Covid 19 coronavirus: Kiwis back tough measures - but complacency a risk

Aucklanders visit Dizengoff in Ponsonby Rd for "contactless coffee" amid last week's snap level 3 lockdown. Photo / Michael Craig

Kiwis think the circuit-breaking steps New Zealand has taken against Covid-19 have proven effective, a new study finds.

But it's also pointed to a risk of complacency - something highlighted in QR code scan rates that have begun falling again - and also suggested many of us have trouble keeping our distance.

The research, just published in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, offers some fascinating new insights into how Kiwis view the tough measures at the core of our elimination strategy.

It drew on more than 2400 responses, collected as part of a wider Ministry of Health-commissioned Ipsos survey between April and July last year.

It found virtually all people thought the physical distancing measures that came with each alert level were effective.

During level 4, 97 per cent thought staying home for all but essential activities was effective at slowing the spread of Covid-19, as was closing venues like bars and restaurants.

School closures were viewed as effective or very effective by 94 per cent of people over level 4, with a slightly smaller degree of agreement over levels 3 and 2.

Some 98 per cent agreed with the efficacy of the international travel ban throughout the different alert levels, while stopping travel within the country in alert level 4 was thought effective by 95 per cent of people.

"Overall, almost 90 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that 'the Government's physical distancing strategy was the right approach', with little variation across alert levels," said study lead author Lesley Gray, a public health expert and senior lecturer at the University of Otago.

Essential workers made up about a quarter of the survey sample, while a third were aged over 55, 86 per cent lived with at least one other person, and just under half reported they or someone else in their home was at high risk for influenza.

The study noted that the high levels of support for distancing measures were consistent with what had been in other countries like Australia, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

This support was partly down to the efficacy of those measures - but also to trust in the agencies implementing them.

However, the research did highlight some gaps for improvement.

Although most thought that staying home was effective if someone was sick with severe symptoms, there was slightly less agreement in regard to mild symptoms.

"This speaks to the need to be clear in messaging that staying home is effective for all symptoms, whether severe or mild," Gray and her co-authors wrote.

Around half of all participants reported also having trouble physically distancing.

"Key reasons behind this included being an essential worker, and challenges related to the behaviour of others and inability to distance in some public places."

Perhaps more concerningly, it also found that people's physical distancing - and their support for doing so - fell away as alert levels declined.

That was despite ongoing recommendations that people keep 2m away from others outside their homes, and was particularly the case with level 2 - now in place across Auckland.

"We are, understandably by nature, more complacent in the absence of apparent or immediate threats," Gray told the Herald.

"We are seeing this play out currently in relation to reduction of use of the NZ Covid Tracer app, and rise in use when a community case is reported."

That was concerning, given that tracking our own movements mattered most in the two or
so weeks before a case was notified.

"There is general complacency due to the absence of widespread community transmission."

Following last week's flare-up, there were already signs complacency was setting in again.

The latest NZ Covid Tracer app data showed that, while new cases sparked a surge in the number of active devices from just under 400,000 on February 13 to just over 900,000 on February 17, the numbers had been coming down since.

"We need to establish new habits of location tracing as a matter of course - perhaps even for the next few years."

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins hasn't ruled out making use of the app mandatory, and in the meantime was looking at various other ways to boost uptake.

Gray felt the study's key takeaway was the need for people to vigilant about staying home if they had any sort of symptom.

"If people have mild symptoms they may be more likely to ignore those - especially in the lower alert levels."