Weekly column by Kāpiti Mayor K. Gurunathan.
If the Omicron virus had a political ideology it would be a social democrat. It does not matter if you are wealthy or a pauper, the average Jane or a TV celebrity, the virus will embrace you.
News that the Prime Minister and the Governor-General had to self-isolate because they were a close contact of a fellow passenger on a flight from Kerikeri to Auckland was a timely reminder. Given their high public profiles they would have taken all the precautions. It shows that none of us have a 100 per cent protection.
Then there was the sobering news that modelling undertaken by Capital & Coast, and Hut Valley health boards showed that over a three-month period 65,000 people in the Wellington region will be infected with Covid. That's a rate of 750 per day. The public data does not give a sub-regional breakdown, so we don't know how many thousands of that total will be from the Kāpiti Coast.
While Omicron is highly contagious its severity, leading to hospitalisation, is proving to be less than its kin, the deadly Delta variant. The danger for Kāpiti is the combination of a highly contagious variant impacting a community where almost 30 per cent are aged 65 and over. The age factor and its accompanying health challenges, in a highly contagious situation, makes the statistical potential for severe impacts a very real concern.
In Kāpiti, the aged care sector is a $500m industry with high local employment. This sector has been very sensitive to the protocols needed to protect its elderly clients. This awareness includes the possibility its workforce will itself be prone to the sickness. There could be up to 25 per cent of the regular workforce being out of action, putting a huge stress on the delivery of care.
There is another sector of the vulnerable that needs to be considered. There are about 4000 single-occupant homes in the district. Predominantly senior and especially women. How will they manage?
I raise this issue largely because from the time we were all glued to the TV and the internet watching the spread of Covid-19 from Wuhan, China, to the rest of the world, to where we are today, the chain of command to manage this pandemic has been a centralised one. The Government had led the way and in the process brushed aside the protests of the libertarians. And the Government has done a sterling job.
Today, given the nature of Omicron and the anticipated mass infections in the community, we are moving into a stage where this pandemic needs to be managed by individuals. What the first Covid wave showed was that despite the centralised command structure, the local government sector with its grassroots connections, played a pivotal role in facilitating community residence. The Delta wave again saw the reactivation of a centralised approach, which ignored the good, and officially acknowledged, work of the local government sector.
Omicron's ability to rapidly increase cases poses serious challenges to the capacity of the health and social welfare system. This means local councils will again become critical facilitators on the ground. We need to do this despite the potential of council's manpower being down at least 25 per cent. For a start we need to keep the water, wastewater and solid waste services going.
So finally, we are at the stage where we need to take direct responsibility for ourselves, our whanau, our neighbourhoods, local businesses and communities. In our whanau we have had our double vaccines and the booster. We have put together a Covid impact kit of essential medications and, slowly over the weeks, stocked up the food pantry. We intend to work out the use of my office and a spare room as isolation units.
There is more work to be done, including a plan with immediate neighbours. One thing I'm certain of is that the Kiwi spirit will ensure the country works it out together. Remember the debate over the Government commandeering bulk supply of rapid antigen testing kits, some of it from orders placed by private companies. Some criticised the Government for undermining private initiative to hide its own failure. Others praised the Government for looking after the public need against private interest.
How great was it to hear we have people like Sir Ian Taylor working with other New Zealand companies and talking to the Government to secure 25 million kits for New Zealand from global suppliers in a very tight market.
