LONG HOURS, LATE NIGHTS AND BUSY WEEKENDS

Health Protection Operations Manager Sonya Briggs writes about the Public Health Service response to COVID-19

In January the Nelson Marlborough Public Health Service (PHS) started planning for a new novel coronavirus which was gaining momentum of transmission in Wuhan, China. While contact tracing is a bread and butter health protection function for the PHS, there was very little information and guidance about this new virus to help with preparations.

The PHS Emergency Operations Centre was stood up on 29 January and the first case in the Nelson Marlborough area was confirmed on 20 March. Once a case is notified to the Medical Officer of Health, health protection officers contact and isolate the case, conduct a thorough interview, identify all the contacts and then place the contacts in quarantine.

This involved long hours, late nights and busy weekends. The health protection team were constantly on edge waiting for the next confirmed case to be identified, and were ready to kick into gear at a moment’s notice.

The unique nature of COVID-19 and the continual learning and evidence emerging has seen a constantly changing process. The team needed to be agile and constantly open to learning new IT systems and changing procedures.

Over time a National Close Contact Service (NCCS) was created to support New Zealand’s public health units to contact non-household contacts and to help with the ongoing monitoring required.

Having to maintain a seven day roster and with an increasing numbers of cases meant we needed to extend our response beyond the health protection team. Members from other PHS teams – health promotion, smokefree, public health nursing and strategy and planning – came on board. They helped transfer information to the NCCS and with the daily monitoring of household close contacts, which may last for 20 to 40 days for a case.

The case and contact management process, including contact tracing, is well-established, efficient and able to be flexed up and down depending on demand.

The whole PHS has been involved in the COVID-19 response – case and contact management, border protection, health promotion activities, welfare and psychosocial support, assessment and testing. This was in addition to continuing other critical public health activities and much more.

AN UNLIKELY CAREER HIGHLIGHT

Trainee Health Protection Officer Frances Knight

AN UNLIKELY CAREER HIGHLIGHT

The 23 year-old moved to Marlborough in March to join our Public Health Service and quickly found herself working at the forefront of a major public health response to a global pandemic.

Health protection officers manage potential community health risks. Frances’ first duties included assessing drinking water supplies, working with the border health team and dealing with communicable diseases, but that all changed very rapidly. She was given “a lot of reading to do” and then joined an emergency operations centre team that worked a seven day and on-call roster.

Frances feels extremely lucky to have been part of a “hard-working, knowledgeable and experienced team who were all very supportive.”

She still can’t believe that a virus can create global chaos, and reflects that when you are doing your training you never think something like this will happen in New Zealand.

“For it to happen at the start my career – I wouldn’t say it’s a dream come true but it is exciting. I will be ready for the next one.”