Schools and rest homes are battling to keep up amid the latest spike in winter illness.
Influenza A has hammered the country, with flu-related hospital admissions hitting a 10-year high in Auckland. National Infection rates were at a four-year high and rising.
One Whakatāne school says 125 out of 439 students and 10 teachers were absent on Monday. It's been forced to combine classes and cancel assemblies.
Two deaths have been reported at a 103-bed aged care facility in the North Island.
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More than a quarter of Apanui School's students were off sick yesterday, principal Marama Stewart told Breakfast.
She said this year's spike was a "pretty typical bell-curve", and something the school experienced every year.
"We're not even the worst off. We've had schools in our area close yesterday because they didn't have the staff."
There were some "pretty alarming" factors this year, with kids getting the flu alongside other illnesses such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), strep throat, and even rheumatic fever.
Stewart said this level of complex illness was "not really seen in this kind of socioeconomic index of the school or the community".
She believed it was a "strong reflection" of the number of children living in poverty.
"It's just going to keep creeping up and up and affecting us," she said.
Stewart also said parents were being affected, running out of sick leave to look after their children.
"They're having to take unpaid time, and they're really struggling – and they're having to send their kids back to school too early."
Two deaths at rest home
Tracey Martin, chief executive of the Aged Care Association, said there was "certainly respiratory illness circulating in aged residential care".
She said providers reported outbreaks of acute respiratory illness (ARI) and influenza-like illness (ILI), particularly across parts of the South Island. These cases could not be confirmed as influenza, however.
Two residents died amid an outbreak at a 103-bed facility in the North Island, with Influenza A considered the "likely cause", Martin said.
"The facility has also experienced significant staff sickness, which has created some additional operational pressure."
According to Health NZ, around 500 people are killed by the flu each year. People over 65 are among those at higher risk of getting complications from the flu.
Martin said feedback did not yet suggest the recent surge was worse or more widespread across all aged care facilities.
"Several facilities have reported no influenza cases at all, while others are seeing the usual range of winter colds and respiratory illnesses and are managing these within their facilities," she said.
Vaccination among residents was still "relatively high", Martin said, ranging from around 86% to 96%.
Staff vaccination rates were "considerably lower", however.
"A number of providers have commented that willingness among staff to receive influenza vaccination has declined since the Covid period."
Businesses manage workplace spread
With illness stopping people from coming to work, businesses are balancing productivity and the wellness of their staff. (Source: Breakfast)
Alan McDonald, head of advocacy with the Employers and Manufacturers Association, told BNZ Business Breakfast it had been "quite a normal season" for illness.
But he said his organisation had been getting more calls about how to manage the workplace when somebody came to work, but really should be home.
"Particularly post-Covid, people in the workplace, whether it's employees or employers, are better, I think, at managing illness in the workplace.
"There's much more consciousness of, 'hey, if you're turning up, you're not being heroic. You're actually putting the rest of the team at risk a little bit', or, 'you're doing the wrong thing rather than the right thing'.
"I think employers also want to manage it better so the infection doesn't spread across the workplace."
He said there had been a "bit more pressure" on small businesses with fewer staff to cover when people are sick.
"We've heard of some situations where it's kind of been all hands to the pump. They've run out of staff, so the management are chipping in to get a container out the door or get an order out the door."
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