Winter gone but Covid to remain
The health forecast for winter was all doom and gloom, but the outlook for spring and summer is much better.
Cough and cold viruses normally take a holiday over summer, Te Whatu Ora Taranaki medical officer of health Dr Jonathan Jarman said in an emailed response to questions.
‘‘This is partly because of the weather and the behaviour of humans; during summer people are out and about, windows are open, and we are not spending a lot of time close to other people like we do in winter.’’
However, he said it’s important to note that Covid-19 was not going away.
‘‘There are likely to be ongoing infections throughout summer, though at a lower rate than the peak of winter.’’
People are still dying because of Covid-19, Jarman said. ‘‘And wastewater surveillance testing shows that the Covid-19 virus is still out there.’’
As of yesterday, 75 people in Taranaki have died with Covid being the underlying cause of death or a contributory cause of death.
During winter, 253 people were hospitalised in Taranaki with Covid – 73 in June, 113 in July, dropping to 67 in August.
From the peak of more than 500 cases a day in March there 52 new cases of the virus yesterday.
While there were only 294 active cases of Covid in the region, 45,131 or 36.8% of the population, in Taranaki have had the virus. Nationally, more than 50% of the population have been infected.
Medical experts predicted a tridemic made up of Covid, the flu and a respiratory illness called RSV could hit over winter.
And while winter was ‘‘challenging,’’, RSV didn’t really make an appearance, Jarman said.
‘‘It is possible that the rates of illness last year caused enough protection at a population level to protect people this year.’’
Flu was predicted to come back with a vengeance, but it didn’t reach the same levels as it did in 2019, before lockdowns and border closures put it on hold. There were 108 people hospitalised with the flu in Taranaki during winter – 55 in June, 50 in July and 3 in August.