Coronavirus advice in the customs hall at Auckland International Airport. Photo / Jason Oxenham, File
Coronavirus advice in the customs hall at Auckland International Airport. Photo / Jason Oxenham, File
EDITORIAL
Whangārei woman Ashley Rochelle had the same reaction that many of us would have had when told New Zealand Customs were making only random checks for proof of travellers' pre-departure Covid tests.
"Are you joking?"
On landing in New Zealand, Rochelle asked a Customs official whether he wanted tosee proof of the tests and he said no, allegedly saying only a percentage of people were being checked.
"I've just paid $900 in tests to get home and I could have got on that plane without getting a test because no one's checking it," she says.
Rochelle says she wasn't asked at any stage at all for evidence of her whānau's negative tests.
It's no joke to Auckland University Professor of Medicine Des Gorman, who says random checking is "not adequate", given the risk posed by new virus variants to unvaccinated Kiwis.
Following inquiries from Herald reporter Adam Pearse, a New Zealand Customs spokeswoman confirmed pre-departure Covid tests were subject to "random validation" - meaning not everyone was checked for evidence of a negative test upon landing.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardren speaks to masked officials in the customs hall at Auckland International Airport in March 2020. Photo / Jason Oxenham, File
A spokeswoman for Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins then confirmed the minister was considering ways to strengthen checking efforts on both sides of the Ditch.
"Pre-departure Covid-19 tests are currently subject to random validation at a number of steps along the traveller's journey. As well as our own checks on arrival in New Zealand, there is a mix of checking by airlines and airline liaison officers deployed in Australian airports by Immigration New Zealand. Mechanisms for validation are consistently being reviewed and enhanced."
Here's an idea for enhancement: Aim to check every arrival for proof of pre-departure Covid tests. Many of these people are arriving from a country where the leadership has admitted losing control of infections due to one unmasked bus driver.
Hipkins has also confirmed 50 travellers have been picked up without proof of pre-departure Covid tests.
As Professor Gorman says, the decision not to check everyone is most likely to reduce congestion at airports, but he's right to gauge the risk as too high.
"I understand the need for expediency, but the point is we are an unvaccinated community that is highly vulnerable and if someone coming into the airport has to take a longer transit so they can have all their documents checked, then so be it."
Other travellers have told the Herald destinations such as Japan were checking every arrival for pre-departure tests as well as insisting on saliva sample testing while the documentation was being checked.
For the team of five million and the sacrifices already made to the cause of prevention and elimination, this disclosure will be hard to swallow.
It does appear, once again, that officials have constructed border control protocols with a hefty reliance on New Zealanders and those travelling here as being naturally compliant. The "high trust" model is admirable and to be welcomed in areas where obeisances occur organically for the majority.
But waving unchecked travellers through the turnstiles is inviting the highly virulent Delta strain to board a bus into New Zealand's largest city.
