Covid-19: Warning for the symptomatic: If you can't get a RAT, stay home

People who can’t afford to wait in long queues for rapid antigen tests or can’t find them should self-isolate if they’re symptomatic and try again later, a leading GP says.

“We have to fall back on basic advice in these situations,” Dr Bryan Betty, medical director of the College of GPs, said.

“If you can’t get a RAT and you have any symptoms at all, just stay at home till you can access a RAT test – that’s really what it comes down to. It’s about taking a sensible, pragmatic approach to the situation.”

Lines for RATs in recent days have been kilometres long, with critical workers waiting hours at a time to access tests in the capital, leaving commuters frustrated and in some cases abusive.

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“These problems are just reflective of the stress the system is under,” Betty, also a GP in Cannon’s Creek, said.

Betty said he was surprised at how quickly New Zealand had reached this point, but “it wasn’t unexpected that we’d get into these problems as we moved through this. These numbers for Omicron are huge”.

On Friday, the health ministry announced 22,527 new community cases of Covid-19 nationwide, bringing the total number of active cases to 146,527. Five more people with the virus had died, and 503 people were in hospital with Covid-19.

In recent days more collection sites have been added in the capital, but the Cannon’s Creek site is closed on Friday due to a large funeral, and a Paraparaumu site is set to close indefinitely.

Meanwhile, frontline workers at community testing sites in Wellington are being subjected to excessive violent, abusive and aggressive behaviour, a district health board leader says.

“The concerning behaviour ranges from widespread verbal abuse aimed at staff to instances of members of the public striking the walls of testing shelters with staff inside, attempts to steal boxes of RATs, and at least one assault,” acting Covid-19 response general manager for Hutt Valley and Capital & Coast DHBs, Junior Ulu, said.

He labelled it an “unacceptable level of abusive behaviour” and challenged people to be patient and courteous.

“The safety of our teams is a priority and we are working to provide security support, including with Māori Wardens. Where required we have also involved the police.

“This is not only distressing for our teams and members of the public who witness this sort of behaviour, it compromises our ability to keep collection points running and to stand up additional capacity.”

In Porirua, the Tītahi Bay Pharmacy is the sole community site to collect RATs, until Cannon’s Creek reopens at 10am on Saturday.

The DHB had concerns about the ability to effectively manage queues at Cannon’s Creek and traffic disruption while being sensitive to mourners, Ulu said.

Both DHBs were working closely with Māori and Pacific providers, and primary health to make sure RATs were still available for people in Porirua who were are at high risk.

The collection site at Team Medical in Paraparaumu will also close from 2pm on Friday until further notice.

A busy RAT collection site in Hataitai, which only opened last week, has been replaced by a site at the Sky Stadium in the CBD, which would cope better with the huge demand and reduce traffic disruption.

Sky Stadium will be open seven days a week. New sites have also appeared at St Teresa's Church in Karori, the Kilbirnie Sports Hub, and Waikanae Rugby Club and the Taranaki St site is also continuing to distribute RATs.

“People should only visit (community testing centres) to collect tests if they have symptoms, or live with someone who has Covid-19,” Ulu said.

“Our teams will prioritise distribution along these lines, and each box contains five tests that can be used by household members.

“We understand that this is a scary and stressful situation for many people, however our staff are doing the best they can and deserve respect and kindness while they do their work.”