The orange light pandemic setting in Aotearoa New Zealand has brought a sense of relief for parents, as the eased restrictions mean one less thing to juggle — but some covid-related worries are still lurking.
Lower Hutt’s biggest playground was buzzing on the first day of the school holidays, which have just begun under the covid orange traffic light setting.
While it seems little has changed in parents’ day-to-day lives, one mother said there was definitely a small sense of relief.
“You feel a little bit less cautious, I guess if the government’s making things a bit relaxed it eases the anxiety that you might feel around everyone mixing together.”
Another mum, Rachel, agreed — her son was on immunosuppressants, which meant his lungs could be affected if he caught covid.
Despite this, 10-year-old Magnus was confident about the eased restrictions.
“Most people, when they get the covid after they have vaccines, they get only a little cold or something like that and I have already had my second jab, I had it last year.”
Glad over masks
Meanwhile, his younger sister, 8-year-old Lilith, said she was glad she wouldn’t have to wear a mask at school next term.
“I have had a lot of big feelings when I went to school and I think it’ll really help me that everyone can speak clearly to me. It makes my life a lot easier.”
For Rachel, the orange setting reflected her attempts to keep a balanced perspective.
“We take our immuno-suppressants and those are good for us to protect our body, but then we also play in the dirt, we play with our friends, we get out there and we live our lives,” she said.
“It really is a day-to-day balance of keeping all the parts of ourselves healthy, and that’s our heart and our mind as well.”
Across the park, 6-year-old Sophia and her dad Karl both knew children who’d had the virus.
They said while it was great the rules had relaxed, it was important to continue using good judgment.
Omicron affecting youngsters
“My school friend caught covid,” Sophia said.
“With delta it wasn’t affecting youngsters, but omicron seems to be affecting the youngsters now,” Karl added.
“Unfortunately we don’t know what’s going to happen now and if five and six-year-olds, and four-year-olds can now get it, I’m not going to drop my guard.”
So, what will school holidays in the orange setting look like?
Becka was keen on anything to get her kids outdoors — they were particularly looking forward to the pools.
“Go to Maidstone Park, get in the fresh air,” she said.
“Swimming is something we haven’t done for a while because you had to book in times apparently, through the (red) setting so we’re going to try and do that.”
Parents remaining cautious, but optimistic, in this new stage of New Zealand’s pandemic response.
Covid-19 testing of Marshall Islanders in managed quarantine has seen the largest number test positive for covid-19 since managed repatriation started nearly two years ago.
Seven out of a repatriation group of 72 people tested positive for the coronavirus last Friday, according to a government announcement issued late Friday night.
All are in quarantine at the US Army base at Kwajalein Atoll. This repatriation group is the first to spend only three days in quarantine in Honolulu prior to departure to the Marshall Islands on Tuesday this week.
When the Marshall Islands first began allowing controlled entry to the country in June 2020, the government required two weeks quarantine in Honolulu followed by two weeks quarantine in the Marshall Islands — one of the strictest covid-19 prevention entry protocols in the world.
These strict quarantine requirements have kept the Marshall Islands covid-19 free.
“The seven positive tests represent new infections and these individuals do not pose an infectious threat to the community as they remain in secure and monitored quarantine on Kwajalein,” said Health Secretary Jack Niedenthal in statement released Friday night.
“All individuals remain asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and in addition to the protection provided by being vaccinated will also receive oral antiviral medication to prevent progression to severe forms of covid-19.”
Covid-19 prevention protocols
Marshall Islands covid-19 prevention protocols require that all people entering the country through its monthly controlled quarantine programme must be fully vaccinated and boosted. A 14-day quarantine is required.
Marshall Islands Health Secretary Jack Niedenthal (left) joins Majuro Hospital laboratory director Paul Lalita and Dr Robert Maddison in showing covid-19 test equipment. Image: Hilary Hosia/MIJ/RNZ
However, due to the positive cases identified Friday, the 14-day period has been extended from Friday instead of from the group’s arrive on April 12.
“We’ve decided that every time someone tests positive in this group, the clock starts over at 14 days — so 14 days from now,” said Health Secretary Niedenthal.
“They get another test on day seven. If someone tests positive on day seven the clock starts again for 14 days.”
The seven positive cases identified Friday at Kwajalein brings to 14 the number of covid-19 positive cases in managed quarantine since mid-2020.
There has been no community transmission yet in the Marshall Islands, making it one of only a handful of countries globally to remain covid-19 free throughout the pandemic.
After more than a year of requiring two weeks of quarantine in Hawaii, with multiple covid-19 tests prior to departing to the Marshall Islands, government authorities reduced the Hawaii quarantine late last year to one week.
Hawai’i quarantine time reduced
With this group that went into quarantine last Friday in Honolulu, the Marshall Islands reduced its Hawai’i quarantine time to three days.
Two of the 74 people in quarantine in Hawai’i tested positive on their day-three tests and were not allowed to travel to the Marshall Islands.
Kwajalein Atoll local government police officers provide security at the covid quarantine facility at the Kwaj Lodge at the US Army base at Kwajalein Atoll. Image: Hilary Hosia/MIJ/RNZ
These are the first border cases involving Marshall Islanders since November 2020. Three Americans in a separately managed Army repatriation group in January also tested positive for covid-19 in quarantine.
In January, as infections around the Pacific escalated due to spread of the omicron variant, Niedenthal warned that if the Marshall Islands got cases in quarantine, “we can’t afford any mistake. If people test positive in quarantine here, we have to be perfect (to prevent the spread)”.
Niedenthal noted that lapses in protocols governing quarantine operations in other Pacific islands led to border cases triggering community transmission.
Since it started managed quarantine operations in October 2020, the Ministry of Health and Human Services has required that all of the doctors, nurses and security personnel involved in the quarantine process live in the quarantine facility with each repatriation group as a way to prevent possible community spread in case a person tests positive during the quarantine.
That policy remains in effect with the current group in quarantine at Kwajalein.
No travel restrictions
“As these are border quarantine cases of covid-19, there are no restrictions of travel between Majuro and Kwajalein, and there are no travel restrictions between Kwajalein and neighbouring islands and between Ebeye and Kwajalein,” said the Health Secretary’s statement.
He also urged “all individuals aged five years and above (to get) fully vaccinated, which includes being boosted if eligible”.
The Ministry of Health and Human Services has provided booster shots as well as vaccinating people in the five to 11 age group since late last year.
Public health teams have been flying to remote outer islands to continue covid-19 vaccination services initially begun mid-last year to provide booster shots to adults, as well as vaccinate children.
Giff Johnson is editor of the Marshall Islands Journal. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Eleven 11 more people have died from covid-19, and 6242 more community cases have been detected, New Zealand health authorities say.
The Ministry of Health said the seven-day rolling average of case numbers was on the decline, with today’s seven-day rolling average at 7986 — last Monday it was 10,169.
There are 553 people currently in hospital with the virus, including 23 in intensive care.
The number of new cases identified at the border is 41.
There are 55,869 active community cases today.
Yesterday, there were 10 new deaths reported, and 5933 new community cases.
Air New Zealand said it has been flooded with calls from people interested in travelling as the borders open.
Many people want to check safety precautions and what documentation and other preparations they need to make for travelling under orange restrictions, and the airline said it had brought in extra staff to cope with the demand.
For the first time since the start of the covid-19 pandemic, Auckland does not have the most new daily community cases reported.
The Ministry of Health reported the region had 869 new cases yesterday, while Canterbury had the most new cases at 2255, Southern DHB coming in second with 1747, and Waikato has 1079.
The rest of the district health boards (DHBs) reported new case numbers below 1000.
While the proportion of cases to population in Christchurch has been higher than Auckland for some time, yesterday was the first time it had more in raw numbers.
Auckland’s case numbers peaked in the omicron outbreak almost six weeks ago and this week, all three Auckland DHBs each reported fewer than 100 patients for the first time since late February.
But at a meeting last week, Auckland DHB bosses said they were still only just above minimum service delivery — meaning the only operations they were doing were acute, or planned surgery that could not wait.
Most of the major metropolitan areas in the North Island – Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Wellington and the Hutt Valley – peaked about a week later, according to Otago University epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker.
Professor Baker previously said geography was one of the reasons for the persistent case load in the South Island, with the wave washing out of the large cities and into regional New Zealand.
“What we’re seeing in New Zealand is a city pattern and more of a rural pattern,” he said.
Epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker … “Having a very sharp peak in Auckland does mean there’s a lot more pressure on the system.” Image: Samuel Rillstone/RNZ
“So at one extreme we had Auckland which had peak case numbers on March 4 and it’s really the first DHB where we’re seeing numbers go below 100 cases per 100,000 people.
“And at the other extreme you’ve still got over 300 per 100,000 — so three times higher — in places like Southern, South Canterbury and also on the West Coast.”
But while cases had remained persistently high in the south, deaths and hospitalisations had remained low.
Baker said he expected the drawn-out wave had played a part in that along with high vaccination coverage.
“Having a very sharp peak in Auckland does mean there’s a lot more pressure on the system. Whereas if you have a more prolonged epidemic, as we’re seeing in the South Island in particular, it might be the capacity to manage people at home is better because you’re not seeing so many sick people at the same time.”
As immunity wanes in the community, more people socialising with reduced restrictions, and the possibility of new variants, cases are expected to once again increase during winter.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
After two years of free COVID-19 tests, vaccinations, and other health care resources during the pandemic, thegovernment has run out of funding. Last month, the Biden administrationwrote a letter to Congressasking lawmakers to provide $22.5 billion to keep the funding programs running across the U.S. Without the additional funding, it “will leave us unequipped to deal with a future surge,” the letter read.
Since January 2022,more than 60 million householdsacross the country have orderedfree at-home COVID-19 testsand had access to free testing sites across21,500 locationsaround the country. U.S. residents also received free vaccinations and booster shots at 90,000 locations across the country. Moreover, areas populated by communities of color and low-income families have thehighest demandfor federally funded COVID-19 care.
Those who don’t use the clinics offered by the government typically go to hospitals, pharmacies, or health clinics for COVID-19-related services. But without government funding, people without health insurance have limited options for seeking care and are forced to look forcommunity-based care options, find providers willing to absorb the bill, or pay out of pocket.
Ramifications of Reduced Funding
In the Biden administration’s letter to Congress, officials said it will be “too late” if Congress waits until there is another surge to provide funding. The letter also addresses several consequences arising from the lack of sustained funding, some of which include:
Not having enough booster shots.
A lack of funding to research additional vaccines that could provide protection against future variants.
Scaling back preventative treatments for the immunocompromised individuals.
Being “blindsided” by future variants.
Not only will the lack of funding affect currently infected individuals, but it also “increases the possibility of spread, putting more of the population at risk,” said Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, the executive director of theAmerican Public Health Association. “This can raise the chance of more threatening variants becoming widespread.”
Despite repeated requests, additional COVID-19 resources haven’t been approved. Instead, Republican senatorsare asking the Biden administrationfor a detailed account of how the previous round of funding was spent.
Without government funding, the cost for a COVID-19 test can run from between $20-850, with $127 being the median cost. There has recently been a reduced demand from citizens who can no longer afford to pay for COVID-19 tests and other health care resources out of pocket, which has made it increasingly difficult for some testing sites to operate. As a result, many states and health care organizations have resorted to shutting down.
New Hampshireclosed all state-managed COVID-19 vaccination sitesat the end of March, stating vaccination numbers were high enough. In San Diego, officialsclosed the Jacobs Center vaccination sitebecause of a decline in requests for testing and vaccinations, and instead opened up mobile clinics. For now, they’re still offering tests free of charge despite federal funding running out.
Embry Health, a leading COVID-19 testing provider in Arizona, recently announced it wouldsuspend testing at 60 sitesand ask individuals without insurance to pay $100 for COVID-19 tests and $200 for rapid PCR tests at the remaining locations.
“Embry was paying for the uninsured to get tests after the government funding stopped on March 22, 2022, but as of April 2nd, can no longer afford to do so,” the company saidin a statement.
CDR Health, a Florida-based company that offered COVID-19 tests to nearly 15,000 people a day during surges, has alsoclosed down all 30 of its free testing centersdue to lack of funding.
Reduced Funding Will Widen Health Inequities
Survey data estimates there were28-31 million uninsured peoplein the U.S. in 2020, and as many as14.4 million peoplewill be at risk of losing their health insurance coverage when the public health emergency ends. So while paid testing will continue to be available, it won’t be affordable or accessible for everyone, especially for marginalized communities who alreadyface systemic health care bias. In the U.S., communities of color and low-income families accounted for adisproportionate number of COVID-19 casesand deaths, and experts say the lack of funding will further widen these health and economic inequities.
“Low-income communities and uninsured individuals, which often includes communities of color, are at the greatest risk because they will not have the financial means or insurance protections to cover vaccinations, testing, and health care if the federal government runs out of money to pay for them,” Benjamin said.
What Happens If a New Variant Arises?
A majority of the U.S. population has received their COVID-19 vaccination doses by now.Data from Bloomberg’s COVID-19 vaccination trackershows 567 million doses have been administered as of April 13. This may partially explain why fewer people are visiting vaccination centers, but experts warnthis does not mean the pandemic is overor that there’s no more need for doses or testing.
“If theBA.2 variantcauses big outbreaks or there’s a new variant spreading, we will not be prepared for another surge of infections without federal funding,” Benjamin said.
Without the required funding, the government is unable to purchase further life-saving monoclonal antibody medicines or provide boosters shots and other variant-specific immunizations, said Lyle Solomon, a principal attorney atOak View Law Group.
“There will be a gradual reduction in the money available to pay doctors and other health care providers who treat those uninsured,” Solomon added.
In situations like these, health care providers will need to absorb the costs of uninsured patients or turn them away, which will widen the gap in access to necessary care. Not having access to free tests and vaccinations will only reduce the number of people getting the shot, which will become a major problem if cases increase again or if a new variant arises.
“We are still not at the optimal level of vaccination, including booster shots,” Benjamin said.
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He said case numbers now sit below 10,000 new cases per day for the first time since February 24, and that hospitalisations in Auckland were lower, with all three DHBs each reporting fewer than 100 patients for the first time since late February.
Epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker told RNZ Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan the move was reasonable for Auckland, which peaked almost six weeks ago.
“But that’s not the situation in the rest of New Zealand and particularly the South Island, even some DHBs in the North Island, like Northland and some of the others in the central North Island, are still seeing case numbers reported yesterday that were about 50 percent of their peak.
“So we are quite divided in terms of risk.”
Face masks out in schools
Under the orange setting, face masks are still required in some environments but not in schools.
Professor Baker said that with only 20 percent of younger students fully vaccinated, without masks there are not many barriers that stopped the virus circulating.
“And we do know anecdotally a lot of the way this virus is getting from one family to another is through transmission at school so this seems like a gap at the orange level.”
Hipkins said schools have been provided with guidance, and they have access to public health guidance so they can consider the advice for themselves.
“Ultimately looking at a school by school basis, in some schools there is still a very strong justification for masks — but not all.
“It is very challenging for schools, it has proven to be one of the most challenging covid-19 requirements.”
People who are young, healthy, fully vaccinated and boosted should be getting out much more because the risk from the infection is much less, Professor Baker said.
High vaccine coverage
“We know now of high vaccine coverage, we’ve actually pushed the fatality rate from this infection now to down to less than, it’s about 0.05 percent which is in a similar range now to seasonal flu — but it’s only because we’re highly vaccinated.”
Prior to vaccination there was a fatality risk of 0.5 percent, he said.
Te Pūnaha Matatini modeller Professor Michael Plank said: “It’s a good time to be relaxing the traffic light settings when cases and hospitalisations are declining in almost all parts of the country.”
Professor Plank is partly funded by the Department of Prime Minister and cabinet for research on mathematical modelling of covid-19.
“We have successfully flattened the curve of this Omicron wave — although hospitalisations and staff absences have put intense strain on our healthcare system, things would have been even worse without our efforts to slow the spread.”
While New Zealand is marking the end of its omicron sprint, it is at the beginning of its marathon, Professor Baker said.
“Covid-19 isn’t going to go away and we are very likely to have further waves of infection as immunity wanes, people’s behaviour gets back to normal, and new variants arrive,” he said.
“As we move away from restrictions and mandates, we need to work on a long-term, sustainable set of mitigations. This should include vaccines, high-quality surveillance systems, a focus on clean air indoors, and financial support for people to isolate when sick.”
Hybrid office/home set-up With a change in restrictions, Victoria University of Wellington and Umbrella Wellbeing clinical psychologist Dr Dougal Sutherland says the government will no longer encourage working from home.
But Dr Sutherland warned there may be psychological consequences for workplaces encouraging their people to return in person.
Flexibility and agility will be key for adjusting to this new normal, he said.
“It seems likely many people will continue working from home, at least some of the time.
“This presents a challenge to organisations about how they create psychologically safe teams in a dispersed environment. There is also the challenge of how to support people with different levels of anxiety associated with increased human contact.
“Research shows that allowing people to work from home a few days a week is associated with better wellbeing and productivity, so allowing workers to continue a hybrid office/home set-up should be encouraged.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
This year’s annual Gridiron Dinner at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C. dealt a blow that few were suspecting, which itself is telling about the moment we find ourselves in. A few attendees took home doggy bags from the meal, everyone took home a story to tell, and 72 of them — more than 10 percent of the audience and climbing — took home COVID-19.
The names of the afflicted looks like a speaker’s list for commencement addresses in May. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Commerce Secretary Gina M. Raimondo and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack were all infected. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas, Rep. Adam B. Schiff of California and Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser likewise brought home an uninvited guest from the elite event.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Raphael G. Warnock of Georgia did not attend the dinner, but both announced they were infected in the last week. What happened at the Gridiron clearly did not stay at the Gridiron, but thankfully, the vaccines and boosters appear to have done what they are supposed to: All the reported cases so far have been on the milder end, and nobody has been hospitalized yet. Contrast that with two Octobers ago, when Donald Trump became seriously ill after becoming infected at another glitzy D.C. gathering.
President Biden did not attend the dinner, and at present appears to be free of any secondary infection due to subsequent interaction with attendees.
Which brings us to the next big item on the D.C. social calendar: the upcoming White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. “The White House Correspondents Association will require those attending its annual dinner to be vaccinated against the coronavirus,” reportsAxios. “The association was already requiring attendees to provide proof of a same-day negative COVID test. It is now also encouraging guests to get a second booster shot if they are eligible as soon as this week for ‘maximum protection.’”
Welcome, all and sundry, to the “Learning to Live With It” stage of the process. In one sense, you could take the Gridiron outbreak as a success story, a triumph of science even. Not even a year free from a ruthless, lethal explosion in COVID cases, 67 people got infected at a major event and not one of them died or was hospitalized. That is the hoped-for impact of the vaccines — not to make people bulletproof, but to keep the symptoms manageable — and in this case, like Hodor, they had one job and they did it.
Additionally, it’s probable that most of the Gridiron attendees were not only vaxxed to the max, but were not afflicted with conditions that would make them very acutely vulnerable to infection. The test sample we have here includes only those who are comfortable making a run at “Learning to Live With It.”
There are at least 7 million immunocompromised people in this country — many of whom would likely not have gone to that dinner, or to any event like it, for all the whiskey in Ireland. Add to that group people like me, who have prior health issues that make us ripe bait for COVID no matter how well-vaccinated we are, plus the elderly, and children under five (who aren’t yet able to be vaccinated), and you wind up with a substantial portion of the population with its nose pressed against the glass as other people take the risk, get infected, and live to fight another day.
If the moment is any indication, “Learning to Live With It” involves COVID sliding to the back of most people’s minds until a big story like the Gridiron outbreak jerks it to the fore again (New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has championed a return to normal in his city, has also been infected, is fully vaccinated, has minor symptoms and is quarantining). It is hard to complain about that — for the love of God, people need a break after the last two years — but harder again to miss the peril involved.
More than 31,000 people were infected yesterday, a slight uptick from two weeks ago — and that number is likely low, given the number of people who are testing at home and not reporting their cases. The BA.2 subvariant is now the dominant strain of COVID in the U.S., and scientists are watching like hawks to see if it has the muscle to create another massive surge. If it does, “Learning to Live With It” will have to downshift hard back into “Duck, Cover and Mask.”
Getting people to comply with that after another small breath of fresh air may come to be one of the biggest challenges we have faced so far.
Papua New Guinea’s Police Commissioner David Manning — who is also head of the country’s Covid-19 National Control Centre — has placed United Nations agencies on notice that they must reveal how they have spent virus emergency funding over the past two years.
Manning said Prime Minister James Marap and other Members of Parliament, and independent organisations such as Transparency International, have all called for the release of information on how covid-19 funds have been spent and they have been ignored.
“Unfortunately, these United Nations bodies have refused to provide financial information to the government and people of Papua New Guinea,” he said.
This matter has now come to a head with the Controller writing to the World Bank Acting Country Director in Papua New Guinea, Paul Vallely, on March 29, advising that he would no longer endorse any further increase in allocation of funds, or disbursements, under the PNG Covid-19 Emergency Response Project.
“I have repeatedly requested both directly and through auditors, acquittals of previously disbursed funds under this and other similar projects,” the Controller said in his letter to the World Bank on the loan money.
“The recipients of these funds have refused to provide any reasonable account for these monies.
“There is over US$1.3 billion (K4.5 billion) identified on the self-reporting donor tracker as being committed for managing the covid-19 pandemic in PNG.
‘How are UN agency funds used?’
“What our people need to know, and the global community needs to know, is how are these UN agencies using the funds allocated to them.”
Manning advised that the project is to receive no further funds until he is satisfied that previous disbursements have been acquitted.
“Enough is enough, I have called for the past year for this expenditure to be acquitted and they have refused, so now I am demanding compliance with transparency requirements in PNG,” he said.
“With the country going through the height of the pandemic, these agencies were provided with some leniency, but we have heard enough excuses and misleading information.
A substantial part of the funds being spent by these UN organisations had also become a part of national sovereign debt that must be repaid by future generations of the Papua New Guinean people, he said.
“But the terrible irony is that we do not even know what they spent this money on, particularly in areas such as communications and awareness in which they have failed.
“Details that have been revealed on the Covid-19 Donor Tracking Dashboard shows that UNDP, as one example, has facilitated the following funding of their own activities in PNG to an amount of K9 million (US$2.6 million).
“This is one just source of funding that is shrouded in secrecy and there are several others for which we have demanded information but is being ignored by this global body.”
Outraged by wording
Manning said he was outraged by the almost identical wording from UNICEF, WHO and UNDP in response to his requirement for an independent auditor to access their records, in which these agencies essentially said they would ignore the request.
In documents seen by the Post-Courier, UNDP Resident Representative Dirk Wagener and UNICEF PNG Representative Claudes Kamenga wrote to Manning with the same “contemptuous and arrogant” language stating that: “We would like to inform you that UNICEF, as a United Nations Agency, is submitted to the ‘Single Audit principle’ that gives the exclusivity of external audit and investigation to the United Nations Board of Auditors (UNBoA) founded in 1946 through the UN resolution 74 (I) of 7 December 1946.”
Manning said what UNICEF and UNDP were saying to PNG is that they would spend funds that were intended for the people, and they would not tell how they used this money.
“In other words, if these agencies have wasted money that was intended for our people, they claim they can keep it a secret,” Manning said.
“This is exactly what we have seen with the way UNICEF uses public funding for communications and awareness and delivers limited results.
“This is a matter that must be addressed at the highest level of the United Nations, because if this lack of transparency is happening in PNG, you have to ask how many other smaller developing countries are being treated with such contempt.”
The Controller said he would ensure the PNG public and international support partners were kept aware of developments in the matter and if acquittals were forthcoming.
Republished with permission from the PNG Post-Courier.
Public health experts on Sunday warned that the U.S. public may not be getting a full, accurate picture of their risk of contracting the coronavirus — and their need to take precautions like masking in public indoor spaces — as a number of high-profile Covid-19 cases were reported on Capitol Hill several weeks after mitigation efforts were largely dropped in cities across the country.
At least 67 people who attended the annual Gridiron Club dinner last weekend — more than 10% of the guests — have now tested positive for Covid-19, including Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) did not attend the annual gathering of politicians and media and business players, but tested positive last week after being in contact with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Crystal Watson of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security toldThe Hill Sunday that it is “hard to tell” exactly how indicative the high-profile surge in cases is of nationwide trends, but added, “I do think we’re going to see an uptick nationally,” while other experts cautioned that the current status of Covid-19 transmission and case numbers in the U.S. is hard to gauge.
BA.2, a subvariant of the Omicron variant which is more easily transmitted, now accounts for 72% of reported Covid-19 cases.
However, due to a lack of testing and heavy reliance on at-home tests — the results of which are generally not included in tallies by state health officials or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — “case counts and testing are progressively becoming shaky indicators” of the state of the pandemic, Dr. Jonathan Quick of the Duke Global Health Institute toldNBC News.
“I do think we are in the middle of a surge, the magnitude of which I can’t tell you,” Dr. Zeke Emanuel, vice provost of global initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania, told the outlet. “We just don’t have a lot of case counts.”
With more than 66% of people in the U.S. having received at least two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine — but fewer than 30% having gotten a booster shot — the population is far better protected from severe cases, hospitalizations, and death than it was before the vaccines were widely available. But some public health experts are warning that the looming end of funding for oral antiviral treatments, vaccines, surveillance of new variants, and tests may severely weaken the country’s defenses in the coming weeks.
According to NBC News, there is not currently enough funding to purchase fourth vaccine doses for all Americans if they are needed, and testing capacity is expected to decline in the coming months.
Some public health experts have expressed frustration with the federal government’s messaging and accounting of Covid-19 cases and current risk levels, with George Washington University professor Dr. Jonathan Reiner and Scripps Research Translational Institute founder Eric Topol criticizing the CDC’s “misleading” promotion of its “County-level Covid-19 Community Levels” tool.
The tool shows whether hospitals in each county have capacity and if there is a “high potential for healthcare strain” — not whether the virus is spreading widely in communities.
While much of the Northeast is green on the Covid-19 Community Levels map, indicating a “low” level, those counties are largely red or orange on the community transmission map, indicating at least 50 new cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days. The CDC says those counties have a “substantial” or “high” transmission level.
“This is what individuals should use to gauge individual risk,” Reiner said of the community transmission map.
This is CDC’s community transmission map. This is what individuals should use to gauge individual risk. It’s not so easy to find on the CDC website. Only 24% of the country has low transmission rates. https://t.co/NtQ8CYhVIipic.twitter.com/eEj4sRrkTG
Dr. Leana Wen, a public health professor at George Washington University, argued last Thursday that while the Gridiron dinner — where guests had to show proof of vaccination but not a negative test—”was probably a Covid-19 superspreader… events like this should still go on.”
Individuals should be “thoughtful about their own risks and the risks they pose to others,” she added.
That guidance comes in absence of leadership from policymakers regarding masking and testing requirements for large events, critics said.
“This is not the new normal,” said Reiner of the Gridiron event. “Covid is surging in places like D.C. and New York. CDC’s map has hidden this. We are not at endemic levels that we just need to live with. When the virus is surging we should reinstitute masks in public places.”
While there is “nothing abnormal about socializing,” said Dr. Abraar Karan, an infectious diseases physician at Stanford University, “there’s something very abnormal about mass infections. If you can’t understand that distinction you may have given up on the possibility that our government can do better.”
Most people welcomed the opportunity to get vaccinated against covid-19, yet a non-trivial minority did not. Vaccine-resistant people tend to hold strong views and assertively reject conventional medical or public health recommendations.
This is puzzling to many, and the issue has become a flashpoint in several countries.
It has resulted in strained relationships, even within families, and at a macro-level has threatened social cohesion, such as during the month-long protest on Parliament grounds in Wellington, New Zealand.
This raises the question: where do these strong, often visceral anti-vaccination sentiments spring from? As lifecourse researchers we know that many adult attitudes, traits and behaviours have their roots in childhood.
This insight prompted us to enquire about vaccine resistance among members of the long-running Dunedin Study, which marks 50 years this month.
Specifically, we surveyed study members about their vaccination intentions between April and July 2021, just prior to the national vaccine roll out which began in New Zealand in August 2021. Our findings support the idea that anti-vaccination views stem from childhood experiences.
The Dunedin Study, which has followed a 1972-73 birth cohort, has amassed a wealth of information on many aspects of the lives of its 1037 participants, including their physical health and personal experiences as well as long-standing values, motives, lifestyles, information-processing capacities and emotional tendencies, going right back to childhood.
Almost 90 percent of the Dunedin Study members responded to our 2021 survey about vaccination intent. We found 13 pecent of our cohort did not plan to be vaccinated (with similar numbers of men and women).
Among many assessments, study participants undergo eye examinations to test the health of optic nerves and the eye’s surface. Image: Guy Frederick, CC BY-ND
When we compared the early life histories of those who were vaccine resistant to those who were not we found many vaccine-resistant adults had histories of adverse experiences during childhood, including abuse, maltreatment, deprivation or neglect, or having an alcoholic parent.
These experiences would have made their childhood unpredictable and contributed to a lifelong legacy of mistrust in authorities, as well as seeding the belief that “when the proverbial hits the fan you’re on your own”.
Our findings are summarised in this figure.
Vaccine resistance. Graph: Dunedin Study, CC BY-ND
Personality tests at age 18 showed people in the vaccine-resistant group were vulnerable to frequent extreme emotions of fear and anger. They tended to shut down mentally when under stress.
They also felt fatalistic about health matters, reporting at age 15 on a scale called “health locus of control” that there is nothing people can do to improve their health. As teens they often misinterpreted situations by unnecessarily jumping to the conclusion they were being threatened.
The resistant group also described themselves as non-conformists who valued personal freedom and self-reliance over following social norms. As they grew older, many experienced mental health problems characterised by apathy, faulty decision-making and susceptibility to conspiracy theories.
Negative emotions combine with cognitive difficulties To compound matters further, some vaccine-resistant study members had cognitive difficulties since childhood, along with their early-life adversities and emotional vulnerabilities. They had been poor readers in high school and scored low on the study’s tests of verbal comprehension and processing speed.
These tests measure the amount of effort and time a person requires to decode incoming information.
Such longstanding cognitive difficulties would certainly make it difficult for anyone to comprehend complicated health information under the calmest of conditions. But when comprehension difficulties combine with the extreme negative emotions more common among vaccine-resistant people, this can lead to vaccination decisions that seem inexplicable to health professionals.
Today, New Zealand has achieved a very high vaccination rate (95 percent of those eligible above the age of 12), which is approximately 10 percent higher than in England, Wales, Scotland or Ireland and 20 percent higher than in the US.
More starkly, the New Zealand death rate per million population is currently 71. This compares favourably to other democracies such as the US with 2,949 deaths per million (40 times New Zealand’s rate), UK at 2,423 per million (34 times) and Canada at 991 per million (14 times).
How to overcome vaccine resistance How then do we reconcile our finding that 13 percent of our cohort were vaccine resistant and the national vaccination rate now sits at 95 percent? There are a number of factors that helped drive the rate this high.
They include:
Good leadership and clear communication from both the prime minster and director-general of health
leveraging initial fear about the arrival of new variants, delta and omicron
widespread implementation of vaccine mandates and border closure, both of which have become increasingly controversial
the devolution by government of vaccination responsibilities to community groups, particularly those at highest risk such as Māori, Pasifika and those with mental health challenges.
A distinct advantage of the community-driven approach is that it harnesses more intimate knowledge about people and their needs, thereby creating high(er) trust for decision-making about vaccination.
Community organisations can build on higher trust and better knowledge of people’s concerns and needs. Image: The Conversation/Fiona Goodall/Getty Images
This is consistent with our findings which highlight the importance of understanding individual life histories and different ways of thinking about the world – which are both attributable to adversities experienced by some people early in life. This has the added benefit of encouraging a more compassionate view towards vaccine resistance, which might ultimately translate into higher rates of vaccine preparedness.
For many, the move from a one-size-fits-all approach occurred too slowly and this is an important lesson for the future. Another lesson is that achieving high vaccination rates has not been free of “cost” to individuals, families and communities. It has been a struggle to persuade many citizens to get vaccinated and it would be unrealistic not to expect some residual resentment or anger among those most heavily affected by these decisions.
Preparing for the next pandemic Covid-19 is unlikely to be the last pandemic. Recommendations about how governments should prepare for future pandemics often involve medical technology solutions such as improvements in testing, vaccine delivery and treatments, as well as better-prepared hospitals.
Other recommendations emphasise economic solutions such as a world pandemic fund, more resilient supply chains and global coordination of vaccine distribution. The contribution of our research is the appreciation that citizens’ vaccine resistance is a lifelong psychological style of misinterpreting information during crisis situations that is laid down before high school age.
We recommend that national preparation for future pandemics should include preventive education to teach school children about virus epidemiology, mechanisms of infection, infection-mitigating behaviours and vaccines. Early education can prepare the public to appreciate the need for hand-washing, mask-wearing, social distancing and vaccination.
Early education about viruses and vaccines could provide citizens with a pre-existing knowledge framework, reduce citizens’ level of uncertainty in a future pandemic, prevent emotional stress reactions and enhance openness to health messaging. Technology and money are two key tools in a pandemic-preparedness strategy, but the third vital tool should be a prepared citizenry.
The takeaway messages are twofold. First, do not scorn or belittle vaccine-resistant people, but rather attempt to glean a deeper understanding on “where they’re coming from” and try to address their concerns without judgement. This is best achieved by empowering the local communities that vaccine resisters are most likely to trust.
The second key insight points to a longer-term strategy that involves education about pandemics and the value of vaccinations in protecting the community. This needs to begin when children are young, and of course it must be delivered in an age-appropriate way. This would be wise simply because, when it comes to future pandemics, it’s not a matter of if, but when.
Aotearoa New Zealand’s outgoing Director of Public Health says the quick sharing of scientific information and the widespread use of masks have both been critical parts of the country’s public health response.
Dr Caroline McElnay, who is leaving the role shortly, presented the regular covid-19 update with Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield for the final time yesterday and gave her view on the pandemic response over the past couple of years.
She is stepping down from the role in the same week Dr Bloomfield announced he would also soon be leaving his role.
Dr McElnay had been in the job for five years and is travelling to Europe, but plans to come back to New Zealand. She said she is looking forward to going hiking — on long walks without cell phone coverage.
Dr McElnay said the country had learned a lot since New Zealand first went into lockdown more than two years ago.
Masks had become part of daily lives and would continue to remain an important tool, she said.
“They are a critical aspect of our public health response.”
Pandemic sped up science
The pandemic had changed the way many people worked, and also sped up science, she said.
“Scientists effectively show progress through publishing scientific papers, which makes the information then available to the science and health communities,” she said.
“Pre-covid that process often took months, but during covid it was clear sharing information was key. Information that could help understand the science behind the pandemic and assist in tackling it needed to be fast, so it could be used equally quickly.
“Applying that knowledge, which has improved as time has gone on, has held New Zealand in good stead.
“Vaccines and treatments that are effective at keeping people out of hospital were developed fast and advances in tracking and testing were equally quick.”
Watch the covid-19 update
The covid briefing. Video: RNZ News
This had allowed the fast spread of information to the scientific community and the public within days.
There had been frequent changes in advice and approach as experts and officials learnt more, she said.
New Zealand was very fortunate to have had a solid foundation of trust by the public in the country’s institutions, but she said she was also aware of the impact the pandemic had had on many people’s lives.
She noted there has also been a rise in misinformation, so officials had worked to increase the amount of trustworthy information available to the public.
She said the media standups would continue. This was her 299th in two years, she said.
Dr McElnay said she would travel overseas for some months. She said she was honoured to have held the role of director of public health.
“I want to finish by thanking you all, all New Zealanders, in getting us to where we are today on what has been a rollercoaster of a ride. And I’d also like to thank you in this room, the media, for your extensive coverage throughout the pandemic, helping to keep the public informed.”
Timing of departures
Dr Bloomfield said there had been speculation in the past 24 hours about the timing of his and Dr McElnay’s departures. He said Dr Jim Miller had already joined to act in the public health role while Dr McElnay’s replacement was appointed, while Dr Bloomfield himself would remain for four months.
The response to the virus had been a huge undertaking for many people, but “having said that Dr McElnay has been instrumental, and often the public face of the ministry’s response”, he said.
“A mammoth effort indeed. Personally I just want to fully acknowledge Dr McElnay’s calm and supportive and solution-focused approach over the last five years, but in particular she’s been a real rock for me over these past two years.”
Dr McElnay said she took on the role five years ago and decided at the time that five years would be a good length of time, and it had been challenging.
She said she got quite a few comments about her hair, and tried to avoid engaging with social media.
She personally did not feel burnt out but said burnout was a very real thing and workplaces and employees themselves needed to acknowledge that.
“Talk to your family and friends and talk to your health professionals.”
Collaboration ‘awe-inspiring’
A highlight of her time was seeing public health experts come together to come up with a plan back when covid-19 first struck our shores, she said.
Seeing the advice she and her colleagues gave be announced as official decisions reinforced the weight of responsibility that came with her job. She said it was “awe inspiring”.
The death toll in New Zealand had been staggeringly low — 466 as at today — and while every death was a tragedy, New Zealand had “such an amazing response”, she said.
“Every country has responded differently according to the context of that country.”
It was really the early closing of the borders as an island nation that really allowed such a strong response, she said.
Dr Bloomfield said the health system was now having to gear up to switch from responding to the acute illness from covid-19, to a longer-term care for people who have long-term symptoms.
Pressure on the healthcare system due to covid-19 was now easing.
Case numbers declining
The overall situation was improving, and as case numbers continue to decline it will also mean fewer staff members being off work, he said.
DHBs all have plans for how to catch up on care that has been deferred and ensure it is delivered, he said.
He was concerned enough about the possibility of a perfect storm of winter illnesses as well as covid-19 to have prepared a plan to prevent that.
Advice on a fourth booster was going to ministers this week, he said.
“The groups that other countries are offering a fourth dose to are largely older people and immunocompromised people of all ages.”
Dr Bloomfield also said he wanted to mark yesterday as World Health Day, the anniversary of the founding of the WHO in 1948.
Ten new deaths were reported today — including someone aged between 10-19 — while the daily number of new community cases in New Zealand has dropped back below the 10,000 mark.
There were 9906 new community cases reported today, down from the 11,634 community cases reported yesterday, while the number of people in hospital has dropped from 654 yesterday to 626 today, including 17 people in ICU.
The death toll of people who have died with covid-19 is now 466.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Health workers in Aotearoa New Zealand are thanking Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield for his work stopping the ailing health system from collapsing in the covid-19 pandemic — and for saving lives.
They say they can relate to him needing a rest.
Dr Bloomfield leaves his job in July, stepping down 12 months early after the huge stress of the past two years.
There are few public servants who have had the same degree of fame.
For two years he has been a regular in the living rooms of the country, particularly in the first lockdown when almost everyone was home turning in every day to hear news of the covid-19 threat.
Emergency doctor and chair of the Council of Medical Colleges Dr John Bonning said Dr Bloomfield had to step up to communicate with the public in a role that would normally have been done by politicians.
He exuded trust and had stellar public health credentials, as a medical doctor who had worked for the World Health Organisation and headed a district health board (DHB), Dr Bonning said.
Engaged and communicated
He engaged and communicated very regularly with health worker groups.
“He felt the pain, he felt the pressure along with the rest of us,” he said.
Frontline GP and chair of the Pacific GP Network Api Talemaitoga said the country was lucky to have a director-general with top public health skills when they were needed most.
That meant Dr Bloomfield understood the practicalities of what had to be done — like limiting numbers, mass masking, vaccination programmes and the importance of communication, he said.
Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins said Dr Bloomfield’s advice had been at the heart of the government’s decision making and he “had saved thousands if not tens of thousands of lives”.
Delays over Māori health autonomy
Te Whānau O Waiapareira chief executive John Tamihere said the director-general had done a decent job but he was uncomfortable with the “idolatry” that had sprung up around him.
He had called Dr Bloomfield out over the past two years on issues like the delays giving Māori health groups autonomy to look after their communities, and of the ministry’s initial failure to hand over health data.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield … “He will go down as leading a great result when compared with other nations.” Image” RNZ/Pool/Getty
It would be mean-spirited to criticise Dr Bloomfield on his way out, he said.
He was a highly-paid public servant who had done a decent job, particularly for mainstream New Zealand, but his copybook was not completely clean, Tamihere said.
“But … Dr Bloomfield will go down as leading a great result when compared with other nations,” he said.
Pacific health groups had shared the concerns about not initially being able to lead the response for their communities, who bore the brunt of early waves of the virus.
Privy to the big picture
GP Dr Api Talemaitoga said while that was frustrating, he and his colleagues on the frontline were not always privy to the big picture Dr Bloomfield was dealing with “in terms of the whole country, the ministry, and his political masters”.
Senior emergency doctor Dr Kate Allan represents the College of Emergency Medicine and said Dr Bloomfield inherited a “broken health system” but led a response that stopped it from collapsing under the weight of covid-19.
“I take my hat off to him. I think it’s been an amazing job and an incredibly difficult job and I can’t imagine how tired he must be,” she said.
Dr Bloomfield is, in turn, quick to credit people like Dr Allan who worked on the frontline to battle the virus.
Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay … also resigned. Image: RNZ/Pool/Stuff/Robert Kitchin
Director of Public Health Caroline McElnay and Deputy Director of Public Health Niki Stefanogiannis are also leaving the ministry.
Health Minister Andrew Little told RNZ Morning Report they had been at the forefront of the covid-19 response and had worked tirelessly. “As Ashley said to me in the weekend, he is just exhausted.”
Thousands of front line health workers had done a phenomenal job and would be feeling the same after two years of the pandemic, he said.
There was still work to be done in terms of the rebuild and the nationwide health restructure “because we’ve got to create that extra capacity.”
“I am committed to filling the gaps that are there.”
‘Saved thousands of lives’
Epidemiologist Professor Rod Jackson said the key leadership group including Dr Bloomfield, the prime minister, senior ministers and others “saved thousands of lives, it saved our health services”.
“The work that they did over the past couple of years, it’s just relentless.” Jackson said. “I’m amazed that they lasted so long.”
All three were there at the most important stage but it was “a bit worrying” they were leaving. “The next phase is going to be messy, it’s going to be more political.”
However, New Zealand had “fantastic” vaccines and the knowledge on how to slow down and contain a pandemic.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
A leading epidemiologist says Aotearoa New Zealand has no idea how many community cases of covid-19 there are in the country because so many people are not recording their rapid antigen test (RAT) results.
University of Auckland Professor Rod Jackson said an upgrade of the testing system and My Covid Record is desperately needed.
His comments follow the leak of a memo from the Northern Region Health Co-ordination Centre (NRHCC) to health providers in the Auckland region on March 26.
“The MoH shared the following with us this week: in the last month we have distributed 50 million RATs into the system and so far less than 1 million results have been reported.”
The memo goes on to mention the increased number of false positives and negatives that occur with RATs (compared to PCRs) and the need to shift towards more PCR testing immediately.
Professor Jackson said the fact that so many people are not recording their covid-19 RAT results means the Ministry of Health’s daily case numbers are meaningless.
“Those numbers clearly demonstrate that expecting people to report the results of self-administered RAT tests was never going to happen on a consistent basis,” he said. “They are only reliable if they are done by trained people and recorded.”
University of Auckland epidemiologist Professor Rod Jackson … “The numbers are only reliable if they are done by trained people and recorded.” Image: Ricky Wilson/Stuff/LDR
Looking at hospitalisations
Professor Jackson said he did not even even look at the daily case numbers.
“I look at the hospitalisations and, sadly, the number of deaths,” he said.
Daily new covid-19 cases as at today. Image: Ministry of Health
But Professor Jackson said, in the middle of an omicron outbreak, a switch back to PCR testing might not be feasible due to the sheer number of people who would need to be tested.
“And my concern is people have got so used to easy access to RATs and now they wouldn’t want to wait in line.”
He said RATs are a tool to help slow down the spread of omicron, but their accuracy can be as low as 50 percent.
Auckland University associate professor of public health and Associate Dean Pacific Dr Collin Tukuitonga agrees that poor recording of RAT results highlights the shortcomings of the Ministry of Health’s daily case numbers.
Auckland University associate professor of public health Dr Collin Tukuitonga … “The reality is we have no idea of the real numbers.” Image: Ryan Anderson/Stuff/LDR
“The reality is we have no idea of the real numbers because people are either not getting tested or, if they are, they aren’t recording their results,” he said.
Real case numbers far higher
“Some people say the real case numbers could be two or even four times higher.”
He said looking at the overall trend shows case numbers are declining in Auckland.
“But in terms of absolute numbers, we have no idea.”
A Ministry of Health spokeswoman said it has continued to monitor and review its approach to testing throughout the outbreak.
She said RATs are the ministry’s preferred testing method as they can be done at home, the results are available quickly and, when people upload their results, they provide an insight into the spread and size of an outbreak.
“We are still undertaking some PCR testing. However, this is mainly focused on priority populations and those individuals who are at higher risk of the effects from covid-19.”
According to the Ministry of Health, from February 22 to April 4 it has distributed 61.6 million RATs nationwide and between December 13 and April 5, a total of 1,614,110 million results have been recorded.
Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the News Publishers’ Association and NZ On Air. Asia Pacific Report is a community partner.
Aotearoa New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield — the man who has tirelessly steered the country’s covid-19 pandemic response for the past two years — is stepping down from his role at the end of July.
Public Service Commissioner Peter Hughes revealed Dr Bloomfield’s decision in a statement today.
Dr Bloomfield had signalled to the commissioner late last year he intended to step down before his term officially ended on 11 June 2023, Hughes said.
He said Dr Bloomfield had done an outstanding job leading the government’s health response to covid-19 and the vaccination rollout.
“Dr Bloomfield has worked tirelessly for more than two years to keep New Zealanders safe from coronavirus,” Hughes said.
“Dr Bloomfield has demonstrated remarkable resilience and courage in leading the health system’s overall response to Covid-19. That response has saved lives.
“I thank Dr Bloomfield for his commitment to public service, his spirit of service to the community and his exceptional contribution to New Zealand’s covid-19 response. I know many New Zealanders will also be thankful for the job he has done.”
Good hold on the virus
Hughes said Dr Bloomfield wanted to stay on until the country had a good hold on the virus, and that time was now.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson … “central to our COVID success as a nation.” Image: Samuel Rillstone/RNZ
In a post on Facebook, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Bloomfield had been a true public servant in every sense, through his dedication, drive and calmness.
“He has been central to our COVID success as a nation, and he’s done it with humour and grace (I’ll keep the details of his sporadic mockery of me to myself!),” she said.
“When we spoke about his decision to move on, he mentioned that he wanted to spend time with his family, and that’s the least we owe him. So kia ora from across the Motu, Dr Bloomfield. We thank you.”
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins also posted on Facebook after the news was released, acknowledging Bloomfield for being a “reassuring figure” through the pandemic response.
“The amount of pressure he’s absorbed, and the level of commitment he’s shown over the past two years make that an easy decision to understand.
‘Give the man a beer’
“We thank you Ashley for all you’ve done to keep us all safe. Give the man a beer, he’s truly earned it!”
As a Minister I want to thank Dr Bloomfield for advising the Govt on some of the most important decisions taken in peacetime.
As a doctor I want to acknowledge @AshBloomfield as a colleague who has made an unparalleled contribution to protecting the health of New Zealanders.
There had been early data showing an uptick since mid-March in people visiting places of retail and recreation in Auckland, as well as more people returning to workplaces, she said.
While cases were dropping in Auckland, Wellington and Tairāwhiti, others region like Canterbury, Northland and Waikato were not experiencing the same drop. Hospitalisations in some DHBs were not expected to peak until mid- to late-April.
“So for now, New Zealand will remain at red,” Ardern said.
“I know there is an eagerness to move to orange, but we are still frankly amid an outbreak and there is still pressure across our hospital network.”
Nine further deaths
The Ministry of Health today reported 10,205 new community cases of covid-19 and nine further deaths.
There are now 734 people in hospital, including 25 in ICU or HDU.
In a statement, the ministry said the seven-day rolling average of case numbers was continuing to decline — down to 13,218 from last Monday’s 16,102.
Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said health officials would not be looking at a specific number of hospitalisations when advising a move down to the orange setting, but would rather be considering capacity and pressure levels, which also includes staffing at hospitals.
The next review of the traffic light settings will be on Thursday, April 14.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on the traffic light system. Video: RNZ
The country will remain at the red Covid-19 traffic light setting, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.
Ardern made the announcement at today’s post-Cabinet media briefing from about 4pm.
Based on health advice
Ardern said the decision today was based on health advice, and the government did not want to move too quickly and lose the progress made.
“It’s less about the case numbers and more about the hospitalisations.”
Asked why Auckland could not move to orange when cases were falling, Ardern said that while there was a decline in hospitalisations, “it is off a high base, the numbers are still relatively high, the pressure on our system is still there, we want to make sure that we’re in the best possible position and we don’t lose the gains we’ve worked so hard for.
“We’ve always said that there is the possibility of moving regions to different levels at different times … but as we’ve said, Auckland has made significant progress but we do still have a relatively high hospitalisation rate.
“We need to look after our healthcare workforce.”
The country needed to help the health system recover and be ready for the expected winter surge, Ardern said, requesting that people get boosted.
“Unvaccinated and people that are not boosted make up a disproportionate number of people in our hospitals. More than 9900 people are due their booster today, please get your booster as soon as you can.”
Looking at overall trends
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins told RNZ Checkpoint tonight there were a range of considerations cabinet would have to take account of in its April 14 review.
“We’re obviously looking at the overall trends … how many new hospital admissions as well as those who are in hospital – but also the demographics,” he said.
Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins on border opening. Video: RNZ
“We look at something called case weightings because not every hospitalisation is equal, some are in and out of hospital much quicker than others.
“If you think about it from an economic perspective only, the last thing I think people want to see is a sudden surge in cases which puts more people at home, more people having to isolate, because ultimately from a business perspective that’s bad for business as well, it means fewer staff and fewer customers.”
Dr Bloomfield said the weight of advice from paediatricians and other child-health experts and epidemiologists suggested they thought New Zealand had done a good job in protecting children, including being among the first to bring in covid-19 vaccinations for children.
Many district health boards (DHBs) had more than 90 percent of Māori double vaccinated, and booster vaccination rates for Māori, Pasifika and others was very similar in the more vulnerable 65+ age groups, he said.
The covid-19 vaccination programme — including its infrastructure, capacity, and capability — has been transferred across to help the population catch up on MMR and other vaccines, Dr Bloomfield said.
Fourth dose advice
He had received advice on a fourth Pfizer dose and that would be going to ministers very shortly, he said.
“The evidence is still emergent on this … what I would say is that it’s clear that it’s most important for those high-risk groups.”
Ardern said New Zealand’s covid-19 record still stood among the best in the OECD.
“No country has got away without being impacted by covid but in New Zealand the impact on us has been less than most countries we compare ourselves to.”
Meanwhile, Ardern said there “absolutely” was work under way to prepare for any new variants.
Aotearoa had a range of tools that had been kept “in the wings” should we need them, such as mandates, passes and the alert levels system.
Hipkins said the decision to keep New Zealand at red was not informed by the emergence of the new covid variant XE, which will likely come across the border as it opens.
Tracking new variants
“We’re tracking any emergence of new variants internationally very closely. So yes, that hasn’t had an impact on this particular decision because the information there is still very new about new variants, but we’re monitoring that very closely.”
The National Party wants the traffic light system scrapped completely.
Graphic: NZ government
The prime minister told RNZ Morning Report vaccine mandates and the traffic light system had made a big difference but said the first omicron peak had passed in parts of the country.
She warned it was only the first wave of omicron and there would be more waves and new variants coming.
Ardern said precautions that were known to be effective in preventing the spread of covid-19, such as mask use and gathering restrictions, would continue to be required, even if it was decided that parts of the country could move to the orange setting.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
In mid-2021, Abegail* received the good news that she can finally return to her job as a bartender for an Italian cruise line. It was a huge relief for the Filipino cruise worker. The previous year, she was among the thousands of Filipino migrant workers who had been repatriated to the Philippines during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the shutdown of the cruise industry, Abegail and her co-workers spent months stranded at home, unemployed and dependent on their previous earnings to cover daily needs. “All of us have used up our savings,” she said.
Two years have passed since the World Health Organization announced the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. In recent months, more countries have eased border closures, lifted travel restrictions and various industries, including cruise lines, have gradually reopened. For the Philippines, a major migrant-sending country known for its model system of migration management, this meant the resumed deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). In 2021, Filipino migrant workers abroad sent home a record inflow of $31.4 billion in remittances, contributing cash fuel to local economic recovery. These recent changes seem to signal that migrant workers like Abegail can return to their jobs abroad in the ‘new normal’ and start afresh, after being stuck at home for months.
From 2020 to 2021, I was involved in a research project that documented how the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the Philippines’ labour export system and affected the lives Filipino migrant workers aspiring to work abroad and those who were repatriated home. In 2020, our team interviewed 45 Filipino cruise workers who were repatriated to the Philippines or whose job contracts were cancelled as the cruise line industry came to a halt. The following year, I conducted follow-up interviews with some of these cruise workers. Their stories shed light on the challenges they faced upon return and in coping with months of being stuck at home.
First, they are indicative of the pandemic’s extensive and long-term consequences for migrant workers, reminding us that beyond losing their jobs at the onset of the pandemic, they have also accumulated losses in the time they were stranded in their home country. Second, they also reveal how a crisis like the pandemic can exacerbate the challenges of return and reintegration for migrant workers, even in the case of the Philippines, which is already known for its inclusion of welfare and protection policies in migration governance. These observations raise important reflections on return preparedness and reintegration support during disrupted migration journeys.
From extended job limbo to depleted savings
The pandemic was a huge blow for the Philippines, a major source country of migrant workers and a top supplier of seafarers in the world. Official data indicate that in the first year of the pandemic alone, the number of Filipino migrant workers declined by 18.6% to 1.77 million, down from 2.18 million in 2019.
As more Filipino migrant workers lost their jobs and became stranded abroad, the Philippine government carried out a series of mass repatriations, considered the biggest operation so far in the country’s history. The unprecedented number of returning workers overstretched the country’s funds for repatriation assistance; government agencies had to seek additional funding for subsequent batches of repatriates. In 2020 alone, the Philippines had repatriated over 327,000 Filipino migrant workers—a bulk of them were working on cruise ships in Europe and North America.
Although some later found employment in call centres or online teaching, most of the cruise workers we spoke to struggled to find alternative jobs in the country, as stringent lockdowns kept many establishments closed or operational at reduced capacity.
Jeremiah, a galley steward with previous restaurant experience applied for multiple vacancies online but received no response. Restaurants in his home province and in Manila were mostly closed or were not hiring. Cruise workers like him not only had to deal with job loss abroad, but also with joblessness at home, amid a pandemic-hit economy. The uncertainty kept them waiting longer than they expected, resulting in a loss of considerable time.
Throughout the first two years of the pandemic, cruise lines were adjusting their operations and managing which workers would get to sail first. Cruise workers ended up waiting several months for an update, or their sail dates were postponed. “Always adjusting,” one interviewee said, in describing the uncertainty. “We don’t know. They can’t tell when they can give a specific [sail] date.”
By late 2021, many of our interviewees had been able to sail as the industry started to reopen. Most were grateful for their new contracts. “I was stuck here in the Philippines for eleven or ten months,” Jeremiah told me. But many of them had to accept shorter job contracts and reduced salaries. Some only received basic pay with no commissions, at least temporarily, as cruise ships were operating with few to no passengers.
Some of our interviewees had to put on hold their plans of buying properties and setting aside money for other future plans. Late last year, I spoke to Jeanette, an operations manager, who was excited to sail again after being stuck in the Philippines for nearly 17 months. She hopes to financially recover with additional job contracts so she can pay for her car instalment, and fulfil her plans of buying a home. “I’ve thought about it, to add more [years of working at sea]. Because I’ve used my savings.”
Apart their disrupted journeys abroad, cruise workers suffered from accumulated losses over time as they spent months of prolonged strandedness at home. With months of joblessness and depleted savings, cruise workers now have to work additional contracts in order to catch up with their financial goals and derailed future plans.
Challenges in return and reintegration amid a pandemic
To help repatriated migrant workers, the Philippine government announced several forms of economic support, including cash assistance and reintegration programs such as entrepreneurship loan schemes, livelihood support, job referrals and training programs. The range of services to some extent provided options for those in immediate need and those unsure of what to next. But in their own experiences of return and reintegration, many of the cruise workers we interviewed faced challenges in claiming government assistance and venturing into entrepreneurial projects.
While most cruise workers were aware of the available government programs for migrant returnees, some were discouraged by the tedious and time-consuming application procedures. Several of those we spoke to applied for the one-time cash assistance of Php10,000 (about USD190-200), which was intended as an immediate form of post-return support. As well as spending time preparing their applications, some had to wait for as long as four to five months before they received the cash. Those who followed up with the government office were told that they would have to wait longer, as the government’s funds were running out and more had to be requested.
Eli, a cruise performer, applied for cash assistance in May 2020, shortly after he was repatriated. But he only received the money in February 2021, nearly a year later, after several calls inquiring about the status of his request. “Actually, it’s like I lost hope. I said, ‘Will I still get it?’ Because I kept calling and calling,” he told me. The pandemic may have overwhelmed the state’s funds for migrant welfare and protection, but the notable delays are also symptomatic of the existing bureaucratic hurdles that slow down the delivery of much-needed assistance for stranded migrant workers.
While appreciated, the amount of cash provided was only enough to cover a short period of time in an ongoing pandemic. They had to rely on their own resources and the support of family members for household expenses, investments and debts. With these financial concerns, few returnees could be expected to immediately jump at entrepreneurial loan programs that could fail or generate low returns. Reports suggest that many migrant workers who availed of entrepreneurship programs in the past have not been able to pay back the loans from these schemes.
Many of our interviewees pursued self-financed online businesses to cope with extended unemployment at home. They sold homemade food, baked goods and clothing online and in their neighbourhoods. While our findings do not cover government reintegration programs, the experiences of cruise workers in starting their own businesses amid a pandemic show some challenges when it comes to entrepreneurial ventures.
Clariza started an online business to cope with 11 months of unemployment. But even though she was selling a range of products—from pain relievers to bags—the earnings weren’t enough to pay the bills. Gerard, an assistant waiter for a global cruise line, attempted to start a food business, but the venture only lasted a few weeks because of difficulties finding suppliers and a lack of equipment. For other cruise workers, it was difficult to sustain a business amid rising food prices and heavy competition, as many migrant returnees started similar businesses; demand was also low as many households faced financial constraints.
Some cruise workers were able to sustain their businesses until their redeployment. But the stories we heard also show that reintegration initiatives, in this case the self-financed ones, do not always work out and can lead to more debt and lost time and resources, even more so in a pandemic.
Most interviewees said that once they received a sail update from their company, they would definitely go abroad again, as they preferred the higher salaries, the opportunity for more savings and upward career mobility. This resonates with findings from a 2021 survey by the IOM, which found that nearly half of its migrant worker respondents intended to re-migrate for overseas work. “For sure, I’m returning 101% because of the salary as well….” one cruise worker said. “Because I want to invest, to settle earlier…it’s easier if it’s [on] the cruise line.”
For many of the cruise workers, the pay reduction and shortened contract periods on cruise ships are still better than putting up with temporary, low-paying jobs at home or running online businesses that yield limited returns.
The costs of strandedness and the challenges of return and reintegration
Findings from our project suggest that the impact of COVID-19 can stretch into the long-term, exacerbating hardships for stranded OFWs. Commentaries, reports and public discourse have rightly pointed out the need to provide post-return assistance for repatriated migrant workers. Simultaneously, it is also important to consider the challenges of return and reintegration, not just in terms of government programs and services, but also in relation to broader structural factors—the conditions of the local economy before and during the pandemic, the limitations of institutional policies and programs, and bureaucratic hurdles.
The enduring preference of Filipino migrant workers to go abroad also reflects the country’s long-standing reliance on overseas remittances, which have become “a pillar of the country’s economy.” While there are more return and reintegration programs now to encourage migrant workers to invest their earnings and efforts back home, there remain questions on how policies can better support migrant workers in their return preparedness and safety nets, not just when planning to return permanently, but also in moments of disruptions. Moreover, the challenge of reintegration also leads to the question of how the country can cultivate an environment of economic opportunities that will convince them to stay or invest long-term in the country.
The Philippines’ migration system has taken strides in incorporating return and reintegration policies and programs over the years. Yet there remain avenues for improvement. These include further streamlining procedures for claiming assistance, updating reintegration services to make them less complicated and more sustainable for returnees, and to conduct research to inform policymaking. Past research, for example, has found that many OFWs have low return preparedness and are less engaged in state-sponsored entrepreneurship programs. Gathering such information to understand the attitudes and profiles of returning migrant workers are crucial for recalibrating and strengthening programs in ways that meet their needs and interests. Stronger systems of return and reintegration, in turn, can fortify existing social protection mechanisms for migrant workers not only in a pandemic, but in other future crises.
The first female premier of a Solomon Islands province is appealing to New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to help her country manage covid-19 in the community.
People travelling between Honiara and Isabel Province were being tested for the virus at four testing centres, and if they test positive they were isolated at a makeshift centre.
The Isabel Premier, Rhoda Sikilabu, said she was desperate for funding to make improvements to the isolation centres because “they’re filling up and are run down”.
“I really, really need support. We have no place to … isolate these people,” Sikilabu said.
She wants New Zealand to provide funding for improvements for the centres.
“I, as a woman and a mother, I have so many worries and concerns for families offloading with babies, children,” she said.
“I really, really need support in covid. Please I would like to appeal to the Prime Minister.”
Focus on environmental and women’s issues
Sikilabu plans to focus on environmental and women’s issues, and is hopeful of bringing changes to her region as well as transform old mindsets.
She wants women to have authority to speak about their land and property in regards to resources.
“Reforestation is one of the priorities that I will tackle and maybe I can impact more on how women can address or say more on their property, their land ownership,” she said.
”The environment is very, very important to women just now.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Yap State Governor Jesse Salalu has declared a state of emergency over a mass resignation of 40 doctors and nurses at Yap State Hospital after authorities declined to consider their grievances.
“Due to the sudden departure of staff, the Department of Health Services is now in need of finding and recruiting qualified nurses and doctors to fill vacancies, so as to minimise disruptions to its operations and services,” stated the emergency declaration.
“There is no sufficient pool of qualified nurses and doctors available on island for immediate recruitment to help prevent or minimise disruptions to the operation and services of the hospital,” Governor Salalu said in his emergency declaration on March 31.
The emergency status authorises the Department of Health Services to work with Waab Community Health Center to allow the sharing and realignment of human resources to the main hospital.
DHS will also look into the possibility of rehiring local retired medical professionals on a temporary basis.
Led by Dr James Yaingeluo, the doctors and nurses handed in their resignations on March 29 after Salalu declined to hear their grievances.
When Salalu failed to appear at a meeting requested by the medical staff, a representative from the Office of the Attorney-General and a cabinet member refused to discuss the matter with them.
Severe understaffing
Among the grievances are persistently severe understaffing, low salaries resulting in the inability to attract and keep qualified professionals, working without contracts, and the Yap State Legislature’s refusal to release JEMCO-approved Office of Insular Affairs grant funds for wage increases.
Many of the unresolved issues that date back to 2019 have been exacerbated during the pandemic.
Yap is reported to have the lowest pay rates in FSM’s health care sector and has difficulty recruiting qualified doctors and nurses due to the higher compensation offered by other health care institutions in the region.
This is especially true since the onset of the covid-19 pandemic when health care professionals began receiving significantly higher offers from employers.
A year ago, then Governor Henry Falan submitted a supplemental budget request to the Yap State Legislature. Included in the request was $108,614 for doctors’ salaries. The money had been approved by JEMCO, granted by OIA and sourced from the Compact Health Sector.
Dr Mandela A. Bodunrin, the hospital’s then chief-of-staff who has since left, requested the grant to increase doctors’ salaries in order to fill open positions for doctors that were going unfilled.
DHS was unable to compete in the marketplace for the talent it required at the salary levels it was offering.
Further review needed
The legislature has the power to approve all OIA grants prior to their release, but the finance committee stated that further review was needed.
The doctors then on-staff signed temporary contracts at the pay level authorised in the prior budget year while they awaited the legislature’s approval of Falan’s supplemental budget request.
Their overtime and on-call remuneration tapped out the DHS’s FY2021 budget early due to the dearth of doctors.
The temporary contracts expired in February 2021. The money from the grant was “to ensure continuity of the compensation until September 30, 2021,” Falan said. The money would not come from the state’s general fund.
Understaffing and the inablity to attract qualified professionals became an even larger concern as the pandemic rapidly grew in importance within the medical community and compensation ballooned worldwide.
During one of the meetings of the state’s emergency task force addressing covid-19, it was revealed that a number of nurses stated that they would quit once the border was opened and the first case was identified, adding another layer of stress to an already overburdened organisation.
Yap’s border has been closed since April 2020. Repatriation of the state’s citizens who are stranded off-island has been in fits and starts, challenging the small medical team to manage quarantine and testing protocols while tending to the daily needs of the hospital’s patients.
Repatriation flight postponed
The most recent announcement for a repatriation flight arriving from Guam on Wednesday has been postponed.
A team from the FSM Department of Health was on Yap the week of March 27 assessing the state’s readiness to reopen its borders. Their report is being awaited but the lack of medical personnel will now undoubtedly influence that decision.
According to the Yap State Constitution, employees “have the right to form associations for the purpose of presenting their views to the government” and to be “free from restraint or reprisal in exercising this right.
The government shall give reasonable opportunity to representatives of such associations to present their views.”
However, it also states that “employees, whether or not exempted by the public service system, shall not strike or cause work stoppage for the purpose of collective bargaining or presenting their views.”
Further, “the regulations shall prescribe a system for hearing the views of employees on their working conditions, status, pay and related matters and for hearing and adjudicating grievances of any employee or group of employees.
“These regulations shall ensure that employees are free from coercion, discrimination, and reprisals and that they may have representatives of their choice.”
Dominic Taruwemai, the acting DHS director, has not accepted the doctors’ and nurses’ resignations as of this writing.
Joyce McClure is an American journalist who lived on Yap for five years and is now based in Guam. She is a contributor to the Pacific Island Times. This article is republished with permission.
A roundup today of the covid-19 pandemic status around the Pacific.
Nauru President Lionel Aingimea has announced that Nauru has recorded its first two covid-19 cases, which were detected in quarantine.
In a public address, the President assured the community that the two cases were safely contained in quarantine. As such, Nauru remained safe and there was no cause for anyone to panic.
The two cases both travelled on the same flight, from Brisbane on March 31.
“Both people are well and do not have any symptoms and are being cared for by the medical team in the covid ward,” President Aingimea said.
Two other people were also being quarantined in the Covid Ward. One of them is the spouse of one of the cases, and they had travelled together.
The hospital laboratory has detected low levels of virus in this person which appeared to be decreasing.
The fourth person had a borderline result on April 1. They were put in isolation in the Acute Ward. This person tested negative yesterday but will remain under observation for now.
Samoa Samoa’s Ministry of Health has confirmed 245 new community cases in a 24 hour period.
The ministry said 583 people had recovered and 1493 remained active cases.
Upolu island still has the majority of cases with 97 percent.
The ministry also said that covid-19 infections were significantly higher among those aged from 15 to 35, but infections among children aged 4 and below were also increasing.
Four new border cases were recorded on a flight from New Zealand on Tuesday.
According to the ministry, the community cases were of the BA1 sub lineage of the omicron covid variant.
Samoa also recorded its first covid-related death this week.
Kiribati The Kiribati government has extended its curfew for another four weeks.
The Office of the President said the new curfew order was intended for South Tarawa, Betio, Buota, North Tarawa, Abaiang, Marakei, Maiana, Aranuka and Abemama.
Travel from Tarawa to the covid-free outer islands will also resume, but with strict safety procedures in place.
The government has also allowed church services to resume, but face masks will be mandatory.
A Parliament session will be convened, as planned, and gatherings outdoors remain limited to 20 people.
According to the WHO, Kiribati has had 3066 cases in total and 13 covid-related deaths.
Tonga Tonga’s lockdown restrictions are easing. Restaurants and food outlets are opening for the first time in two weeks, but with only takeaway options allowed.
According to new lockdown rules introduced by Tonga’s government, businesses can operate between 5am to 8pm until Monday.
Since March 20 most Tongan businesses, including all shops and gas stations, had only been allowed to open on Saturdays.
However, bars and liquor stores will still be prohibited from opening.
The owner of the Billfish Restaurant and Bar in Nuku’alofa, Robert Sullivan, said that bars had been totally ignored.
“Bars have not even been mentioned. We’ve closed since February 2. So bars have not been open since then in Tonga, and any bars and all their employees will be struggling quite a lot right now because we still have bills, we still have rents, we still have the products that we’ve already purchased,” Sullivan said.
The majority of bars are still trying to pay their staff we’ve what they have, and this can’t continue.”
Tonga has been in lockdown since February 2 and a border closure has been in effect since the onset of the covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
The Minister of Health, Saia Piukala, announced this week that six covid-19 deaths had been recorded in the kingdom, and that more than 6000 Tongans had tested positive for covid-19.
New Caledonia A total of 15 new cases of covid-19 have been recorded in New Caledonia, since Thusday afternoon.
The covid-19 death toll remains at 311.
Nine people are in hospital and 1 person is in ICU.
Sixty six percent of the population is vaccinated.
French Polynesia One new covid-19 related death has been recorded in French Polynesia, bringing the total number of deaths since December last year to 11.
The total number of active cases over the territory is 381, and 123 new cases of covid-19 have been detected.
Four people are in hospital and one person is in ICU.
Eighty percent of the population is vaccinated.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
A Māori health leader says a new international misinformation study confirms the alarm many were desperately trying to raise last year about the impact on Māori during the initial vaccine rollout.
It modelled trusting individuals who seek better quality information and take precautionary measures; and distrusting people who reject quality information and have riskier behaviour.
It found major outbreaks cannot be suppressed once the density of distrusting individuals exceeds a certain threshold.
It says its findings highlight the importance of effective interventions to build trust and inform the public.
Māori ‘exposed to significant misinformation for longer’ National Māori Pandemic Group co-leader Dr Rawiri McKree Jansen said the Māori population was younger, so many had to wait to be eligible to get their vaccine dose.
“They [were] exposed to a significant amount of misinformation for longer.
“That’s created a problem for us in terms of getting the momentum for the vaccination programme into the right place.”
Dr McKree Jansen said the unvaccinated were being hit hardest by the omicron wave.
As of Friday, only 88 percent of Māori have had their second dose, and 58 percent their third compared with 95 percent and 73 (72.7) percent respectively of the general population.
McKree Jansen said Māori were now dying with covid-19 because of that misinformation.
He said for Māori and Pacific communities it was particularly troubling because those who were dying with the virus were in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, rather than older people in other populations.
He said Māori and Pacific populations should have been prioritised in the vaccine rollout.
The Waitangi Tribunal has released a scathing ruling of the government’s covid-19 response and vaccine rollout, saying Māori were put at risk.
The tribunal said cabinet’s decision to go against official and expert advice and not prioritise Māori breached the Treaty principles of active protection and equity.
Misinformation has disrupted families, but is resolvable Dr McKree Jansen said misinformation had disrupted social and familial connection but he believed it was resolvable.
“We should actually spend the time and the effort to restore relationships with those people that have been affected by it.
“It is being very clear that health services are here to help people.
“I think it is conversations we’ll have within families to restore mana for people who feel that [they have] been belittled, to ensure that people know that they are loved and that they are cared for.”
He said the focus needed to be on learning the lessons and making sure it did not happen again.
“And making sure that when we say we are committed to equity that we do all the things necessary to achieve it.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
One third of all current cases in Aotearoa New Zealand are in children and teenagers, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield revealed at today’s update on the omicron covid-19 outbreak.
Dr Bloomfield gave an update on the omicron outbreak and was joined via Zoom by University of Otago’s Professor Peter McIntyre from the department of women’s and children’s health.
Dr Bloomfield said 14.4 percent of current cases of covid-19 were aged under nine and 17.4 percent were between 10 and 19.
The Ministry of Health reported today there had been 15,250 new cases of covid-19 in the community and 22 more deaths.
Professor McIntyre said that even though omicron was less severe, because there were more cases, health professionals — particularly in Auckland — were seeing more cases in tamariki.
He said early evidence from the US showed that in a group of 1000 children, those who had two doses of a vaccine had a statistically significantly reduced chance of getting an infection, but it was not as high as they had hoped.
Another study looking at 10,000 children turning up at an emergency department found that two doses cut back emergency department presentations more effectively — by about 50 percent.
He said the vaccine for 5-11 year olds was an insurance policy worth taking up.
Random selection
From late January, text messages had been sent to a random selection of the parents of vaccination children, Dr Bloomfield said.
“For the first vaccination, there were 800,300 respondents and very similar to the Australian data 18 percent reported some sort of side effect post-vaccination. For the second dose the equivalent figure was 24 percent,” he said.
“Most common were reaction at the injection site, headache and fatigue. All expected and commonly reported side effects that pass quickly.”
Less than half a percent for both first and second dose had any need to seek medical advice or care, he said.
Dr Bloomfield said the rates of paediatric vaccination were similar to what was happening in other places in the world.
Dr McIntyre said there were two major issues: access and parents who were not yet convinced
“I think we need to keep pushing the notion, particularly about the safety of the vaccine.”
Comfortable with vaccine
Parents are reasonably comfortable with the vaccine but some indicated they were waiting a month or two for the safety data, Dr Bloomfield said.
“We can really reassure parents this is a really safe vaccine for children.’
By far the most common locations for children getting vaccinations was a local pharmacy and a local GP, Dr Bloomfield said.
On vaccination post-covid infection, Dr Bloomfield said they were recommending a wait of three months from the date someone tests positive. This stood for all age groups and all stages of vaccination and all vaccines.
It has been nine weeks since omicron was first recorded in New Zealand and cases have peaked nearly everywhere but, with the wave roughly moving south, rural Southland looks to be last in line.
Three weeks ago, congressional Democrats dumped $15.6 billion in funding for COVID pandemic aid from the $1.5 trillion federal spending bill. When it happened, my knees wobbled. It is one thing to speak sunshine and roses about the current state of the crisis in an election year; it is quite another to close out funding to maintain the level of success we have achieved. If this were a ground war, it would be tantamount to sending the army home just as the enemy’s gates were coming into view.
Upon consideration, I could grudgingly see the logic of it … the Washington D.C. logic, anyway. Congressional Republicans were prepared to fight to the death over “new spending,” and a tussle like that regarding COVID money, in what had already been an agonizingly protracted budget fight, could have doomed the entire bill. That would have ended humanitarian funding for Ukraine, a number of climate protections, funding for child care and public education, as well as money to keep the federal government open and funded through September.
Fine, I thought at the time, cut the funding, whatever. As soon as the ink is dry on this budget bill, however, you congressfolk better get yourselves back to the drawing board and get this COVID funding nailed down. We are not nearly out of the woods yet, new variants are on the march, and our defenses will wither away before yet another onslaught. This, I thought three weeks ago, was common sense, enlightened self-interest. I watched, and I waited.
Three weeks later, and nothing on that front has happened. This fight for our very lives has been marred from the beginning by deliberate delusion and rampaging ignorance on the part of both government and the public sector. This latest fiasco, after everything we have learned and endured, absolutely takes the cake.
Dr. Vivek Murthy is the U.S. surgeon general. Dr. David Kessler is the chief science officer for the U.S. Covid-19 Response Team. The pair teamed up to pen a plea in the pages of The New York Times:
The federal government is running out of funds to provide Americans, especially those who are uninsured, with Covid-19 vaccines, tests and treatments. Our efforts to sustain other critical elements of the public health response, from Covid-19 surveillance to the global vaccination campaign, are also now at risk. If the funding does not materialize, we will find ourselves in a far weaker position, struggling to keep up with a constantly evolving virus that will continue to threaten our health, our economy and our peace of mind.
Now, for the first time, we cannot order enough vaccines to provide boosters for all Americans if a fourth dose is deemed necessary in the fall. If we need variant-specific vaccines, we will not have the funds to secure them, deliver them or administer them. Last week, we were forced to cut our shipments of lifesaving monoclonal antibodies to states by 35 percent — and we anticipate running out of monoclonal antibodies later this spring. We will not be able to continue making home tests available, and the critical surveillance efforts that help us anticipate new waves and variants will be compromised.
A number of states, including Colorado and Minnesota, have begun scaling back or closing down COVID testing and vaccination sites. Test and vaccine manufacturers are cutting back on production. This is taking place just as the numbers of people getting vaccinated has all but fallen off the table. The FDA has announced authorization for at-risk people 50 and over to get a second booster shot, but is doing next to nothing to promote the booster’s availability or effectiveness.
“Some U.S. health care providers are informing uninsured people they can no longer be tested for the virus free of charge and will have to pay for the service,” reports the Times. “[A] a fund established to reimburse doctors for care for uninsured Covid patients was no longer accepting claims for testing and treatment ‘due to lack of sufficient funds.’” As one front-line medical professional noted on Twitter, “The rationing of COVID-care by ability to pay begins.”
And hovering over all that, this: The B.A.2 subvariant is out there, growing stronger by the day as it spreads its influence throughout the population. After B.A.2 will almost certainly come another variant, and another, because this thing is not nearly over. In point of fact, it may never be completely over. Cutting that COVID funding from the budget with no intention of replacing it is tantamount to playing Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun.
Back to work, Congress. You giddily authorized $768 billion for spending on war. $15 billion to hold the line on COVID barely registers on the budgetary Richter Scale. Get this done, now.
COMMENTARY:By Nick Rockel, a reflection as Aotearoa New Zealand yesterday experienced its worst day since the covid-19 pandemic began.
It came up in my Facebook memories that it was two years to the day on March 23 since Aotearoa New Zealand started its first lock-down. Coincidentally also the day many of the remaining restrictions and regulations relating to covid were relaxed or removed.
On this day two years ago Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced, “New Zealand has moved to Alert Level 3, effective immediately. In 48 hours, New Zealand will move to Alert Level 4”. We had our first case of community transfer that could not be traced to the border.
It would be seven weeks before we went down to level 2
New rituals were started, the daily health update at 1pm became must watch viewing — were the numbers going up or down? There was much excitement from certain family members each time schools being closed was extended.
We changed time zones — the kids waking hours shifted, staying up and getting up late, and while you nagged them to attend online classes it didn’t really matter.
We spent a lot more time with our teenage children than we would have otherwise. Created lots of memories albeit mostly based in the lounge, things like playing charades and enjoying Netflix and popcorn.
We laughed at the Aussies for buying all the toilet paper, meanwhile here shops ran out of flour, yeast, icing sugar, as everyone baked. Sourdough starter was the thing to do.
Consciousness cooking
Diets improved, there was little meat and what was available was wildly over priced. The kids got more involved in cooking, there was less food waste as we became more conscious than normal about what he had and needed to use up.
A good life lesson, and of course no takeaways or Uber eats.
The working world changed with Zoom “you’re on mute” meetings. Always interesting if the person in the meeting hadn’t put a background on, realistically we were often not in even the most casual of office attire.
Aotearoa New Zealand’s “deadliest day” yesterday … as reflected in the New Zealand Herald today. Image: APR screenshot
Teddy bears appeared in windows as people started walking or cycling round the neighborhood. There were many small acts of kindness.
Sure we missed out on a lot of activities, dance classes and competitions, football seasons, school camps, and of course seeing friends and family.
At the beginning of covid, as we saw things change from an event in a part of China we probably hadn’t heard of to spreading around the world, we realised planned events that had seen many hours of preparation and fund-raising could not proceed. There would be many more cancellations and disappointments along the way.
But there were good things too.
Team of five million
The pride that the team of five million felt in how well the lockdown was working to stop the spread.
The excitement the day we reached zero community cases, the PM said she did a little dance — I’m sure she wasn’t the only one.
We moved forward with restrictions and people mostly were happy to cooperate. There was little sympathy for those breaking the rules, not following lock down restrictions, breaking out of MIQ etc. It felt like those people were letting the rest of us down by not doing their bit.
We had periods of relative freedom then more lockdowns. We were used to this now, after the announcement of new cases we’d jump on the supermarket site and try to get a delivery window — bugger none available.
The last of the big lock-downs was predominantly only Auckland. It was a long one and something unexpected and unprecedented happened — the rest of the country started to feel the love for Auckland.
I have to say as a long time resident, who despite living in Tamaki Mākaurau half my life never fully considered myself an Aucklander, I felt pretty bloody proud of the people of my city.
Vaccinations arrived and we watched the progress — could we get a high percentage vaccinated before the next wave came? The Vaxathon reminded those of us of a certain age of Telethons gone by — it was such a positive Kiwi thing. And yes, we quickly became one of the most vaccinated populations on earth.
Along with the vaccines came the mandates and passes. Most of us got it, could see why they were necessary and were happy to go along with them — heck who wouldn’t want to get a free vaccine against a virus killing millions around the world and protect yourself and others?
Dissent and dissatisfaction
“Some people who were no doubt a little reluctant to got vaccinated so they could go to work or take part in things. But some people didn’t want to be told to take the vaccine.
They wanted to be free to not take it and continue to do their jobs, take part in leisure activities, which put them into contact with those of us who had been vaccinated. Many of us had limited sympathy for this point of view.
The dissent or dissatisfaction of some became rich material for the political opposition who had struggled for oxygen with the daily updates from the PM and the Ministry of Health.
They and some reporters in the media found that an individual who was having a tough time as part of the restrictions, someone in MIQ unable to be with with a sick relative, someone missing a funeral, someone stuck overseas unable to get home, was given a lot of air time.
More coverage it often seemed than was given to the vast majority who were happy with things and grateful that we weren’t seeing the serious illness and deaths occurring overseas.
So what were the changes flagged last week?
We’ll be keeping the traffic light system to handle new variants or pressure on the health system.
Pragmatic steps
From Friday red-level indoor gathering restrictions are raised to 200 people, and there will no longer be limits of for outdoor gatherings including sports events, concerts, etc. There will also be no need to scan or sign in from this time.
From the April 5 no more use of vaccine passes will be required, and there will be no more mandates for education, police, the military, and staff in places like restaurants and bars. There will still be some mandates required in the health system.
These are pragmatic steps given the level of community spread and the lack of measures that could realistically contain it. But we also need to continue to protect our most vulnerable people from exposure to covid, I can see why the government has kept some restrictions in place.
Will those who have complained so much, the mandate protesters, the politicians and media, now draw a line under it? Move forward accepting that even if the government didn’t always get it 100 percent right they did bloody well most of time?
Yeah right!
Even after all the precautions and vaccinations my family and I eventually got covid a few weeks ago, pretty unavoidable without isolating such was the infection rate of the omicron strain.
Isolation felt like another lockdown except everyone around you in the community carried on with life as normal, and there was no sending a designated person to queue at the supermarket. Whereas the earlier lockdowns has been quiet this one was full of noise traffic and construction.
Remembering best of times
As we return to life with fewer restrictions we‘ll no doubt remember those days of lockdowns, the extra time with immediate family, taking pleasure in simple things, and yes the hard times and missed events that caused us sorrow.
This time will remain in the memories of those who are kids today and be something they annoy their own children and grandchildren with tales of many years from now.
Some will continue to work remotely, perhaps there will be a bit more consideration for those in our community who could do with a helping hand — even if it is just dropping off a few things at the letterbox. If there is another pandemic, a more dangerous variant, or some other event, we’ll be well placed to handle it calmly.
Dogs will remember lockdowns as the best of times; all of their people were home, even if they didn’t really go anywhere.
Many of us will remember that feeling of the nation coming together and wonder if maybe, just maybe, we could apply that same collective effort to addressing other problems we face as a society.
The last two years haven’t been easy but we bloody did it, we saved lives — think of the awful final hours in ICU that didn’t result for so many additional people due to those actions. It was worth it.
Nick Rockel is a “Westie Leftie with five children, two dogs, and a wonderful wife”. He is the publisher of the Daily Read where his article was first published. It is republished here with the author’s permission.
In spite of a record 34 covid-related deaths being reported in New Zealand today, Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay says it is encouraging to see an overall and sustained drop in case numbers.
“For three days last week, case numbers were reported at over 20,000 … today’s case number is up a bit [on Monday] but that is to be expected as testing rates are always a bit low over the weekend,” she said.
One person was in their 30s, one person was in their 50s, five were in their 60s, nine were in their 70s, seven in their 80s and 11 were in their 90s.
Seventeen were male and 17 were female.
The reduction in case numbers has been most pronounced in Auckland. Cases have fallen from just under 4300 reported cases last Monday to 2300 yesterday.
Dr McElnay said while numbers overall were dropping, regional spikes were occurring.
The so-called “Mexican wave of cases” is being reflected the most in Canterbury, she said. “We’re seeing those numbers roll down the country.”
Overall, numbers were expected to continue to decrease over the week.
Rest of NZ lagging
The only district health boards (DHBs) with increases in numbers are Whanganui, MidCentral, Taranaki and the South Island DHBs.
“That probably tells us that the rest of New Zealand is about a couple of weeks behind Auckland,” Dr McElnay said.
“It gives us a signal of where we hope to be in the next couple of weeks.”
“We are optimistic that in the next couple of weeks the rest of the country will follow the same pattern as Auckland and we will see a drop in hospitalisation and a decrease in pressure on our health services.”
Dr McElnay said that once a person tested positive for covid-19, they should not test again for 28 days.
If you develop new symptoms after that, then test. If you test positive, you are considered a new case and you must isolate again.
This weekend was the start of eased restrictions which the government announced early last week.
Meanwhile, more than 1300 doses of Novavax’s covid-19 vaccine, which has been available since March 14 for those who cannot have the Pfizer jab or would prefer not to, have so far been administered.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Vanuatu health authorities record 296 new positive cases Vanuatu Minister of Health Bruno Leingkon announced that 2577 covid-19 cases have been recorded.
Five people have been hospitalised for Covid-related illnesses. But there have been no Covid-related deaths in Vanuatu, which remains under alert level 3.
The lockdown has been extended for a further five days.
Samoa records more community cases Samoa now has a total of 1239 active community cases of covid-19, as another 182 people tested positive.
The Ministry of Health said 97 percent of community cases are located in Upolu and the remaining 3 percent in Savai’i.
No community cases have been recorded in the islands of Manono and Apolima Tai.
The ministry said women make up 58 percent of confirmed community cases and 15 to 35 year olds have recorded the most infections.
No additional cases have been detected at the border.
Mandatory testing for travellers to Tahiti to be abolished Although another 190 covid-19 cases have been recorded in French Polynesia in the last 48 hours, Tahiti is easing testing requirements for travellers.
The electronic registration system for travellers, as well as mandatory tests for arriving passengers at Tahiti’s airport, will be abolished from tomorrow.
The health authorities say six patients are in hospital, but none are in intensive care.
The number of active cases has continued to decline and is now 516.
The death toll stands at over 640, with most of the fatalities occuring during last year’s delta variant outbreak.
Two in intensive care in New Caledonia New Caledonia has recorded another 32 covid-19 cases, confirming the trend of declining numbers.
The latest figure, issued on Friday, brings the total number of cases since September to 60,167.
Sixteen covid patients have been hospitalised, 2 of whom are in intensive care.
From today it will be possible to visit patients in hospitals and care centres without a health pass, although masks must still be worn.
Masks are no longer mandatory to be worn in public, but their continued use is recommended.
So far the pandemic has claimed 310 lives in New Caledonia, all of them during the delta outbreak in September.
CNMI drops indoor masking requirement The Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas will no longer require people to wear face masks indoors.
The governor’s Covid-19 Task Force and the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation (CHCC) have downgraded the US territory’s CDC community level from high to medium.
Local health authorities have cautioned immunocompromised individuals to still wear masks indoors. The same advice stands for people whose family members are immunocompromised.
“In Community Level Medium, people who are considered immunocompromised or at high risk for severe illness should talk to their healthcare provider about whether they need to wear a mask and take other precautions. Also, people who live with or have social contact with immunocompromised individuals should wear a mask when indoors with them,” the CHCC said in a statement.
The CHCC also said it would continue to require visitors and clinic patients to wear masks in patient-serving areas.
Last Thursday, the task force and CHCC also confirmed the CNMI’s 33rd Covid-19-related death.
Twenty six additional cases have been recorded, bringing the CNMI total to 11,022 cases since March 28, 2020.
All 26 cases were identified on March 24, 2022. As of March 25, 2022, three individuals have been hospitalised from covid-19.
A covid-19 modeller says hundreds more people could die in Aotearoa New Zealand’s first wave of the omicron outbreak.
Health officials reported today that 11 more people with covid-19 had died in New Zealand, with 12,882 new community cases reported and 861 people in hospital with the coronavirus — including 21 in ICU or HDU.
The total death toll stands at 269, with the current average of 12 deaths a day of people with covid-19.
Professor Michael Plank from the University of Canterbury and Covid-19 Modelling Aotearoa expected this death rate to continue for a few more weeks, and ultimately between 300 and 500 people to die by the end of the first omicron wave.
“Because although it looks like cases have peaked, deaths [lag behind],” Professor Plank said.
The death total was at about the lower to middle end of projections from earlier this year — which picked between 400 and 1200 deaths, he said.
A reason for New Zealand’s low death rate high booster uptake among older people and young people comprising a large amount of those infected.
New covid-19 variants
But Professor Plank said there still could be new covid-19 variants or second waves which could affect the numbers.
If the virus took hold in communities with low booster rates, for example Māori, or high risk populations such as those in aged care facilities, that could cause the rate to increase again, he said.
Overall, there have been fewer deaths than usual in New Zealand since the pandemic started because lockdowns basically eliminated influenza.
But with borders opening soon bringing in travellers with infectious diseases, and winter coming, there are still difficult times to come.
University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker said it was likely to be a bad influenza season, and it was crucial people get the flu jab.
Big picture — NZ has done well Professor Baker said it was prudent that older people and those in poor health thought about cutting back on socialising for a few weeks while the omicron outbreak ran its course.
While nationwide case numbers appeared to have peaked, many in the community were infected with the virus, he said.
But the big picture was that New Zealand’s covid-19 response had been effective, with the death toll among the lowest in the world, Baker said.
There were five times the number of deaths in Australia and Singapore, which also implemented strong measures to combat the spread of the virus.
Baker said the death toll was 20 times higher in Hong Kong, Denmark and Canada and 50 times higher in the UK.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
COVID cases are rising throughout Europe and Asia, leading some experts in the United States to wonder whether another wave is around the corner. Caseloads have been low in all 50 states following the Omicron spike in late 2021 and earlier this year, leading to a broad relaxation of mask mandates and a decrease in remote work options throughout the country. Nearly all Republicans in Congress, and many conservative Democrats, are pushing for a repeal of the continuing federal mask mandate on planes and public transportation.
The spike in cases overseas is being driven by a subvariant of Omicron, known as BA.2. Early evidence suggests it may be even more transmissible than the initial variant, which caused record surges around the world. There’s also cause for cautious optimism, however, as it appears that immunity caused by the first variant extends to the new subvariant. Between vaccinations and boosters, and so-called “natural immunity” from a previous infection, the United States may have a wall of protection to prevent caseloads — and, more importantly, hospitalizations and deaths — from spiking in the coming months.
Anthony Fauci, the federal government’s point person on COVID, said on March 20 that he expected a rise in cases, even if it doesn’t amount to another full-blown wave. Fauci estimated that the new subvariant accounts for about 25 to 30 percent of new cases.
If the worst is avoided in the United States, it will not be because state and federal officials have taken measures to prepare for the next wave. To the contrary, Congress recently failed to include additional pandemic funding in its annual massive spending bill. The result could be disastrous, especially for poor people and those without insurance. As Republicans, conservative Democrats and even some public health officials insist on putting the pandemic behind us and getting back to “normal,” it’s not at all clear that the country — or the world — is through with COVID.
Even at the current levels, the push from some to adopt a new normal of living with COVID often ignores the risks to immunocompromised people and those who aren’t eligible for the vaccine. Millions of people who may not fit the CDC’s definition of immunocompromised are living with chronic illness, disabilities, or other health concerns that put them at a heightened risk. If aspects of the pandemic like regular remote work and telehealth become less common, these are the communities most likely to be left behind — even under what some mainstream pundits are considering a best-case scenario.
And maintaining the current levels of community spread could be elusive. President Joe Biden’s plans at the federal level have largely been hampered by Congress, which has reverted from a brief period where it actually addressed public needs back to an anti-public health posture. Early rounds of pandemic relief were passed with so-called deficit spending, but Republicans began insisting that Democrats find a way to “pay for” the programs — Washington, D.C.-speak for increasing taxes or finding another source of revenue. Biden had initially asked Congress for $22 billion in new pandemic funding, which lawmakers then cut to $15 billion, with Republicans and some conservative Democrats insisting on the spending offsets. The floated compromise was that new revenue would come from states that had already received pandemic funding, prompting a rebellion from a handful of House Democrats. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi then pulled the new COVID money from the bill, prompting fear from the White House that Congress would fail to pass the needed funding altogether.
Without the additional spending, numerous federal projects are at risk on a rolling basis over the next several months. The government will soon be forced to cut shipments of monoclonal antibodies by 30 percent as soon as next week. In April, the administration will end a program that reimbursed providers for testing, tracing and treating uninsured patients. As a result, people without insurance are facing a looming catastrophe if they contract COVID or need an additional booster shot. Fears of unknown medical bills could also prevent uninsured people from seeking preemptive care or treatment, potentially further exacerbating community spread.
The disasters don’t stop there. Support for domestic testing manufacturers will run out by June. A senior administration official told reporters that without more funding, the federal government “will lack the funding needed to accelerate research and development of next-generation vaccines that provide broader and more durable protection, including a vaccine that protects against a range of variants.” The administration had planned to make second booster shots available to the public at large in the fall if experts deemed it scientifically necessary, but that’s at risk now as well.
Taken together, this means the United States isn’t prepared to deal with future COVID variants, an entirely different pandemic, or even the existing levels of spread currently in the country. Although cases have dramatically dropped off since the height of the Omicron spike, the U.S. is still registering almost 30,000 cases a day on average, and roughly 830 deaths.
As The Atlantic’s Ed Yong argues, existing U.S. pandemic measures were “already insufficient” to the task at hand. “These measures needed to be strengthened, not weakened even further,” Yong writes. “Abandoning them assumes that the U.S. will not need to respond to another large COVID surge, when such events are likely, in no small part because of the country’s earlier failures. And even if no such surge materializes, another infectious threat inevitably will.” He adds that the United States is now “sprinting” towards the next pandemic.
Instead of creating the kind of robust, lasting institutions and programs that could respond to the country’s current as well as short-term and long-term needs, Congress is burying its head in the sand. Cutting funding for COVID measures now is the very definition of penny wise, pound foolish. Or, to use a medical aphorism, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Instead of taking this period of relatively low levels of community spread to shore up our collective defenses, Congress is rolling the dice, betting that the worst of the pandemic is behind us.
This should be a time to reflect on the enormous success that COVID vaccine developments represent: success paid for directly, and backstopped, by public money. If there is a lesson to be taken from March 2020 until now, it’s that the U.S. federal government is actually capable of making people’s lives better if it allocates the necessary resources to do so. In a more just world, the vaccines themselves would be owned by the public and distributed globally, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it’s in our own collective self-interest to deprive the virus of communities to spread and mutate. That’s not the world we live in, but it would be a mistake not to embrace the successes we’ve seen over the last two years, even if they need to be reframed away from the logic of public-private partnerships.
The pandemic has shown that public spending at the federal level can produce enormous public benefits. Unfortunately, Congress seems to have reverted back to an austerity-based, deficit hawk mindset. That’s not a surprise, but it does mean that public health in this country is at risk over the next several months, let alone the next several decades.
A covid-19 modeller is hopeful omicron hospitalisations have peaked and says at this stage New Zealand’s death rate is at a comparable level to other countries during an omicron wave.
The number of people needing care dropped for four straight days until yesterday, although the number of people hospitalised did increase slightly from 841 yesterday to 848 today.
Even with today’s slight increase there are still 168 fewer people now in hospital than early last week.
Covid-19 Modelling Aotearoa project leader Dion O’Neale said New Zealand’s covid death rate is about the international standard for an omicron wave.
He said the numbers look to be comparable to other countries: “We’re not looking outstanding in either direction for death rates.
“One thing that’s a big risk for fatalities is if you start to get spread that starts to make its way through aged care and residential care facilities, that’s a super high risk situation and that’s going to give you these spikes, or clumps of deaths coming together.”
258 covid-related deaths
Overall, New Zealand has had 258 covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic.
O’Neale is hopeful New Zealand has seen the peak in hospitalisations.
But he warns the descent will be “bumpy” with increases if the virus gets into vulnerable populations like rest homes.
O’Neale said for this wave, the country appears to have avoided a health system “collapse” some people were worried about.
“From the data I’ve seen anyway it looks like we are scraping through and managed to maybe, hopefully, get past the worst of this peak without exceeding that capacity.”
Hospitals have gone to unusual lengths to continue operating while many of their own staff are off sick — including people doing other jobs to manage demand.
Voluntary extra shifts
Canterbury nurses who volunteer for extra shifts in aged care are getting $350 a night to cover ongoing covid-related staff shortages, while Auckland nurses and midwives were offered a $500 bonus for working extra overnight shifts, as staffing shortages climbed to 25 percent during the city’s omicron peak.
In Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital staff such as doctors and medical technicians stepped in to help on the wards and in the emergency department during the omicron peak, while in Wellington non-clinical staff with clinical backgrounds stepped in to help fill staffing shortages.
Only about half the planned care was going ahead at Wellington region hospitals last week, while Auckland hospitals put all but the most urgent care on hold during its omicron peak.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Climate scientists have been warning for years about the menace of “feedback loops.” A feedback loop takes place when the right set of circumstances creates a situation that feeds upon itself, growing stronger with every cycle.
The not-so-frozen tundra of Siberia serves as perfect current example. Human-caused warming melts the permafrost in the ground, allowing the release of billions of tons of methane from the soil. That methane enters the atmosphere and warms it more, causing more permafrost to melt and release more methane. Round and round we go.
As we inch toward the thousandth day of COVID-19 in the U.S., another kind of feedback loop has formed itself. Instead of wind and rain, this one is made of people and policy, an extension of capitalism you could see coming a mile off with the right kind of eyes.
I can even pinpoint the day this COVID feedback loop began to eat itself, and us: March 20, 2020. On that day, the first of what became a flood tide of jowly capitalists went on the cable news networks with the demand that “low-risk,” low-wage workers should go back to work and just let the virus “burn through” their ranks.
The intervening months have descended into a lethal tug of war between people who believe the science and are willing to take precautions to avoid even more mass death, and the “my freedom” people who are willing to let COVID carry off millions of people rather than subject themselves to the gross tyranny of… masks and reasonable health measures? If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would not believed it possible, and would have walked out of any movie daring to peddle such nonsense in a script.
The script itself, while absurd, is also simplicity itself: Endure a lethal COVID surge, but don’t prepare for the next one — and meanwhile, actively stand down current defenses so people go to work and spend money because, “It’s over!” NOPE, another mass wave of death followed by another wave of too-late restrictions followed by another surge of bleak depression and despair.
Some of the smoke clears (again), restrictions are lifted (again) in the name of the capitalist imperative (again), enough people are gulled (again) into letting their guard down. NOPE, a vaccine-resistant subvariant emerges from North Korea (theoretically) and lays waste to Southeast Asia in as much time as it takes to play the World Cup. Lather rinse repeat, but this time the culling is largely relegated to people like me — those with underlying medical risk factors — once it reaches these shores, because of course it will, because the last thing we’ll do is restrict air travel…
Today, they’re calling the next COVID-related challenge a “stress test,” a chance to throw open all the doors and see how well things go with virtually no standard precautions in place. “Whatever happens next, we’re living the reality the CDC’s guidance bargained for,” writes Katherine J. Wu for The Atlantic. “The country’s new COVID rules have asked us to sit tight, wait, and watch. We may soon see the country’s true tolerance for disease and death on full display.”
I’m not certain exactly how or when the decision was made to chart this perilous course. It just sort of… happened, like osmosis. A segment of the population found that ever-present permanent high gear of high dudgeon about masks and perfectly safe shots, capitalism whispered “Yeah what they said” through all the available political and social channels.
Suddenly, here we are, on the edge of a test we are not prepared to take. There is enough proof of this in the public surveys to give one pause. One February Washington Post/ABC News poll has 58 percent of the people saying controlling the spread of COVID is the top priority. A Yahoo News poll conducted precisely that same week has 51 percent saying returning to normal and “learning to live” with COVID is most important… and if we had ham, we could have ham and eggs, if we had eggs.
Polls shmolls, I know, but something is badly out of joint. David Lim of Politicoexplains what a new COVID surge will find when it comes:
Covid-19 infections are rebounding in several European countries and Biden officials are monitoring infections in the United Kingdom, where cases have jumped more than 36 percent over the past week. Meanwhile, the number of molecular tests shipped each week by major manufacturers in the United States has fallen by more than 50 percent over the last month.
Scott Becker, the CEO of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, said that the U.S. is repeating the same mistakes it made last summer when demand for testing plummeted and test manufacturers scaled back production. “It’s like we’ve learned absolutely nothing as a system during this pandemic,” Becker said. “I have no reason to believe that wouldn’t happen again because they don’t have the demand.”
The concern over the supply of testing comes as the Biden administration warns Congress that if it does not soon provide more than $22 billion in additional funding, the administration will not be able to purchase new supplies of drugs, vaccines, masks and tests. The White House on Tuesday plans to wind down the federal subsidies that guarantee free tests for uninsured people due to lack of funding.
This, even as the administration is preparing to endorse a second booster shot, meaning a fourth overall shot, to help older Americans fight off the virus. There is precedent for this — polio inoculation requires a four-dose regimen of that vaccine. But hmmm… why would we need another layer of protection if we have this thing in hand?
Answer: We don’t. This weird passage we’ve entered is the COVID policy version of throwing the parachute out of the plane and then jumping out after it. That big green thing rushing up at you? Yeah, that’s the ground, which currently holds the remains of nearly a million souls lost in this country alone. Meanwhile the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron is raising increasing levels of hell around the world, with no certainty yet as to the severity of an actual infection wave. At present, it makes up more than 55 percent of new cases in New England, and 34.9 percent nationally. If history is any guide at all, that wave is likely coming.
We weren’t ready before because it was all unprecedented. We aren’t ready now because capitalism’s whisper campaign combined with toxic right-wing politics were potent enough to buckle the knees of even the most stalwart of COVID policy advocates. After all, it’s an election year. In this, the country fails to live up to Uri Freedman’s new benchmark for national strength: The ability to take a punch, get knocked down and then get up again, however many times it takes.
We are not ready for a new COVID wave, deliberately. I shudder in my soul to imagine the impending fury and fear, the wrath of those who thought they heard something hopeful, only to discover it was God laughing at their plans. The feedback loop continues, and there will be hell to pay.
A Whanganui iwi leader says the Aotearoa New Zealand government’s decision to ease covid-19 measures at this time is a disgrace and shocking.
He is warning Māori to stay vigilant against omicron and prepare for more to come.
Tūpoho chair Ken Mair says Māori must continue to be extremely careful and take precautions against covid-19, despite the government’s new strategy to begin living with the virus.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said gathering limits would ease before the weekend, with no limit for outside venues and gatherings of up to 200 allowed inside.
Vaccine passes and scanning would no longer be needed from April 4, and mandates would be scrapped for all except those in the health and aged care sectors, Corrections and at the border.
But Mair said the country was far from out of the woods, as shown by the number of daily covid-19 cases being reported — with 11 new deaths and 18,423 infections.
“It just seems crazy that the government are putting in place this strategy right now, at the worst time in regard to the high numbers of omicron within our community. It’s extremely dangerous,” Mair said.
‘Where’s the Māori lens?’
“Where’s the Māori lens over this? Certainly, within our community there are hundreds [of cases] and there are a number in hospital.
“I just can’t understand a strategy where there hasn’t been any real analysis with substance in regard to the impact upon iwi, hapū and Māori, noting that we’re an extremely vulnerable community in the context of respiratory and asthma ailments.”
Mair said he understood some Māori leaders had been in discussion with the government and had made recommendations for the new strategy, but it appeared they had been ignored.
“I’ve been deeply concerned over the last couple of months where there doesn’t appear to be a strong Māori voice coming through or anything that might indicate that the government have a clear understanding of the ramifications of their decision around the covid strategy.
“This is a classic example — decisions being made right in the midst of cases going up, new variants around the corner, without understanding the impact and implications for Māori. I just think that’s a disgrace and shocking.”
Mair said he thought the strategy had been politicised, with Labour’s polling and political pressure the key factors.
“What motivates you to put in place an extremely dangerous strategy? You can only assume the motivation’s around political expediency and the impact upon economic wellbeing, without having the health lens driving your decision making.
Risk for vulnerable ignored
“The decisions by the prime minister and the government clearly have not taken into account the real vulnerability of Māori, and I think Māori, iwi and hapū have to be extremely careful in this precarious time.”
Yesterday, the prime minister said restrictions were being eased because it was safe to do so. Mair said this ignored the risk that remained for the vulnerable and sent the wrong message.
“I think because of the government’s strategy, people are saying things like: well, we’re going to get it anyway, it doesn’t matter, let’s get on with it and get back to normality as quickly as possible.
“The problem with those comments, of course, is the vulnerability of our Māori community, hapū and iwi is extremely high.
“I think our community in general is beginning to take a kind of defeatist approach and we should be, I think, extremely careful and vigilant in regard to dealing with this omicron.
“I have no doubt in my mind there’ll be more variants around the corner and we should always be prepared.”
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air. Asia Pacific Report is a community partner.
