Editorial: New Year's resolution should be to better future-proof NZ against viruses

New Zealand is helped by milder winters and long, warm summers. Photo / Supplied

Editorial

As a new year dawns, it is customary to ring it in with feelings of hope, plans for the future and goals to nail in the next 12 months.

Unfortunately life is still on hold, not just here but around the world. We have to grab hope where we can find it and be realistic about our plans.

This year, 2022, was meant to be the time when people would be resurfacing from the pandemic, doing more of the things they liked to do in 2019. Instead the tape is stuck on a loop, appearing to want to replay 2021.

Here we are again, watching the northern hemisphere wade through another plagued winter, nervously hoping our own flood walls hold back a wave that's more like a tsunami overseas with record daily case numbers. The big question, though, is whether health systems will simply get overwhelmed with Omicron cases.

Pooling around again are all the thrashed and re-hashed arguments from last year about the vulnerabilities of MIQ, some people not complying with rules, other people not being adequately protected for a new threat, overseas citizens left in limbo.

A few Omicron droplets have already splashed over here, but we can hope to mop up the water for now.

We can also still hope not to have to repeat the single worst period of last year - the Delta lockdown in Auckland - as long as boosters and child vaccines can be swiftly administered.

If Omicron breaks through but is, as early data suggests, a manageable hazard for people vaccinated and boostered, then life under red or orange traffic light health measures would still be an improvement on how it was from August to December in the city.

Vaccine passes, scanning, testing and mask-wearing are a small price to pay for more mobility and doing activities you like to do, and ensuring businesses have a better chance of surviving.

If last year is any guide to this one then the Covid danger will wax and wane with the seasons. The northern hemisphere last year had a reasonable summer for tourism and business and may now be more prepared for that as well as another bad winter at the end of 2022. New Zealand is helped by milder winters.

Hope probably extends to the medical aid likely this year. We may at some stage need to line up for an updated version of the mRNA vaccine, but the booster dose could also prove to be sufficient. Anti-viral pills - if enough are produced - could make a difference. While rapid antigen tests are said by experts to be less reliable than PCR ones, cheap home-kits would be a useful addition.

This year could also see governments, local authorities and businesses work harder on making structural changes that improve our resilience to this virus and future ones.

That means developing a workable border, home-isolation and travel system, possibly including a long-term quarantine facility away from Auckland's centre and standard employment rules on health requirements for front line jobs.

Other areas to consider include: reviewing and improving medical capacity and access to vaccine production within the wider region; working ventilation and good air filtration into existing buildings and designs; and improving the availability of top-quality non-cloth masks to encourage wearing of the more protective kind.

And also: improving space for outdoor dining, bars and entertainment to help businesses, arts and culture; widely expanding online, delivery, pick-up options and work from home and hybrid trends.

If progress can be made on these issues in 2022, then it won't be a wasted year even if some personal goals have to wait a bit longer.