2020: The Year of COVID-19

In January 2020, New Zealand health authorities were cautiously tracking the progress of a mysterious coronavirus that had originated in Wuhan, China in late 2019. By February it had a name – COVID-19 – and New Zealand had what was believed to be its first case; a person in their 60s who had travelled to Iran. In March the World Health Organization declared it a global pandemic. More than one million people have since died worldwide, including 25 New Zealanders.

The Port of Tauranga swabbing team led by Ngāti Ranginui Iwi, from left, Margaret, As a primary healthcare provider, the Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation has been on the frontline of the pandemic in the region. Only 47 people have contracted COVID-19 locally, all of whom have recovered from the virus. When you look at the international death toll, we have much for which to be grateful.

Testing for COVID-19 began at Chadwick Healthcare and Tara Road Medical Centre in mid-March, closely followed by testing in our Health and Wellness Services clinic car park in First Avenue. At its peak, staff were testing a new patient every 10 minutes over a period of seven days.

As the number of cases in New Zealand ramped up, we worked in partnership with the Bay of Plenty District Health Board and other local PHOs to develop the community-based assessment centres (CBACs).

The first CBAC was at Tauranga Racecourse, which later moved to a larger site at Baypark Stadium. This was followed the next day by a CBAC in Whakatāne. Testing clinics in Ōpōtiki and Kawerau, and mobile clinics to remote communities were established in the following weeks.

More than 3800 people were assessed at the CBACs in the 20 days to 14 April and 1960 people were swabbed.

As well as the logistics of organising venues, equipment, traffic management and security, doctors and nurses had to be pulled in from the community to staff them, and strict clinical processes needed to be in place. The PHO’s IT teams also leapt into action, setting up a database and designing an app to streamline the flow of information.

The PHO also worked with kaupapa Māori providers, Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngāti Ranginui Iwi, The Centre for Health, BOP DHB, and Ngā Mataapuna Oranga to deliver a mobile CBAC service called Pahi Tahi, providing COVID-19 assessment and testing to marae, hapū and vulnerable Māori communities.

On top of COVID-19 testing, more than 1800 people (over 65s, pregnant women, and people with chronic health conditions) received flu jabs via drive-through clinics organised by Green Cross Health and the PHO over five days before the Alert Level 4 lockdown on 26 March. Flu vaccination clinics were also organised for Māori communities on remote Motiti and Matakana Islands.

With no active cases in the Bay of Plenty by the end of May, the Tauranga CBAC closed and testing moved back to our GPs in the community, where it has remained since.

The exception to this was the mass testing of Port of Tauranga staff in August, which the PHO helped to set up at the port alongside BOP DHB. The original directive would have required testing of 6000-7000 workers, but was later brought down to a more manageable 761 high priority workers. These people were successfully tested over four days, with many more tested in General Practice.

While testing kept us on our toes, COVID-19 also forced us to work in a variety of new ways to help keep our communities safe.

GPs were required to offer virtual consults – both phone and video – almost overnight. Many are still offering virtual consults for patients who prefer the convenience of this option.

Virtual Zoom meetings are now commonplace, with the PHO now offering some of its lifestyle wellness and diabetes self-management groups online, as well as its Continuing Medical Education (CME) sessions.

With COVID-19 likely to remain with us for some time to come, we have found ways to weave it into our ‘business as usual’ and can be rightly proud of our innovation and teamwork, as well as the compassion and empathy shown to each other during this crisis.