Traffic is controlled at a Covid-19 testing facility in Melbourne, Australia, last week. Photo / AP
Traffic is controlled at a Covid-19 testing facility in Melbourne, Australia, last week. Photo / AP
Editorial
With Melbourne in a snap lockdown and health authorities scrambling after transtasman travellers, it is important Kiwis get back into a more Covid-wary mindset.
When contacts of the Melbourne cluster of 49 are included, the outbreak involves thousands of people. As much as Kiwis would feel sympathy for Melburnians, no-onewants to go through another lockdown here.
It has been three months since New Zealand's last case of Covid-19 community spread and it is easy to lapse into complacency in this coronavirus cocoon.
About 500,000 scans with the tracer app were recorded on Saturday - well down on usage in February. In an outbreak, it's a map of where you've been and helps to identify who may have been exposed.
Both New Zealand and Australia are smack in a crunch period of the pandemic.
New Zealand now has an extra ring-fence of immunity through vaccinated border and MIQ workers, but the country is now tied at the hip to Australia through the travel bubble.
There have been numerous virus escapes from Australia's hotel quarantine system in the past six months.
The Government can pause travel at times. A test for some travellers who have been in Australia is an extra protective measure.
The best protection would be vaccination, but too many people here who would be at greater risk during an outbreak, are still waiting for a shot. Uncertainty over supplies of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has contributed to a drawn-out process of getting doses into arms.
Kiwis have to do their bit to carefully get through this period.
That means using the tracer app again if they've got out of the habit; getting tested and staying home if they're unwell; and considering using masks and remembering to social distance when attending indoor events. It also means getting a Covid vaccine jab if they have the opportunity.
The biggest concern is a variant first identified in India which has been spreading in some parts of the UK. The Melbourne variant is a different type from India.
The variant in Britain is concentrated among younger adults while infections remain low among older, mostly fully vaccinated groups. Data shows both shots of the Pfizer vaccine are needed to get a good level of protection against it.
As a New York Timesopinion piece put it: "A variant with higher transmissibility is a huge danger to people without immunity either from vaccination or prior infection".
Politically, New Zealand's Government has a lot on the line over the rollout. The public generally backs the pandemic response so far. But the next two to three months is key.
Regardless of frustrations over vaccination, the country dodged the biggest bullet from the coronavirus - widespread death and illness and the trauma of family and friends being hit with it. Covid has also caused huge problems for health systems overseas.
Border closure is still proving to be an effective strategy. But we can learn from the Northern Hemisphere experience with Covid vaccination.
A combination of jabs, some restrictions and common-sense measures are a sustainable longer-term alternative once New Zealand's rollout is completed. Staying alert and cautious is each individual's best defence until then.
Once that happens, people will have more personal protection from the virus and some degree of re-opening should be feasible.
