of reducing services across our system,” Chris Fleming said. 

He said the SDHB will be supporting Primary Health and Public Health to ensure testing is ramped up and the organisations are prepared to conduct contact tracing and isolation of anyone necessary.

“The first lockdown taught us what was required of Southern’s health services during heightened alert levels, and in the past 100 days we have put in place plans for public health, primary and community care, aged residential care and our hospitals. It means we know what actions will trigger certain responses. Over the next few days we will again be reviewing these plans to make sure they are completely up to date.

The SDHB medical officer of health said while there is no evidence of any COVID-19 in the Southern district we need to remain vigilant.

“However, in terms of safety, the public can be assured that we will have the appropriate infection prevention and control measures in place for treating patients, and that where possible we are maintaining physical distancing within our facilities.”

Chris said decisions around hospital visitor restrictions and processes will be discussed by members of Southern’s Technical Advisory Group today and communicated to the public as soon as possible.

Susan Jack said the public health response in the district would support the wider national response called for by the Prime Minister and Ministry of Health.

“At this stage it is important to reiterate that there is no evidence of any COVID-19 in the Southern district, however we need to ensure we remain vigilant and are ready to respond if the situation changes.”

Susan urges anyone in the Southern district with flu-like symptoms to ring their GP or 0800 VIRUS19 and to get tested.

“Southerners by nature don’t want to make a fuss, but getting tested is the responsible thing to do and is a way of helping Public Health staff and your community. By being tested you can help us identify whether or not COVID-19 is active in our community and where we need to concentrate efforts on tracing and eliminating it.

“People also need to maintain good hand hygiene, washing hands with soap for more than 20 seconds, rinsing and then drying thoroughly. Cover your coughs and sneezes by sneezing or coughing into your elbow and maintaining social distancing. If you are sick, please stay home.

“After such a long period of no community transmission, it is easy to become complacent and to relax around hand hygiene and social distancing, but now is the time to get back into good habits again.”

Susan also encouraged people to download a contact tracing app such as the NZ COVID Tracer app or similar and to actively use it, and to consider having a face mask ready to use when in situations where physical distancing is difficult.

Information about COVID-19 in Southern and the latest updates will be available on the Southern Health website and the SDHB Facebook page.

PHOTOS: Supplied