Emily Henderson: Phase two as we try to slow the flood of Covid cases

Boosted! Thanks Kamo Unichem Pharmacy. Photo / Emily Henderson

This is the last week our family will have all four kids at home. This weekend, three of them are off to uni – two for the first time. I never thought I'd be preparing them for surviving a pandemic alone in a distant city.

One day Covid will stay in the background, managed like the flu season. Right now, however, cases are climbing rapidly and we have to act. We are now in Phase Two, managing a large outbreak. There are already Whangārei families waiting for results or coping with actual cases, including children. If you are one of them, kia kaha, please reach out for support. Plans to help whānau self-isolating are in place and ready to go.

The focus now is on keeping essential supply chains moving and slowing the flood of cases - or "flattening the curve" of the wave - so that we have resources for everyone who needs care.

Self-isolation for most people drops to 10 days. Vaccinated workers in registered essential services who become close contacts will have rapid antigen tests and, if they test negative and have no symptoms, can continue working. Solo workers - such as farmers - will be able to keep working so long as they are asymptomatic.

Financial support is available for businesses to support workers who are self-isolating, as well as support from the DHB and the Government for whānau in need while self-isolating. We have also upped sick leave entitlements from seven to 10 days.

This is a high-trust model. We are relying on people's honesty about their exposures and symptoms, and we're relying on everyone making individual preparations.

Plan for how your family will manage one of you getting sick, and remember vaccinations and boosters are key to reducing infection and serious symptoms. Recent research shows that unvaccinated people are 14 times more at risk of Covid-19 infection and 53 times more at risk of Covid-19–associated death than people who had vaccinations and boosters. This is an airborne infection and masks are crucial.

Contact tracing also changes. Something coming up frequently in my online discussions are questions about cases announced without matching locations of interest. Under phase two, because of the high numbers of new daily cases, the focus has shifted to only publishing locations of higher-risk exposures such as plane trips. It is crucial to keep scanning as the NZ Covid Tracer app still notifies users who have scanned in at a location that has become an exposure event.

It's also important to plan for winter and make sure flu season doesn't become a further pressure on our hospitals when they will still be dealing with Covid cases - please grab a flu shot when offered.

We've done incredibly well so far and entering our major fight with Omicron with a highly vaccinated population and before winter is a great start. Thank you to those who've already stepped up to get boosted. Thanks, too, to all the businesses and critical workers who are keeping our local economy going. Thank you to our health workers. And to all the mums and dads who are sending kids off to uni - kia kaha.