Covid 19 Delta outbreak: Checklist helps farmers to be prepared

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A checklist developed by the agri-sector and Ministry for Primary Industries aims to ensure farmers have a plan if they, or their staff, contract Covid-19.

The checklist includes everything a neighbour or someone else coming onto the farm would need to know should key people have to go into MIQ or hospital - right down to the names of dogs and where their food is located.

It also has items to tick off for personal wellbeing.

The checklist was put together by Federated Farmers, DairyNZ, Beef + Lamb New Zealand, NZ Pork, Deer Industry NZ, Poultry Industry Association of NZ and the Egg Producers Federation of NZ, and is available on each group's website.

The checklist is an important tool, as vaccination rates build and New Zealand begins to transition to coping with Covid-19 without lockdowns and with less reliance on managed isolation facilities.

"It's only a matter of time before we get more positive cases of Covid-19 turning up on farm," Federated Farmers national board member and employment spokesperson Chris Lewis said.

Distance from health and other facilities, workforce shortages and the need to continue to look after animals and crops raised "all sorts of complications" for farmers, Lewis said.

"As DHB Medical Officers of Health will be making the decision on whether it's practicable for a farmer or key farm staff member to self-isolate on the farm, evidence of pre-planning and preparedness will be an important factor."

In a Federated Farmers-hosted webinar Southern DHB Medical Officer of Health Dr Michael Butchard emphasised being double-jabbed was the "very best defence" if a farmer or key team member tested positive and sought to self-isolate on farm.

Vaccination rates of people on the farm would weigh heavily on MOHs as they made the "case by case" decisions on how and where isolation would happen if someone tested positive, he said.

"The latest data out of the USA indicates if you're not vaccinated you're 11 times more likely to die from Covid-19 and ten times more likely to be hospitalised."

Immunologist and Otago University Associate Professor James Ussher told the webinar a double-vaccinated person had a 75-80 per cent lower chance of being infected with the virus.

"If you don't get infected, you can't pass it on to other people. So it's about protecting yourself and protecting others."

The checklist can be downloaded from the Federated Farmers website here.