One of New Zealand's leading epidemiologists says the nation’s Covid-19 response is “lagging” behind other successful countries’ responses because it’s “slow to embrace scientific advances”.
Speaking on Breakfast today, University of Otago professor Michael Baker said innovation is important given the virus keeps adapting.
“The virus is continuing to mutate. It’s becoming tougher to manage. We need to keep ahead of it. I’m concerned that we are lagging now in a lot of areas and we need to better.”
Baker said the country should improve how it manages its border.
“This is a four-week journey for people: A week before they go on the flight, travelling back and looking at risks on flights because New Zealanders are getting infected on flights … and then that two weeks back in NZ in MIQ and then the week after that,” he said of returnees.
At every step, New Zealand needs to see where it can “turn down the tap” because the border is where the country is getting its cases from, Baker said.
He said the “much looser” isolation requirements for international air crew is a gap that needs to be plugged.
For example, Air New Zealand crew returning from Los Angeles and San Fransisco self-isolate in a hotel for 48 hours. They are then tested for Covid-19, and are allowed to leave managed isolation after returning a negative test.
“That is a gap that really needs to be looked at,” Baker said.
He also recommended mask-wearing be integrated, rather than “tacked-on”, to the country’s alert level system because the science on masks had advanced since last year and has proven it helps slow transmission of the virus.
“It’s quite a crude system. I think it needs to be more nuanced, more levels.”
Baker also said New Zealand needs to learn from Taiwan, which has not needed to go into lockdown and has had fewer deaths and cases of Covid-19.
“They had a dedicated national agency, a huge focus on borders, a huge focus on mask production and use and also really good digital tracing.”
He also recommended daily saliva testing be introduced for border workers, which was recommended in a report last year by Heather Simpson and Sir Brian Roche .
Baker said the testing is easier to do daily than the nasal PCR test and would help detect cases faster.
“New Zealand started very well but I think we’ve been extremely slow to embrace scientific advances.”
Yesterday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said saliva testing is already being used in some high-risk places such as the Jet Park quarantine facility in Auckland.
She said the Government is considering rolling it out further to be done alongside standard nasal PCR tests.
But “question marks” remain about whether saliva tests are as sensitive as the PCR test, which is why the Government has not rolled it out more widely yet, she said.
Meanwhile, the National and ACT parties continue to call for daily saliva testing of border workers.
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