Covid response ‘here for years’

The Government’s Covid-19 fix-it man says ‘‘unconstrained freedom’’ from pandemic restrictions at the border is unlikely to come for two to five years.

Sir Brian Roche has confirmed his advisory group, appointed to ‘‘continually monitor’’ by Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins in March, has yet to provide any such real-time advice to the minister.

But the group, which includes former Air NZ chief executive Rob Fyfe and three health experts, had finished a ‘‘hard, big report’’ of the Valentine Day cluster response that was now before Cabinet. It found no major failings but problems with ‘‘overly complicated’’ communication to the public.

‘‘I know, this sounds incredibly defensive, it just takes time to get set up and get into an operating rhythm, engaging with the system,’’ Roche said.

‘‘It’s probably been a slower start than some of us would have liked. The minister was very clear about his expectations of, you know, a much more interactive process. He wants more real-time engagement than long pauses and big heavy reports.’’

Roche said the report on the February Covid-19 outbreak had recommended to the minister that ‘‘casual plus’’ and ‘‘close plus’’ categories for contacts of Covid-19 cases be done away with. ‘‘We think that’s overly complicated ... the simpler, the easier it is to follow.’’

The group was now looking at how the Covid-19 response system needed to be set up after the vaccine rollout was complete.

Managed isolation facilities would likely remain, he said. There would be testing protocols for people entering the country, and proof of vaccination status.

‘‘If you’re looking abroad, and we already have a border with Australia, is it likely we’re going to have an opening at the border with other countries? That would seem to be a potential. But the future system has to respond to the risks that we are exposing ourselves to,’’ he said.

‘‘The freedom at the border is going to have to be evidence based. Again if you look at the international experience ... everybody is sort of experimenting. They want freedom at the border, but it’s not going to be unconstrained freedom. I do think it’s prudent to assume that we’re going to have some form of Covid response for the next, possibly next two to five years.’’

Structural changes to the system,

‘‘We’re going to have some form of Covid response for the next, possibly next two to five years.’’

Sir Brian Roche

Advisory group head

such as the creation of new government entities, was something he would be willing to consider recommending if needed, he said.

Roche last year reviewed the Government’s contact-tracing and testing systems and was broadly critical of the minister of health.

Yesterday, he said it ‘‘had to be the working assumption’’ that the Ministry of Health was capable to being more interactive in its response to the pandemic.

According to an Official Information Act request publicly released last week, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet holds no record of meeting minutes for both Roche’s group, and a group led by Professor David Skegg that was to give advice on a ‘‘post-pandemic future’’.

The request also asked for written copies of advice from the two advisory groups provided to Hipkins and Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall, information yet to be provided.

A spokesman for Hipkins confirmed he received the Auckland cluster report and a May letter from Roche.

A spokeswoman for Verrall said Skegg’s group had been ‘‘feeding’’ into the minister’s work, and the advice would be released after Cabinet considered it.