Mask and isolation requirements end

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Mask wearing and isolating when sick to help stop the spread of illnesses and thereby protect others, especially the vulnerable, are two of the enduring health lessons we should take from the unwanted infectious diseases education and challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

But as of yesterday, masks are no longer mandated in healthcare or aged-care settings and people infected with the Covid virus are not legally required to isolate for seven days.

The removal of these final two restrictions as of midnight on Monday is to be celebrated. New Zealand has shifted to treating Covid-19 like other respiratory illnesses . . . and yes, midnight rule changes are another pandemic throwback we won’t miss.

To an extent this officially closes our pandemic response three and a half years after it began, and three months after the World Health Organisation declared an end to Covid-19 as a public health emergency — while stressing that did not mean the disease was no longer a global threat.

In this country we are on track for 1000 people to die with Covid-19 this year, twice as many who die each year from complications related to the flu.

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The ongoing burden from long Covid remains something of an unknown, but evidence suggests as many as 10 to 20 percent of those infected have symptoms that persist for weeks, months and even years.

Reported Covid cases are at their lowest since February 2022 — although it is estimated that only about a quarter of cases are actually being reported now — and as at the start of this week it only accounted for 2.2 percent of hospital admissions.

In making the announcement on Monday, Health Minister Ayesha Verrall said while case numbers continued to fluctuate they were no longer seeing dramatic peaks like last year and paired with the population’s immunity levels, “I am advised we’re positioned to safely remove the remaining Covid-19 requirements”.

Ending the self-isolation mandate also ends the accompanying Leave Support Scheme for employees self-isolating with Covid-19.

Most Covid restrictions were removed last year after vaccination rates reached high levels and hospitals got through winter without being overwhelmed. Cabinet last reviewed the remaining requirements in April and decided to keep them in place until the end of August, to help ease pressure on hospitals over winter.

The onus now shifts to the public to do what is right to help keep Covid and  other respiratory illnesses in check. That includes staying at home when sick — especially if you test positive for Covid-19, with the Ministry of Health now recommending that be for five days — and to wear a mask if in any doubt or visiting vulnerable people.