The Te Arawa COVID-19 Response Hub has been stood up following the Government’s announcement that Aotearoa has moved to Alert Level 4 at 11.59pm Tuesday, 17 August.
The Hub was formed during the 2020 lockdown to co-ordinate and combine resources and provide support to whānau across Rotorua and the wider rohe. It includes more than 60 hapū, trusts, health providers and organisations.
Hub Chairman, Monty Morrison, says the Hub’s priority is the safety and health of iwi and whānau, and it is working with hapū and organisations across the rohe to ensure support is available during this latest lockdown.
“This is clearly a rapidly developing situation and we know there are many people working across our hapū and iwi to ensure we’re all in the best position possibly to awhi our whānau – in whatever way that may be.
“While we all hope this is a short, sharp lockdown to protect Aotearoa New Zealand and its people, we are planning for any potential extension and ensuring we have the right contacts, systems, communications and people in place to provide whatever support our hapū might need.
“Our key objective remains in place – to keep our whānau safe from COVID-19. We know people may be anxious, we know some may be struggling, and we say to them: we are here to help – lean on us, hoea te waka ki uta ra,” says Mr Morrison.
Project Lead Karen Vercoe, says the Hub and its operational team met this morning to gather and share information and set priorities for the next 24 hours.
“Our priority for the next 24 hours is connecting with hapū and marae across the rohe and ensuring they have the information and support they might need to awhi their whānau.
“We know some hapū are already well underway with supporting their whānau and we’re simply here to support in whatever way is required.”
Ms Vercoe says another core priority continues to be the Hub’s support of the vaccination rollout.
“While fully vaccinated, some people could still catch the virus, but the effects of it are much less and people are less likely to need hospitalisation. This latest outbreak provides further evidence of the urgency required to get as many people vaccinated, at least with the first dose, as soon as possible.”
Following with Ministry of Health guidelines, vaccinations were paused today (Wednesday), but will now recommence at 8am on Thursday morning.
The Hub will provide an update in the next 24 hours regarding its planned outreach clinic at Tunohopu this weekend.
For the latest information, head to the Hub website and TeArawa-COVID19 Facebook page.
People can connect with the team via the Facebook page, or by emailing covid19@tearawa.iwi.nz