Editorial: Daily case uptick and Delta spread put new pressure on approach

Staff set up at Katikati Medical Centre for a busy day of testing locals. Photo / Carmen Hall

With Delta cases sending shivers through the population from Kaitaia to Katikati and Pukekohe to Palmerston North, the Government might have a hard job sticking to its preferred vaccination script this week.

The Government had planned to today consider alert levels and the question of some vaccine mandates, thought to include the health and education sectors. It aimed to build towards a major vaccination drive on Saturday.

Daily outbreak numbers had dropped from Friday to Saturday but yesterday's climb to 60 daily cases puts the focus squarely back on the outbreak itself and whether restrictions in Auckland need to be tightened.

Sixty might be an especially large bump in the road or it could be sign of a worse surge after a couple of weeks in which daily cases stayed under 50. A tighter lid might be needed on suburbs of interest in the outbreak in Auckland and new measures at the city border, while the rollout continues.

The spread of cases from Auckland has been concerning. They have turned up in Northland and Waikato. In another incident, a person who tested positive was shifting from Pukekohe to the western Bay of Plenty. A truck driver isolating in Palmerston North is now in hospital.

The Waikato cases are said to be linked. The house-shifter was fully vaccinated and had received several tests. Still, the incidents add to a sense of messiness and unease over the overall outbreak and suggest it would be prudent to try to protect the lower half of the North Island and South Island from Delta.

Epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker last week spoke of "confused messages" and lack of clarity on "communication and coherence" over the Covid-19 strategy and alert levels.

At least there is now more momentum on vaccination with an encouraging 85,757 doses delivered on Friday and 81,831 on Saturday as more people get their second doses.

Efforts in Auckland such as an all-night vaccination event may have been helpful to people who have simply found it difficult to find the time to get vaccinated.

A mobile shot bus was used in the city to get doses to gang members and their family members. Harder to reach members of society have to be reached in this campaign.

Vaccines were available on the sidelines of a rugby game on Saturday in Ruatoria as part of the Prime Minister's East Coast visit to promote vaccination uptake.

Vaccinations in the US are now at a three-month high thanks to a combination of older and medically vulnerable people getting booster shots, and attempts by the government and employers to push more workers to get doses. That demand for doses is expected to increase soon with health regulators likely to authorise a lower dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for primary school children.

In New South Wales, vaccine mandates only resulted in a small percentage of the health workforce quitting, the Australian state says.

As of Wednesday, Covid vaccines will be mandatory for air and rail passengers in Canada. Federal government workers will be required to get vaccinated by the end of the month.

New Zealand will see its own version of these trends here. At the moment the Delta outbreak itself is demanding more attention in the midst of the vaccine drive.