Covid Watch

Employers in Tauranga are feeling the Covid pinch.
Job listings are up 43 per cent across the board as businesses battle to attract and retain workers.
Ryan + Alexander recruitment director Kiri Burney told Heather du Plessis-Allan the surge is Covid related.
"Shut down of borders, we have no skilled candidates coming into the market or from offshore, and in terms of keeping candidates because the candidate market is tight, people are offered big money elsewhere."
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The Government has released its Emission Reduction Plan.
The plan has been criticised for being unclear and the plan is expected to increase emissions between now and 2025.
Northland and Waikato's Level 3 has been extended an extra five days, with two border breaches in Northland.
The Government is also refusing to comment on whether the breaches are sex workers.
Changes are also coming to MIQ ahead of Christmas.
Chris Hipkins is talking about potentially letting Kiwis having an easier experience in MIQ.
Elsewhere, British Airways is dropping ladies and gentlemen from its announcements, following in Air Canada's footsteps.
But there are criticisms about whether gender politics have come into it.
Listen above as David Farrar and Jack Tame discuss the day's news with Heather du Plessis-Allan on The Huddle

We should now expect that Kiwis stuck overseas — especially those in low-risk Covid countries — to be allowed to come home for Christmas.
This shouldn’t even be a debate anymore. It just needs to happen.
Now that Covid is in Auckland — and spreading through Auckland — there is no reason these kids and loved ones can’t fly into Auckland and self-isolate at home or in an Airbnb or a hotel at their own expense or whatever. 
They are not bringing in anything that we don’t already have here.
You are literally at more risk of catching Covid from another Aucklander in Auckland than you are of catching Covid from someone who is coming in from overseas. 
Lemme run you through the numbers:
Today: 55 cases in Auckland, none at the border. 
Yesterday: 43 in Auckland, 3 at the border 
Monday: 35 in Auckland, Zero at the border 
Sunday: 60 in Auckland, 1 at the border 
Saturday: 34 in Auckland, 2 at the border 
What’s the risk if those people isolate at home? 
And as we now know the government is running out of quarantine rooms for the Auckland cases.
So shortly Aucklanders who catch Covid will be asked to simply self-isolate at home.
If you have positive Aucklanders isolating at home, why wouldn't you let travellers from overseas who are doubled jabbed and have a negative test also isolate at home?
This is no longer a debate.
Keeping them out to protect us from Covid when Covid is already here is becoming a ridiculous position to hold.

Waikato's two new Covid-19 cases have popped up in a place the Government didn't expect.
Parts of the region are now staying in Alert Level Three for five more days.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins told Heather du Plessis-Allan they're two people who have normal day to day lives in Hamilton.
“It doesn't appear to be any clear connection at this point, so that is one of the reasons why we have some pause for thought there, we need to get to the bottom of what’s happening.”
Northland is also in level three until midnight Monday.
Hipkins says he understands the positive case who travelled there isn't a sex worker, but he says her contacts might not want to come forward, because they might not want law enforcement to know what they were doing.
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During our weekly interview with Judith Collins, John MacDonald asked the National Leader if she thought that the vaccination mandate should be extended to local authorities such as councils to help protect the South.
He also discussed the ICU situation with staffing and training, and the recently released Government Statements.
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The Government is confident there'll be a good bounce-back when the country emerges from Covid-19 restrictions, because its books are in good shape.
Treasury figures show a deficit of $4.6 billion, about ten billion less than expected, due to a higher tax take and lower expenses.
The Crown's net worth has also jumped by $40 billion in the year to June 30.
Finance Minister Grant Minister says the post-lockdown rebound will cut across two quarters, there'll be a hit, but the resilience and strength of the economy will help us rebound.
Former Finance Minister Steven Joyce joined Kerre McIvor.
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There are many, many tragic stories that have come out of this pandemic - not so much from the deaths themselves, although they are undeniably sad for the families concerned. 
But it's the people desperate to get into NZ who can't because of our MIQ system. 
It's those who haven't been able to be at the births of their children, or to be at the bedsides of family members who are sick or who might be dying, and its being denied the opportunity to grieve together as a community when a loved one does die. 
Unless you're a gang member and that seems to be OK. 
But the stories that have broken my heart and keep breaking my heart are the stories of couples who being kept apart because of restrictions at aged care facilities. 
You may have heard some of the callers on my show or some of the emails I've read out from men and women who have been married for fifty and sixty years - who are each other's soul mates - one is in an aged care facility, one is not. 
And despite the fact both parties are double vaccinated, despite the fact that the pain of being apart is causing physical decline, Health Department rules mean they are denied access to one another. 
And now the boss of a retirement village operator is calling on the Government to allow aged care residents to reconnect with the people they love.  Oceania Healthcare boss Brent Pattison says the current restrictions are playing havoc with the mental health of residents, especially when they know outside of the homes, restrictions have eased.
Anyone who has an elderly parent or older friend know that isolation and loneliness is as much a killer as Covid.
If the healthcare operators believe they can allow visits safely, for goodness’ sake, let them.
They know what they're doing. They know one slip up and it’s their residents at worst and their reputation at best that suffers. 
Please, show some humanity, and let these poor people who have been isolated and cut off from their family and friends get the opportunity to be with those they love before it's too late.

A call to set aside MIQ spaces for the parents of babies who are about to be born. 
The ACT Party and some health experts are calling for the Government to prioritise them. 
Plunket chief executive Amanda Malu told Tim Dower every baby deserves to have as little stress and anxiety as possible, particularly in the first weeks of their lives. 
"It's a pretty important category, we think, those about to be newest citizens of our country and we think we should look after them." 
Amanda Malu says it would involve small numbers of MIQ spaces, but science shows how important the first thousand days of life are. 
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If the Government are prepared to let Sir Ian Taylor have a crack at his self-isolation trial, one can only hope they will give some of his fellow business colleagues a crack at the idea of sorting out MIQ. 
Everyone sees MIQ for what it is. Liam Lawson was the latest on the show this week, telling us of his misery and anger at the crap-shoot way it still treats people. 
My daughter was in line again yesterday, although yesterday was different.  
Each time she has a crack, she gets a number like 17,267th in queue. Worst, I think was well over 22,300th. At that number you just roll your eyes, say something about it not being fair, wait until the window closes, go back to your day, and make the appointment for the next time you line up with everyone else. 
But yesterday her opening number was 3260th. Is the two-year wait about to be over? Is 3260th a number that could actually get you a space? Would she get a magical space? Would she get one of these 14-day rooms? 
14 days, think about it. Remember when 14 days stuck in a crappy room was the actual story? Remember when we kept hearing from people complaining about the food and the boredom? Oh god, to return to those days of comparative misery. 
These days, it's the weekly heartbreak for tens of thousands all over the world, as they get given mad numbers that only mean one thing, you don’t stand a hope in hell, sucker. 
But then, from 3260th we move to 58th. Surely, that is a ticket home? But then up comes the message, rooms are low and about to run out. The window is due to close in a few moments. 
And then, she was at 18th. 18th? They could stick the last 18 in one room, we'd take that. 
But, no. Window closes, thanks for coming, but it's over. 18th was close, but it wasn’t close enough. It's hard to know what to say to a daughter who has been in a multiyear queue and got that close. 
It's a cruel and heartless game. You're better off with the big laugh at the start being 22,000th, 18,600th, or 12,500th because you know where you stand. 
58th to 18th? That's a taste of the prize. That's so close it hurts. And it did hurt. It hurt her and it hurt me. 
The infuriating thing is there is a better way. A points-based system and the Sir Ian Taylors have it and they want to help, but the maniacs running the country don’t want to know. 
People like my daughter and thousands like her all over the world are paying the price.

Work is underway to target low vaccination rates in rural communities. 
Dunedin Medical School research has found people who have had at least one jab is 11 percent lower in rural areas.  
The rate of people with at least one dose is 726 per 1000, compared to 816 per 1000 urban residents.  
Rural GPs Network Chief Executive Grant Davidson told Tim Dower going to the people is the answer. 
"Above Te Kaha, for example, they're getting 87 percent in their community, and that's because they're going out using community volunteers to bring people in or taking vaccines out to those communities." 
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