Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: Editorial - Amid border changes, the pandemic situation is still murky

The Government will be announcing changes this week to Covid-19 protection measures. Photo / Alex Robertson

Editorial

EDITORIAL:

As New Zealand looks like it is starting to push away from its Omicron peak, the pandemic increasingly becomes a balancing act with messaging.

For the general public, it's a confusing time with Covid-19 control.

Seemingly good news is meshed with cautious warnings from experts. Overseas Covid moves remind us that we are still trapped to some degree in a timetable controlled by the coronavirus.

The pandemic remains a mentally and emotionally exhausting state for some people and an economic headache for many. The country can hope for gradual improvements over this year but none are guaranteed. Covid is still capable of evolving further and bringing new surges, while reinfecting people of all ages in multiple countries.

There was good news at the weekend with daily case numbers dropping from 18,514 on Saturday to 12,020 on Sunday and the seven-day rolling average dropped from 17,673 on Friday to 17,124 yesterday.

But hospitalisations were still up and experts suggest the outbreak decline could be slow, winding down in May with the possibility of smaller waves.

The overall two-shot vaccination rate for people aged 12 and over is a very good 95 per cent and almost 73 per cent of those eligible have had a booster. A further 53 per cent of 5 to 11-year-olds have had a dose.

However, the booster level should be equal to the take-up of second shots and more boosters are on the horizon. A fourth dose may be given to people aged over 65. England this week is starting a drive to get fourth booster doses to about five million people. The extra dose will be for people in care, those aged 75 plus, and immunosuppressed people 12 and over.

The Government has been easing requirements for travellers and reviewing its overall Covid settings. That gives people hope of travel beyond our borders and going about life within them with fewer reminders of the virus in our midst.

Some aspects of the Covid response became less effective with Omicron, but good-quality masks are still one of the handy tools people shouldn't forget about. Schools here and in Australia have been wells of Covid infection for easy spreading among families.

Epidemiologist Professor Rod Jackson said it was two to four weeks too early to reduce any health measures that target the spread of the virus.

And epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker said he hoped that New Zealand would remove measures cautiously to avoid a "yo-yoing" in cases and interventions.

Canada, Britain, France, and Greece are among countries relaxing Covid measures lately - even though cases are rising in a number of European countries. Previously, there's been a cycle of easings followed by reimpositions of some rules.

"We need to work out a suitably sustainable set of controls for this virus, which is another way of saying: don't put all of your eggs in the vaccination basket," Baker said.

The situation is still not clear cut. The outlook is improving but could still cause problems, the country is reopening but people still need to consider their exposure risk.