Friday 5th February 2021

Tēnā koutou katoa,

Tēnā koutou katoa e te whānau. Ka rere te mihi i te ātāraki o te rā o Waitangi e kainamu mai nei.

I hope you are all feeling rested after your summer break and are settling well into the new year. It’s hard to believe we’re already in February!

Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu whānau emergency response team continues to work on its COVID-19 resurgence planning. The team is reviewing its mahi to date and is focused on equipping Papatipu Rūnanga so you are all prepared should there be a community resurgence and/or a change in alert levels.

The preparation work to support Ngāi Tahu whānau is focused on coordinating and delivering appropriate resources, funding, advice, and guidance both directly and via Papatipu Rūnanga.

The team is also working to ensure Te Rūnanga and/or appropriate Papatipu Rūnanga are well placed to influence and leverage relationships with Government, Civil Defence NZ, and service providers, so that we gain the necessary knowledge to support Ngāi Tahu whānau and Papatipu Rūnanga.

The team continues to closely monitor the evolving situation and is constantly tweaking its mahi. Team members will be in touch with updates when they come to hand.

Waitangi Day weekend

I know that many whānau are planning to commemorate Waitangi Day this weekend. Some of you will be hosting manuhiri in your rohe, and others will be travelling to different locations. In light of the recent COVID-19 community cases, I ask that you remain extremely vigilant and please remember to:

Scan QR codes with the New Zealand COVID Tracer app or sign in/keep a record of places you visit;
Turn on Bluetooth tracing so you can be alerted if you’ve been near another app user who has tested positive for the virus;
Maintain good hygiene practices; and
Stay home if you are unwell and call Healthline or your GP if you have cold, flu, or COVID-19 symptoms.

We have carried out some incredible mahi over the last year keeping our whānau and our communities safe. Let’s continue to lead the way by keeping up our good COVID-19 hygiene and safety practices for the health and wellbeing of our people.Kia tūpato, kia rite, kia mataara tou tātou katoa

Nāhaku nei i roto i kā mihi nui,

Nā

Lisa Tumahai
Kaiwhakahaere

Thursday 28th January 2021

COVID-19 update

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has reported the following updates from the Northland Community Case:

There are 16 close contacts (to the January community transmission case) - 15 negative and one pending.
31 exposure events across Northland and Auckland.
Source case - the South African variant from the Pullman Hotel - a person with that strand was in close proximity to the index case. How the index case was caught is still under investigation – either via contact with an infected surface, one to one contact or via the ventilation system. The focus is now on;
- Tracing index case movements and all contacts,
- Tracing other people in the hotel, workers and people in isolation, and who they came in contact with.
There were approximately 1500 tests completed yesterday. Around 1% of Northland’s population, well above earlier lockdown numbers.
Testing stations were very busy, complicated by protestors – Police have been responding to this.

The new cases and arrival of these British and South African strains are a timely reminder for us all as whanau, and rūnanga, to ensure we are prepared should a change in COVID-19 community transmission status trigger an alert level shift.

Stay safe

Here is a reminder of a few simple things we can all do to keep each other safe:

Scan QR codes with the New Zealand COVID Tracer app or sign in/keep a record of places you visit;
Turn on Bluetooth tracing so you can be alerted if you’ve been near another app user who has tested positive for the virus;
Maintain good hygiene practices; and
Stay home if you are unwell and call Healthline or your GP if you have cold, flu or COVID-19 symptoms.