Public health officials are calling on the Government to adopt a mass masking approach to avoid another lockdown in the fight against Covid-19.
In an editorial for the New Zealand Medical Journal , medical professionals outline their preferences between medical and non-medical masks, and suggest mandatory face mask provisions in the alert level system.
The University of Otago's Nick Wilson, one of the article's authors, told TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning mass masking refers to the "requirement or the voluntary use of widespread masking by the public".
"It's different from medical masking, which is for health professionals and involves higher levels of quality requirements, whereas mass masking can involve homemade masks or even the use of scarves, so the mouth and nose," he said.
The authors are recommending mass masking at the border for all incoming travellers at international airports - included when they are bussed around and being sent to managed isolation facilities - to help close "one of the remaining gaps" in our borders.
"We think this would be a valuable extra addition to our border controls," Mr Wilson said.
He believes the Government has been hesitant to apply more stringent rules around masking at the border due to New Zealand's success in largely stamping out Covid-19.
"New Zealand and Australia are virtually international outliers on the lack of use of masking, and it might be because we have been successful in eliminating Covid with the current border controls and lockdown measures.
"We're looking ahead and we're saying, 'If we do, unfortunately, have a border control failure, we need the benefits of mass masking so that if we ever have to go back to Alert Level 2, we can require masks on buses and in shops and in workplaces to prevent us ever needing a lockdown again'."
He said the experts' work suggests mass masking is a "critical thing to build into the alert system".
While people experienced difficulties acquiring masks under Alert Level 4, Mr Wilson noted New Zealand has a mask factory and global mask production has increased dramatically.
"If we do a bit of planning now and build up our stockpiles, we can be confident that we have masks available, and it's also very simple to have homemade masks as well that people can wash and recycle.
"A bit of planning now and it will strengthen both of our borders and strengthen the alert system so that we can avoid future lockdown situations."
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