'We have prepared' for Omicron in the community - Nelson mayor

Cars lined up at a Nelson testing station in December when a positive case was found in the region. Photo: Samantha Gee / RNZ

• This story was first published by RNZ

Nelson Airport, two supermarkets, a health centre and a car parts store in Motueka are among the locations of interest linked to the household of 10.

It had been more than a month since the last positive case of Covid-19 was confirmed in the region on 13 December.

The Nelson Tasman region is now in the Covid red setting for the first time, having first moved to orange when the traffic light framework began in December.

"We have prepared," Nelson mayor Rachel Reese told Morning Report.

"In some ways having Covid cases here in November and December last year gave us a really good heads up on what's going to be necessary so I've got confidence in our health system."

The chief medical officer for the area had been ensuring everything was in place, she said.

Testing stations were set up and vaccination was well underway, she said.

"We're sitting at the moment, double vaxxed 94 percent, 96 percent for first vax and 60 percent for boosters.

"Disparity is about 10 percent for the Māori population so we've got some work to do now with our iwi partners and health just to make sure we're removing any barriers to Māori vaccination rates."

Tasman District mayor Tim King says local governments in the top of the South Island had been working closely to coordinate preparation for an outbreak.

"I think people have been aware for a number of weeks now that this is a likely event to happen and it was just a matter of timing."

He believes people are generally pragmatic, so would prepare themselves and get tested if they had symptoms.

There was accommodation available for holiday makers who test positive for Covid when they are visiting the area, King said.

For holidaymakers in Nelson things are very much the same, Reese said.

"We've planned for accommodation for people if they can't self isolate at home, we're making sure that we've got good information going out now for actually how to do that.

"It's really important that people think about that now ... have a plan, get a buddy system set up so that if you have to self isolate you've got someone that can help you."

Anybody who needed help could access welfare support, she said.

Reese said with major events planned, including the biggest in the community, Opera in the Park, the region was looking at its options.

Opera in the Park wasn't covered by the government's events insurance scheme which made things challenging, she said.

"I think the overall economic impact is going to be one that will hit every region. This region in particular, we have a labour shortage already and labour is critical to our key industries."

King said labour shortages would be a massive challenge for Tasman too.

"As we head into the primary production sector's busy period through February, March April, the impact on those businesses as well as on events and on obviously hospitality as an industry is going to be significant as more people self-isolate and are unavailable for work."

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