A community update from Mayor Lyn Riesterer
Video Transcript
I think it's time for me to start up our little video sessions again moving forward.
No doubt you will probably have heard that yesterday the ministry of health announced the first case in the Eastern Bay of Plenty and there is additional testing taking place in Waimana and while there are no areas and known links to Ōpōtiki with this case it's obviously clear it is coming closer.
We have been expecting this and it's not a surprise. Together though let's make sure we're prepared and keep looking out for one another. That's really important. And there's three things we all need to remember and keep taking those precautions as we did before. Wearing masks in public, let's face it we've been pretty slack about that recently, social distancing, and hygiene – hand sanitization and using those QR codes if you’ve got the phone technology to do it. And the businesses are really good. They’ve got those lists there if you don’t have a Smartphone.
We need to get back in the habit from last time acting as though covid is in our community. Vaccinations are still the best tool that we have to keep covid under control. And I’m making a call out now to our rangatahi. The numbers of our young people 30 and under are not high enough. It isn’t too late to get a vaccination. Every bit helps. We’re all in this together and each person who gets a vaccination is helping the whole community. Our entire district. Drive through vaccinations are available today at our community health centre from 12.30pm to 4.30pm.
Because there’s no current locations of interest in Ōpōtiki we only need to get tested if we have symptoms or if you were in one of the locations listed on the ministry of health website. None of which are listed in the Eastern Bay of Plenty at the moment. So if you think you have symptoms and you do need a test call ahead to your GP or health practice and they’ll make arrangements for you to go in.
We expect to have additional stand-up clinics for swabbing and we’ll share those details once they’re set up and confirmed. In the meantime you can check on the Opotikiourway Facebook page – we will continue to have vaccination possibilities. At our Church Street Dispensary this Sunday and drive through vaccinations again on Saturday.
Please look out for each other. Please look after each other. Let’s ensure that we get through this the best way possible in the really good Ōpōtiki way.