Fence-jumpers and Omicron

Inside the Soundsplash superspreader

Five Aucklanders have tested positive for Covid-19 after attending a festival in Hamilton over the weekend.

Soundsplash, open to ages 16 and above, ran for three days at Mystery Creek, before the red setting of the traffic light system came into effect at 11.59pm on Sunday. The Ministry of Health confirmed the five cases yesterday, and said one of the cases was the Omicron variant. So far 68 people have been identified as close contacts, but that number is expected to increase.

This comes after reports of unvaccinated youth sneaking in to the three-day event, which was listed as a location of interest on the ministry’s website on yesterday morning.

The location of interest notification covered the entirety of the three-day festival with attendees told to self-monitor for symptoms for 10 days and to get tested if any appear.

Contact tracing staff were contacting the close cases who were required to follow all public health advice regarding isolation and testing.

Whole genome sequencing was underway for the remaining four cases and interviews would help to determine whether they contracted Covid-19 before the festival or while attending. One woman, who spoke to

Stuff on the basis of anonymity, said her 16-year-old daughter, 18-year-old son, and a 17-year-old girl in her care went to Soundsplash.

She said her daughter shared a vape with an unvaccinated boy who had jumped the fence to enter the festival. ‘‘A large number of people were doing it, apparently they could see them all climbing and running in.’’

She said security guards were tackling people, and her children watched them manhandle a few who made it in.

She said none of the three children had their vaccination passes checked, but her two had both been diagnosed with glandular fever since attending.

They were not tested for Covid19, but were now planning to get one. ‘‘I’m not concerned as it needs to run its course, we will all eventually catch Covid just like any other virus. My son and I both have autoimmune conditions, so we will get very sick. But, hey. It is what it is.’’

A group posted a video on Instagram of themselves sneaking in to the festival in hi-vis vests. It has since been deleted, with the group citing ‘‘legal reasons’’, and potential prison time for offending before going on to plug their merchandise.

The Soundsplash Festival organisers and Mystery Creek Event Centre owners said, in a statement, there were ‘‘minimal reports of individuals attempting to unlawfully enter the event’’.

Security dealt with ‘‘those who chose to put others at risk with their poor decisions’’ and police present at the event were notified of the small handful of instances, it said.

The event was held under the orange traffic light level in accordance with the Covid-19 Protection Framework, the statement said. All protocols were strictly followed, including the scanning of vaccine passes.

Soundsplash is a three-day annual event, usually attended by about 8000 young people each year, many of whom camp on-site.

Meanwhile, two new community Covid cases were reported in the Waikato by the Ministry of Health yesterday. Both are from Hamilton with no Soundsplash link noted.