An Auckland woman who visited an Auckland CBD Countdown after the absconder said Healthline had no idea about the incident and told her not to worry about it when she called for advice.
On Tuesday evening, a man escaped managed isolation at the Stamford Plaza hotel through a gap in the fence during a smoking break.
The 32-year-old then spent 70 minutes walking around the Auckland CBD - including visiting the Countdown supermarket on Victoria St West.
After returning to isolation, he had a test come back positive for COVID-19.
Countdown said the supermarket closed for a deep clean after the result was confirmed, but not before potentially exposing hundreds of customers to virus-contaminated surfaces.
An Auckland woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said she went into the supermarket to pick up some groceries at 8:10am on Wednesday and was later shocked to hear that the man had shopped there.
She told Newshub she called the Ministry of Health's Healthline at 2:20pm for advice on what she should do.
"I was hung up on my first call so I called back again and they picked up and I said 'Hi I'm just calling about the Countdown at Victoria St West' and she was like 'The what? sorry?'
"I was like 'the coronavirus case at Countdown this morning - I was there and wondering what my steps should be?' And she was like 'Sorry I have no idea what you are talking about'."
The woman told Newshub she was put on hold so the Healthline employee could ask their advisor.
"After a couple of minutes waiting on the line, she got back to me and said 'Hi there we have just found out what's happened in the media, don't worry about it. Just if you start feeling sick stay at home.'"
The woman said she was shocked to discover they had no idea about the case.
"I just think they should probably know this stuff before the media frankly... all the media agencies knew about it, so how did the people who were supposed to be helping us contain this not know about it?"
She said the Healthline employee "pretty much dismissed" her concerns.
"[She said] 'I'm sure you'll be fine you weren't there the exact same hours as him so you'll be sweet.'"
Later that day, the woman found out Newshub's National Correspondent Patrick Gower, who had also visited the Countdown, had called the Healthline number only ten minutes after her but received completely different advice.
Gower was advised to immediately go into self-isolation as a precaution and take a coronavirus test - which came back negative on Thursday morning.
The woman said she was angry she was told a completely different story and has decided to "be responsible" and isolate as well.
"There were just two different versions, one person gets told one thing and someone else gets told something else. So I talked to my doctor and he has advised me to get tested."
She said her experience with Healthline "didn't reassure me at all".
Countdown has since reopened the Victoria St West Countdown, after it was closed for most of Wednesday.
The company said they closed at 8:15am but the woman says she was there around that time and there was no hurry to get anyone out.
"It was just like a normal morning," she said.
Patrick Gower also has receipts from the store around 10:45am, which Countdown says was due to an error which saw 10 people accidentally admitted. They said the store was closed down again for the rest of the day after they completed their shops.
Megan Woods, the minister in charge of managed isolation facilities, said on Thursday they are working in "close communication" with Countdown.
Andrew Slater, the CEO of the National Telehealth Service which includes Healthline, told Newshub they received almost 700,000 calls between February 1 and June 30 and their advice is "based on the best information we have at the time".
"We update that advice as new information comes to hand."
He is encouraging the woman involved to get in touch regarding her concerns so they can investigate.
"We work closely with the Public Health units to understand risk. The risk to the public regarding this incident is considered low and as result, we have updated our advice [about] the testing criteria."
He said if anyone is concerned about their health in relation to the COVID-19 isolation escapee, they should call Healthline on 0800 358 5453.
