Stuff | 5 Nov 2021

The friend of man with Covid-19 who died at an apartment block in Auckland said he should never have been allowed to isolate at home.

The man, in his 50s, was found dead by emergency services who were called to View Rd, Mt Eden, on Friday morning.

Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay said the man had been treated at a hospital in Auckland in the past few days.

Stewart Borland, who lives in the same apartment block as the man, who he referred to as Jay, said he wanted to find out more about what happened to his friend.

“I don’t know if he had any underlying medical conditions, but he was double vaccinated,” Borland said.

Borland said the man was a “normal, everyday guy” and it was a shock to lose his friend so suddenly.

“I know yesterday he wasn’t feeling well. It’s a shame really,” said.

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said he understood the man was admitted to hospital on November 1 but discharged himself on November 3.

Borland was critical of that decision, and said he believed he should never have been allowed to isolate at home.

“I don’t think it’s safe for people to isolate at home, and regardless of the fact he chose to leave hospital, he shouldn’t have been allowed to go home.

“He should have been somewhere safe so that he could still be with us here today.”

Health authorities had been in contact with the man on November 3 and 4, but investigations into the death and the surrounding circumstances are ongoing, Robertson said.

McElnay said unless there were specific reasons to stop someone from leaving the hospital, patients had the right to refuse health services.

The apartment block where the man lives was a mixture of emergency or transitional housing and rented units, Robertson said.

He did not know which type of housing the man had lived in.

Robertson said he extended his condolences to the man’s friends and family.

A police spokesman confirmed officers attended a “sudden death” in Mt Eden on Friday morning, and said it appeared to be a “medical event”.

It comes just two days after the death of a man in his 40s who was isolating at home with Covid-19 in Manukau.

McElnay said both deaths would be examined through the coronial process.

There are 767 people with Covid-19 isolating at home.

Everyone who tests positive and is in self-isolation in the community is given an oximeter – a device that measures oxygen levels in blood.

Neither McElnay nor Robertson knew how many of the devices had been handed out.