Harawira decries the self-isolation `myth'

Hone Harawira - iwi must unite over Covid threat. Photo /John Stone

Tai Tokerau Border Control (TBC) founder Hone Harawira repeated his warning yesterday that government measures designed to keep Covid-19 out of Northland were ineffective, not least thanks to the "self-isolation myth."

TBC, he said, knew of numerous people who had travelled south to Auckland and returned over the past month, many of them visiting the "so-called locations of interest, and some who whom knew and visited people within the cluster contact groups before returning home.

"We were recently told of someone who had returned from overseas, did their 14-day MIQ, and promptly ignored the request to self-isolate for a further five days. They said most of those they knew in MIQ didn't bother either," he said.

"We rang to find out what to do and got bounced around, from the Ministry of Health to Employment NZ and the Northland Medical Officer of Health, and got told self-isolation was a courtesy request, not an obligation, and that the risk was minimal after 14 days.

This one case affected five different communities in rural northland and one rural town. We know there have been others.

"We are dealing with Covid-19 and two new strains (SAC-19 and UK-19), and waiting to board a plane to New Zealand are two more, the Californian (CA-19) and the Brazilian (BZ-19) strains. And we know they will get here, because our borders remain open, and 37 per cent of those coming here are foreigners," he said.

"These new strains are more contagious and mutating as we speak. They do not respond to Covid-19 testing timelines, they are driving up caseloads wherever they appear, and they are responsible for increased Covid deaths as well."

The danger to Tai Tokerau remained, he added, and shifting alert levels up and down to suit national agendas was not in the best interests of safeguarding the health and wellbeing of the elderly and those in poor health.

"I remind everyone that Tai Tokerau has some of the more depressed communities in the country. Schools in high Māori population areas are often Decile 1, the general standard of housing is poor, and the waiting list for state housing is high, low wages and high unemployment are the norm, and living below the poverty line is widespread," Harawira said.

"And in terms of health, that all results in the Māori population of Tai Tokerau suffering from weakened immune systems, liver disease, cancer, kidney disease, heart disease and diabetes, the medical conditions that are natural breeding grounds for Covid-19 and its descendants.

"The open-door policy during (Covid alert) levels 1 and 2 means tens of thousands of people moving freely into our region, many of whom will be unknowing casual contacts of cases A-M. The threat to our old people is real."

TBC was asking Tai Tokerau iwi chairmen, individually and collectively, to express concern over the lack of urgency attached to the dangers posed by the new strains of Covid and mutations in New Zealand, the open-door policies that endangered the lives of kuia, kaumātua and whānau suffering poor health, the running of police-only checkpoints, which were inconsistent with Treaty policy and practice, and to support the involvement of Tai Tokerau Border Control personnel at all checkpoints in the Te Kahu o Taonui area, because of the experience they had accrued in border control work and engagement with the public, and the networks they had developed.

They also called for support the participation of Tai Tokerau Border Control in the discussion and decision-making around all checkpoints in the Te Kahu o Taonui area.