Covid Watch

The Far North has plenty to offer tourists as we head into the first summer with open borders.

The Far North is home to 90 Mile Beach, an area regarded as one of the best surf-casting beaches in the world. 90 Mile Beach is also right next to the Te Paki sand dunes, and boarding down the 150 metre dunes is a highlight of the region.

The Far North is also a short drive away from Cape Reinga and the Karikari Peninsula, two other regions that need the extra boost in tourism sales.

Far North mayor Moko Tepania says that he's looking forward to tourists coming back in, after two years of Covid-19 restrictions keeping figures down.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I have to say that I’m really looking forward to the summer holiday and the Christmas period. So it was kind of sobering recently to read the figures around the new COVID infections, which tell us that over 42,000 new cases have been found in the community over the past seven days.  

That’s about one in every 120 New Zealanders in the course of a week. Now I guess that there are probably more that more cases than that, because not everyone would report their positive cases.

And we can all make our own guess as to how many cases there really are, but what it does to serve to tell us is that COVID is still around at the moment and cases “continue to soar”.  

But I guess while I wasn’t surprised, I was maybe a little disappointed at the reaction to our breakfast show talking with Dr Brian Betty about the number of cases and maybe some sensible cautions people could take.  

One text even accused us of fear mongering. I just wanted to address that.  

Get a grip.

We are living after almost three very difficult years in a time where we largely and thankfully have a choice as to what we do with information. Can you just imagine if we didn’t get the information and the theories that would abound?

 But at the moment, what we have is information which actually is relevant to us all as New Zealanders looking forward to summer, who are being visited by relatives, who want to go on holiday, who might want to make sure that they don’t pass anything on to their elderly and cherished members of their family.

I can understand how people have an emotional reaction to this stuff because, frankly, we are all over it. I’m over it.  

I had a family member in the last few days who hasn’t been very well and has displayed cold and flu symptoms. My wife and I rolled our eyes and thought “Oh goodness me, hope she hasn’t got Covid.”

But you know what? We ended up testing her, because we wanted to know we wanted the information so we could make our own decisions as to how to keep the people around us safe.  

Thankfully it was negative, and it’s probably just a bad case of hay fever. But I just wanted to take the moment to just remind everyone that -thankfully- we have a choice as to how we respond to this information.  

And isn’t that great? Because we’ve been through two or three years where we had a lot of the time, especially in Auckland, a period where we felt we had very little choice.

So embrace that choice, and embrace the fact that we live in a society where we actually do have good access to information that helps us make choices around how we run our lives, and look forward to a safe and enjoyable Christmas.

And again, make your own choices about how to keep yourselves and your families safe and happy this Christmas- fingers crossed.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Health workers in holiday hotspots are preparing for increased demand as Covid cases steadily climb.

Some Covid-19 models show one in 20 people could catch the virus over the holidays.

Community case numbers have been steadily rising, with nearly 600 people in hospital right now.

NZ College of GPs Medical Director Bryan Betty says hospitals are stretched during holiday periods anyway.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we enter the holiday season, it's common for people to get sick once things start winding down.

This is linked to a phenomenon known as 'leisure sickness', where busy people get sick once they're out of a stressful situation or environment. Three percent of the population are prone to getting migraines, nausea, muscle pain and fatigue when they get time off.

Over-working and stress are also linked to weakened immune systems, which make people more vulnerable to catching viral conditions, such as coughs, colds, or Covid-19. 

In order to protect our immune systems, naturopath, wellness expert, and Golden Yogi director Erin O'Hara recommends recognising your personal work-life balance and budgeting time so you aren't burning yourself out and putting your health at risk.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Doctors in the US are concerned about the level of vaccine-fatigue across the country.

American households are once again able to order free at-home Covid-19 tests, as the government attempts to limit the spread of the virus this winter.

The test programme was paused in September, but restarted yesterday as cases start to spike again.

But, US Correspondent Dan Mitchinson says there seems to be some Covid-fatigue out there.

He says doctors were hoping 70 percent of the population would be vaccinated, but levels are far below that ... and only half the population has had a flu jab.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

2022 is nearly over, and it may give investors some lessons to take into the new year.

According to a Senior Portfolio Manager at Fisher Funds, we may have to get used to aftershocks from the Covid-19 pandemic for the next few years impacting the economy. The lockdowns generated highs and lows, and investments can turn on a dime.

It's also important for industries to listen to consumer demand, as can be observed from the Meta saga. Demand for products changes, and it's useful to take advantage of the markets and be adaptable. Being tone-deaf to costs can hurt companies.

Sam Dickie from Fisher Funds says that it's clear that gravity has come back to the stock market.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Chief Ombudsman has delivered a pretty critical report on the MIQ lottery.

Peter Boshier's report says officials didn't really think hard enough about the “very real impact” that the lobby system was going to have on people's lives.

Now, you'll remember it didn't come in right at the start. It was set up in September 2021, supposedly to improve on the chaos we had.

Tens of thousands trying to book a place in MIQ and match it with getting a flight home, them stuck over there, empty rooms over here.

The lottery was ostensibly intended to create a level playing field for everyone.

But it was only level really if you had internet access and could drop everything and log on at exactly the right moment, as each batch of rooms was released.

We replaced chaos, with random chaos.

New Zealanders overseas who'd missed out have talked about injustice, and the inhumanity and heartache of it all.

They want an apology.

I've admitted before that I did a complete 180 in my view on people who got stuck overseas as the whole farrago dragged on.

In the beginning my feeling was the writing was on the wall and it was obvious borders were going to close so if you want to move, now's the time.

And people who opted not to move, well, you made your bed.

As it dragged on though, and we set up MIQ, and it became clear just how inadequate and sloppy the whole thing was, I developed a real empathy for people locked out who couldn't see friends and family who were sick or dying, unable to come back to their rightful home.

So rather than a whole lot of recrimination and name calling, let's look on this time as an opportunity.

Let's really think about how we could do it better. And most obviously I think, do it bigger. Much, much bigger.

What we need to work on now is a better plan for next time.

We now have a pretty good idea of how many people we'll need to handle if we get another one of these and we've definitely learned what not to do.

We'll need something we can stand up quickly, operate much more cheaply and have away from the main centres.

The time to work on that is now, while the mistakes of the pandemic are still fresh in our minds.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has been investigating hundreds of complaints made about the Government's approach to MIQ during the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The Chief Ombudsman found the creation of a "lottery" system failed to emphasise individual circumstances, limiting fundamental human rights.

Peter Boshier says there was no evidence of evolving policy advice from MBIE to the Government, as the pandemic continued. 

"Not everyone was in the same situation, we never are in life. And the best and most principled decisions and actions are taken in regard to people's circumstances. Here, it was effectively a lottery. You are either in or out depending on chance, not depending on merit."

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The nation's largest street festival is returning to Wellington after a two year Covid-19 hiatus.

CubaDupa is back on March 25th and 26th, with dance and music ensembles, interactive installations, and cultural experiences.

The festival's last outing attracted more than 150,000 people, and next year's run promises to be even bigger. 

Director Drew James says 28 stages and creative zones will be set up around Cuba Street.

"It's going to be fantastic, we had a couple of years of cancellations in 2020 and 2021 was absolutely  huge, we had great audiences and it was really well-received by people coming out of that Covid situation."

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A law professor says a High Court ruling over the guardianship of a six month old was unlikely to have gone any other way.

The judge has given doctors at Starship Hospital medical responsibility of the six-month-old, until he's recovered from an urgent heart operation.

His parents won't let doctors use donations from the Blood Service for the surgery - over claims it's all tainted by the Covid vaccine.

Auckland University's Mark Henaghan told Mike Hosking the evidence is pretty strong the usual blood products aren't going to cause harm.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.