Ngāti Ruanui iwi will today direct all its resourcing towards the Stratford community, after Covid-19 was yesterday detected in the wastewater system of the small Taranaki township.

“We were notified last night of a strong positive Covid-19 wastewater test result, indicating the detection of the virus in the wastewater system of Stratford. We have been informed that the sample was taken on Monday 1st of November,” said the iwi kaiwhakahaere Rachel Rae.

“It’s hugely important that we connect the dots between the wastewater result and the source. Today, we will be standing up our mobile unit in Stratford where we will test and have the capacity to vaccinate.

“The real concern here is that there is a high possibility that the wastewater result means that there is undetected community transmission. In such an isolated community, this could indicate wider spread throughout the region if the source made stops in New Plymouth for example,” said Rae.

“The next concern is the extremely low vaccination rates, with a 68% second-dose vaccination rate overall. However, this is worse for Māori with less than half fully vaccinated,” said co-leader of Te Paati Māori based in Te Tai Hauāuru, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.

“Like our iwi and hauora providers, we have stood up successful yaks’n’vax which have been pivotal in raising Māori vaccination rates. They have worked in the by whānau, for whānau capacity and sure they will work in the new testing capacity too” said Ngarewa-Packer.

“Our mobile units will be open from 9:30AM, where we encourage anyone who is symptomatic and/or been out of the region to seek a test. We also encourage whānau to please be vaccinated. The longer we take to identify the source, the longer a potential outbreak has, to get out of control.

“We understand that today, ESR testing will conduct a second test in the wastewater system, with the Ministry urgently scrambling to see if a recent MIQ returnee travelled to Stratford after being released,” said Rae.

Both Rae and Ngarewa-Packer are sending out the message “to test-test-test and vaccinate with your first or second dose.”

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