I have some winning numbers to share with you – but this is not a game of chance.
This is a hard slog, for all of us. In challenging times, the sign of a good workplace or organisation is recognising the need to step back occasionally to share milestones with the team, celebrate wins big or small, and to acknowledge and thank everyone for their efforts.
So I want to celebrate some recent wins in our fight against Covid-19. We are making progress in both vaccination efforts and with the scale of the economic support rolling out for jobs and businesses. Brace yourself, there are a lot of numbers involved.
For those who view eight as a lucky number, 88 per cent of the Pasifika community in Hawke's Bay are now vaccinated with at least one dose of Pfizer. This includes both permanent residents and seasonal workers in the primary industries. Awesome!
More than 171,000 doses have been administered by Chris McKenna's team at Hawke's Bay DHB. More than 74 per cent of our eligible local population are protected with at least one dose, and more than 43 per cent are fully vaccinated with two doses.
The DHB team deliver almost 10,000 doses a week in our region, a huge logistical exercise and they deserve our thanks. Hawke's Bay has plenty of walk-in vaccination capacity and clinics are also being planned for schools and workplaces.
At a national level, 78 per cent of the eligible population have had at least one dose, and 45 per cent have had two. A stunning 5.17 million doses have been administered. Those aged over 65 are leading by example, as more than 92 per cent have had their first dose and 82 per cent are fully vaccinated. For the over-50s, 85 per cent have had one dose, and 58 have had two.
In Auckland, a real push to protect people during the high alert levels has seen 83 per cent of the eligible population receive one dose, and 48 per cent are fully vaccinated.
I join the director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield who gave a shoutout to our young people this week. Despite being the last group to become eligible for the vaccine, the 12-to-19-year age group has been fastest to come forward. So far, more than 64 per cent have had one dose.
A sobering set of numbers emerged from those who have contracted Covid-19 in the latest outbreak of the New South Wales Delta variant in Auckland.
There are 260 children under 12 who have caught the virus, more than one-fifth of total cases. At the moment under-12s are too young to be vaccinated but the adults around them can be, and should be. Of the 1185 cases in the outbreak, 78 per cent were completely unvaccinated, with no doses at all. We can do better.
There are more numbers to acknowledge on the economic front. The wage subsidy and the resurgence support payment for fixed costs continue to be paid in Hawke's Bay, while Auckland is at the higher alert level.
More than 6200 Hawke's Bay businesses have received the resurgence payment which they can use for fixed costs like rent, insurance, and power bills. More than $20 million has flowed to Hawke's Bay businesses under both instalments of this scheme.
There have been three phases of the wage subsidy paid to support jobs in our region, too. Figures from mid-September show 48,000 unique jobs in Hawke's Bay have been supported through the wage subsidy, with payments of more than $54 million.
We are giving more to businesses than during previous outbreaks, when the resurgence payment was not available for fixed costs.
The economy was in a very strong position prior to the outbreak of Delta, and a strong rebound is expected. But these are tough times. My main message, to business owners and those who are vaccine hesitant: reach out, don't be afraid to ask for help or support.
The numbers show the best economic response is a strong health response.
