Coronavirus: Campervans being used to isolate high-risk people in overcrowded households – Newshub

It comes as a church Minister says he's used a church hall to isolate 14 boys, 13 of whom have tested positive.

The Efikasa Church was hit hard during Delta and now it's happening again with Omicron. There are 136 households linked to this church and two other partner churches are isolating.

"All of our houses were not designed to have a special place for isolation and I think all families, we are struggling because of that," says Victor Pouasi, Efikasa Church Minister.

Fourteen boys are isolating in the church hall. They'd been away on a trip when they learned their parents had the virus.

"When they came back, they were not allowed to stay home so they were forced to stay together," Pouasi says.

He says the support the boys have received has been excellent, although the isolation clock restarts for all 14 each time one tests positive.

"That could be part of the learning curve for the Government and for the health department and for everyone to learn from this case."

South Seas Healthcare is overseeing the church cluster and says overcrowding and a lack of options are frustrating families.

"Households that have families of 10-plus end up staying in isolation periods for up to 45 days," says Cherry Elisaia, South Seas community support isolation quarantine lead.

At the South Seas community isolation headquarters, the cluster's growth is monitored in real-time and shows in some cases up to 16 people are living in one house.

"Our experience is that we've got big families that have got elderly folks and also people with multiple health conditions," says Lemalu Silao Vaisola Sefo, South Seas CEO.

He says 15 families were escalated for alternative accommodation, but only three got a room in MIQ.

Health Minister Andrew Little told Newshub he's aware of the issues and is talking with DHBs about alternative accommodation. He said MBIE had access to 125 campervans but they'd only be allowed to be used in "exceptional" circumstances.

But the concern is campervans are not the solution.

"A campervan doesn't quite go far enough. We need to look at alternatives where big families can self-isolate," Sefo says.

Auckland is the epicentre of the Omicron outbreak, but Counties Manukau is the hardest-hit DHB with 2602 active cases, compared with 890 in Auckland and 580 in Waitemat.

Fifteen health and welfare providers met to discuss the overcrowding issue in Mngere.

"It is urgent, it's growing pretty rapidly at the moment," says Ula Letele, Grace Foundation CEO.

Between them they say they have access to houses that'll ease the pressure.

"We've got capacity for around 60 between us, but we don't have the funding to be able to fund it," Letele says.

In the meantime, the workload mounts.

"In the work that we've experienced in the past week, it definitely feels like we're in phase 3," Sefo says.

We're only in phase 2, and it's predicted the coming weeks will just get more intense.

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Coronavirus: Campervans being used to isolate high-risk people in overcrowded households - Newshub