19 Oct 2021

Covid-19: Talemaitoga against quarantine at home

From Morning Report, 7:44 am on 19 October 2021

A prominent South Auckland doctor is warning against people with Covid-19 being able to recover at home, instead of in an MIQ facility.

Dr Api Talemaitoga is warning home isolation could result in greater spread of the virus particularly in areas where homes are overcrowded and vaccination rates are low.

Dr Talemaitoga chairs the Pasifika GP network and told Morning Report the idea has been progressed without any consultation with the communities who would be harmed by the decision.

"The risk of spread is very high. It's not exactly that you could isolate a person in their own home, if 10 people are living in a three bedroom house.

"Plus the way it was announced that I do not see any Māori or Pacific clinical leadership around the planning of this. It just shows we haven't learned from our lessons, that we still think that one size fits all, it's going to work for everybody."

He also said primary healthcare workers are already overworked and managing patients at their homes will be a further stretch.