Cecilia Robinson: Moving forward with Covid and ditching our culture of fear

Striking nurses in a rally last year. Healthcare workers are still under immense, sustained pressure, and Cecilia Robinson says the ongoing rules around Covid-19 aren't helping. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Opinion

OPINION:

With the borders open and Kiwis once again travelling around the world, there is one common sentiment when they return. The rest of the world is open.

Recently, every single person I've spoken to who has returned from overseas has joined the chorus. In most countries, there are no restrictions, no face masks, and no testing. If you're sick, you stay home. Your family isn't told to isolate.

On the whole, Covid has become part of life beyond the shores of Aotearoa.

In the times before Covid, chances are we all went into work while sniffly or feeling a little under the weather. The last few years have made Kiwis – and their workplaces – more aware of the importance of taking sick leave and the impact this has on slowing the spread and even stopping illnesses.

This shift towards understanding that people get better faster when they're allowed the time to rest and recover is one of the silver linings of the pandemic.

But now's the time to reassess our relationship with Covid and now's the time to shake off the far-reaching culture of fear.

We're still operating with a culture of fear, when most of the world is finding a new normal.

I'm not downplaying the very real cost of Covid and the fact that it has an ongoing impact for parts of our community, much like other illnesses. Or that there is a chance that Covid may get worse again in the future.

With Omicron being milder than other variants and borders open with tourism back in business, the domestic crowd are still shackled by fear perpetuated by ongoing focus on daily reporting of Covid.

In most places overseas, there is no longer any reporting on figures or hospitalisations. In New Zealand, we're still latching to daily numbers relating to Covid infections and deaths.

There is still isolation for household contacts in Aotearoa. As we approach the end of 2022, we need to consider whether this preventative measure is balanced with the impact it has on society.

Similarly, masks have been proven to slow the spread of not just Covid, but many airborne illnesses.

But should they remain mandated as spring emerges?

At this stage, it's time for personal responsibility to come into play. If you want to wear a mask for your own safety, feel free.

But there are also those who are negatively impacted by mask wearing.

I hear teachers saying that some children are struggling to learn basic sounds and how to articulate words behind masks. And those who have hearing loss, who are experiencing interrupted learning experiences as they can't read lips.

Our international counterparts no longer have these mandates in place.

Just this week, Singapore, which is on par with New Zealand's population size but on a much smaller land mass, has done away with indoor mask requirements.

Epidemic of anxiety

Globally, life is returning to relative normality. So why is Aotearoa lagging behind? When will the ongoing disruption of Covid fear stop hindering our society, and when will we focus on solving the problems Covid has created for us?

For example, our healthcare system has been under immense pressure for months – first due to Covid and now needing to catch up with our healthcare debt, such as the number of procedures and checks which have not been completed due to Covid.

There is no doubt Covid has had an adverse impact on our healthcare system. Our healthcare workers are burning out while not enough has been done to incentivise new workers to get into the pipeline – or even immigrate from overseas.

Additionally, in primary healthcare we are seeing otherwise healthy patients with increased anxiety around Covid.

Those who normally wouldn't need to seek help for normal respiratory illnesses are presenting due to a fear they've contracted Covid.

This has meant other more sinister health issues and targets are falling well behind and waiting times for many primary healthcare providers are astronomical.

And our education system? Ongoing disruptions to the day-to-day lives of our children continues to make headlines.

There are concerns about achievement rates for children who have spent the better part of two years either learning remotely, attending disrupted classes due to teacher sickness, or simply not learning at all.

This appears to be disproportionately impacting students in low decile schools, younger students and Māori and Pacific students. In fact, 40 per cent of children with attendance problems had no issues prior to the pandemic.

While the future of education was a key focus in the 2022 Budget, what about the current cohort of students who appear to be being left behind?

Teacher resourcing is also stretched. There are PE teachers teaching maths, and there are still schools closing down for periods as household contact isolation and increased sickness means they are unable to fulfill the staff quota needed for lessons.

We need to start questioning the interruption we are experiencing in our healthcare and education system, and find a way forward to a sustainable new normal.

So, what do we have to do? We've got to move forward and acknowledge that this is the future.

We need to embrace the way other countries are now managing Covid and ensure that we don't get left behind.

The Prime Minister has announced a review of the Covid traffic light restrictions in the coming weeks. I just hope change is on the horizon and it's not too late.

Let's take a page from our international counterparts. Covid isn't going anywhere, so we need to learn and adapt accordingly.

- Cecilia Robinson is founder & co-CEO at Tend