Complacency our enemy
We might be done with Covid, but it’s certainly not done with us. In the grips of deep winter with Omicron’s family of variants on the rampage, this well-worn phrase still piercingly rings true.
As much as we’d all love to turn the page completely on the pandemic, taming the rampant resurgence of this virus and its knock-on consequences undeniably depends on emphatic community buy-in.
That seems noticeably half-hearted. Go back to February 8 and in the prime minister’s opening statement to Parliament, Jacinda Ardern presciently warned it was time to ‘‘prepare for winter’’ with the threat of new variants and the re-emergence of influenza.
As she did so, thousands of anti-mandate protesters swarmed Parliament’s lawn like barbarians at the gate, in the opening days of that repugnant occupation.
The PM’s ominous winter warning was swiftly ridiculed by her critics, parodying her play on the foreboding Games of Thrones motto ‘‘winter is coming’’.
Ardern was widely accused of desperately stoking fear in a bid to maintain control of the pandemic narrative, as public confidence in the Government’s pandemic management began to crumble.
The PM may have been losing the room, but history will judge that she was right to worry about winter.
However, in that same speech, she assured the nation: ‘‘Taking pressure off our health system during winter is a key priority
of this Government.’’
Was it just rhetoric? The extreme strain on our hospitals and on primary healthcare, not to mention the mass deferrals in nonurgent surgery and chronic staffing shortages, would strongly suggest her priority endeavours have demonstrably failed to transpire.
Christchurch Hospital is smashing new admission records of Covid patients, hitting triple figures for the first time in recent days.
The hospital is operating at 112% capacity, while 300 staff are on sick leave.
Cantabrians waiting for elective surgery are paying the price, with most non-urgent procedures now deferred until the end of August, compounding an already long waiting list.
But as we ride out this winter wave over the next six weeks, the timidity in the Government’s messaging, and the softlysoftly approach to refining the official settings is unmistakable.
At an individual level, a potent cocktail of Covid fatigue and complacency has clearly swayed the behaviour of many New Zealanders, to our collective detriment.
We have dropped our guard, prematurely, leaving the door widely ajar for a rampant outbreak.
It’s embarrassing that a quarter of eligible
Kiwis still haven’t received their booster, when we know that higher booster uptake lowers the overall rate of spread and hospitalisations.
I’m a huge a believer in the brilliance of medical technology. It has played a lead role in liberating our lives.
The current crop of Covid vaccines may not be a silver bullet in stopping transmission, but they’ve saved millions of lives and dramatically curbed the prevalence of severe illness.
Next-generation vaccines will soon be on the market, directly taking aim at Omicron.
From 2023, expect single-shot annual vaccines offering protection against Covid, the flu and RSV.
But medical science has also taken great strides this year in developing effective treatments.
Pfizer’s antiviral treatment Paxlovid is 90% effective at reducing Covid-induced hospitalisation and death.
Thankfully, it’s now available to all Kiwis over 75, yet in Australia, the qualifying age is 70.
But with the Beehive now spooked by the perception of overreach with the state control levers, individual responsibility is critical to cracking the back of this wave.
Another clear dynamic widely circulating in the community is bloody-mindedness.
In confined and crowded indoor spaces, the maskless miscreants should be bailed up, to help blunt transmission. I found myself remonstrating with an unmasked woman who imperiously breezed into my local fish and chip shop last week, defiantly thumbing her nose at the handwritten sign on the door, urging customers to ‘‘please wear your mask’’.
The Beehive’s mantra is all about ‘‘encouraging’’ Kiwis to wear masks.
Frankly, when a resurgence is on, it’s ridiculous that mask use isn’t required at ‘‘controlled-access events’’ like auctions, cinemas, concert venues and conferences. Yes, we are over Covid.
But surely, we can summon the fortitude to flex up the masking protocols as is required, when a wave is on.