As Auckland prepares to move to alert level 2 tonight and the rest of the country moves to alert level 1, a leading Pacific doctor is reminding the community to remain vigilant and to comply with the government health guidelines to ensure we keep improving our alert level status.
Pasifika Medical Association (PMA) member and public health physician, Dr Corina Grey says despite the eased restrictions on gatherings, there is still a risk that community transmission of the virus will return.
“It’s been a really tiring year and everyone is feeling a bit burnt out. It’s important that we’re not slacking off at this stage. It’s important that we keep going, continue to work as a team and recognise that our actions will affect other people.”
Dr Grey is part of the medical team involved in contact tracing and testing Pacific families in the Auckland region. She says it is still important for people to get tested for Covid-19 if they are experiencing symptoms like a fever, a dry cough and tiredness. She commends the family at the centre of the recent resurgence for getting tested and going into isolation because if they were not proactive then the impact to the community could have been worse.
“We were lucky that a person who experienced symptoms went and got tested so we were able to identify that there was Covid-19 in the community and could act immediately. If you do experience symptoms that are compatible with Covid-19 then it’s really important to still get tested.
We’ve heard plenty of stories from Pasifika people who have had Covid-19 and are speaking out to say that this virus should be taken seriously.”
She says the Pacific community is doing a great job complying with government directives and supporting each other through this crisis, which shows how serious the community in general are taking the Covid-19 threat.
“We’re fortunate to be living in a country which is taking the virus very seriously. We’ve seen in other countries where this hasn’t been the case and unfortunately, they’ve had very high death rates and very high rates of people being hospitalised with Covid-19. This will be our new normal until we can find a vaccine.”
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Date: Wednesday 23 September 2020