Time now for traffic light system to go, Baker says

AUCKLAND: The Covid19 traffic light framework has outlived its usefulness.

That is according to University of Otago epidemiologist Prof Michael Baker, who said he would like to see the country move on to a more straightforward system.

‘‘People may say we’ve had enough of frameworks, but we do need a common language.’’

Prof Baker said we could draw on other examples also designed to keep society safe from harm.

‘‘When you drive through the countryside in summer, you have a big sign that you see regularly, which has a fivepoint scale about the risk of fire . . .

‘‘We need something as simple as that to give you an idea of the level of risk.

‘‘And the red zone should really be reserved for when we are at risk of overwhelming our health system.’’

Prof Baker’s comments come amid reports the Government is considering axing the traffic light system altogether when it next reviews its Covid settings.

At least one ministry is also consulting on dropping mask mandates in most settings, raising concern among the more vulnerable members of society.

Prof Baker said the Government needed to put systems in place to ensure New Zealand had the means to respond in the event cases rose.

‘‘It’s all very well to say ‘let’s relax controls now’, but what happens when we get the next wave of Covid19, which, based on past performance is very likely — and this could be another subvariant or entirely new variant.

‘‘We need a very responsive alert level system that can coordinate how we respond when case numbers start to go up again.’’

Despite the ongoing risk of Covid19, Prof Baker did not think New Zealand would need to use lockdowns again to control the virus.

‘‘We’ve got lots of other tools we can use instead of lockdowns,’’ he said, warning this was not the time to be complacent.

‘‘It would be naive to think that everything will be fine because case numbers are dropping and it’s all over. It is absolutely not all over. Some people say it will be great when it’s endemic, but some of the worst diseases on the planet are endemic in terms of infections, including malaria, HIV, Aids and tuberculosis.’’

Additionally, it was only now that the effect of long Covid was being seen.

‘‘For every 1000 cases of Covid, one person will die and we think that roughly 100 will get long Covid effects.

‘‘We don’t know how long that will persist, so we really want to keep case numbers down.’’

Symptoms included multiorgan damage, affecting the brain, heart, lungs and other tissues around the body.

Researchers had also identified postacute infection syndrome, which led to issues such as chronic fatigue syndrome, which could be disabling. — The