An Australian professor of epidemiology says it's possible people are either withholding information during Covid-19 contact tracing or having a "lapse in memory" - and there needs to be consequences.
Professor Mary-Louise McLaws - professor of epidemiology at the University of NSW and an advisor to the World Health Organisation on Covid-19 - this morning told TVNZ's Q+A programme that New Zealand's latest coronavirus spike is "surprising".
"There hasn't been any link to food or food processing or the receiving of items overseas - not at all - so everyone can feel confident that they can handle packages quite safely," Prof McLaws said.
"It hasn't been circulating in the community for 102 days without anyone knowing.
"So the third possibility is that either people are failing to divulge to the contact tracers, or they have a lapse of memory of how they acquired this.
"The most obvious would be a human failing here to accommodate the rules."
Prof McLaws said that people need to, in the first instance, be made to feel safe to divulge exactly what they know and where they've been during during contact tracing, and in the second instance be made accountable.
"We all need to realise that rules are really important in a pandemic," she said.
"People should feel very safe when they're asked the first and the second time - and then the third time, if they don't divulge, then really there needs to be consequences.
"They're wasting a lot of time for the authorities and they're putting peoples' lives at risk."
Asked about the the routine testing of frontline staff working at isolation and quarantine facilities, Prof McLaws said New Zealand had repeated mistakes made by other countries.
Chris Hipkins says both the Government and public need to be “focused forward” at addressing the outbreak. (Source: Other)
"The fact that there hasn't been any testing in the quarantine hotels of the staff is a repeat of what has happened in other countries, particularly your neighbour in Australia, she said.
"Often departments of health are busy running outbreaks and running data analysis, while sometimes forgetting the importance of testing.
"Without testing, you can't control."
Ms McLaws said it could be time for countries including Australia and New Zealand to start thinking about purpose-built isolation facilities, rather than ad hoc setups in hotels which were never made to house infectious patients.
"We need a purpose-built one run by experts in infection control, allowing people to still stay with their family if they've come back as a family unit, still be able to roam around the grounds, and still be safe for staff," Ms McLaws said.
All in all, though, Prof McLaws said New Zealand was doing exceptionally well, and that elimination remains the best strategy both for New Zealand and Australia.
New cases bear striking similarities to the outbreak that overwhelmed the state of Victoria. (Source: Other)
"I can understand that New Zealanders are frustrated having to go back into lockdown after such a wonderful response from the initial first wave, although what you're experiencing is a spike, and not a second wave," she said.
"But you're still a poster country of the world - you and Taiwan have done remarkably well.
"I think elimination is the correct strategy for New Zealand and Australia.
"So if you can get over the sadness of the lockdown for the next few days, or the next few weeks, until you get this under control, you can then go back to life as normal.
"Co-operate with those very, very easy public health requirements - keep your distance, keep your mask on if you're in a crowded space, and test."
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