Risk management to avoid Covid

Nicola Patrick's approach to Covid preparations is all about risk management, just like jumping off a bridge. That's her son Mitchell Young leaping off last week - at high tide. Photo / Nicola Patrick

A sunny Saturday down at the river traders' market makes the spectre of Omicron still feel distant. Whanganui has stayed largely unscathed by this global pandemic but it is looming.

Unfortunately, Horizons Regional Council has been hit early. One of the team in Palmerston North was confirmed with Covid last week so quite a few colleagues are close contacts and isolating, awaiting test results. That certainly brings it home.

Some people are saying it's best to get it over and done with – to get infected while your vaccinations are current. But it's likely there will be more variants yet and being infected once doesn't stop you from getting infected again.
What does help is getting a booster as soon as you qualify. I'm booked for mine as soon as the four-month period passes – just a week to wait now.

And while for most of us the illness will be like a bad flu for a week or so, no one wants to end up in ICU with complications, or worse. Every loss of life is an absolute tragedy. Then there's long Covid that affects some people – maybe even for years. I'm trying to avoid this.

But it's still been hard in my work life to be comfy with the decision to make our upcoming Thrive events online only – there are negatives in reducing that face-to-face contact. The Government's traffic light system means we could go ahead, and it's different for everyone, but if we can reduce our contact and still get our jobs done, then that's the right path for us for now. We are doing our bit to reduce the risk of contributing to unnecessary early transmission in our community.

My work can be adequately undertaken from home. It doesn't affect my income and I have a safe, warm, dry home – I know how lucky that makes me. Lots of people don't have the choice.

For those who can, slowing the spread of Covid cases will reduce pressure on our health system. We've seen what's happened overseas with ambulances queued up, people turned away from hospitals, and refrigerated trucks acting as overflow morgues. That may not happen here because of our high vaccination rates, increasing mask use and keeping a distance.

It will hit our hospitality industry hard as more of us stay home, whether cautious or isolating or unwell. I've ordered meals online from Honest Kitchen, and am prioritising my favourite cafes that have great outdoors areas like The Yellow House, The Rutland and Momiji. And there are still takeaways – we had Domino's delivered via electric bike this week!

Overall I'm not feeling anxious and do understand Covid in Whanganui is coming, but I'm going to do my best to avoid it like the plague it is for as long as I can.

• Nicola Patrick is a mum of two boys, a Horizons councillor, leads Thrive Whanganui, is a Green Party member and has a science degree.