In my role as Mayor, I am privileged to sit on the Central Otago Recovery Response Group which was set up, as the name suggests, to recover and respond to pandemic related issues.

This is a cross-sector group that gets together by Zoom when required to share what we are seeing on the ground. 

It comprises leaders from social services, government departments, health providers, business, education and council. 

This Thursday’s meeting showed the value of the group.

For a couple of days last week our case numbers in Central dipped. 

Someone (OK, it was me) suggested that maybe, just maybe, we were hitting the peak of the outbreak. 

“Hell no!” came the responses from the coal face. 

It very soon became apparent from talking to those in both the social services and education sector that we are not hitting the peak and are rapidly climbing. 

That message was borne out by the data that came out that afternoon showing 90 new cases in the district; our previous daily high was 50.

So, we still have some bumpy weeks ahead of us. 

If you or someone in your whanau is currently suffering from the virus, my thoughts are with you for a speedy recovery.

One very important side note to all this - please, if you or a loved one get a positive RAT test, make sure you report it through the website, or if you don’t have access, call 0800 222 478. 

It is absolutely crucial that the authorities know what our actual numbers are, as much needed funding and services flow from the reported numbers.

Take care everyone.