Marc Daalder of Newsroom.co.nz11:13, Jul 12 2021
STUFF
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says reports into Covid-19 cases and outbreaks will become more regular and be done in less time.
ANALYSIS: A large outbreak of Covid-19 could see contact tracers quickly overwhelmed, according to a review of the February Auckland cluster by a top government adviser. The Covid-19 Independent Continuous Review, Improvement and Advice Group (IAG) was set up by Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins in March. He tasked it with reviewing the Government s response to the February outbreak at first, but it will now provide real-time advice on the response and how New Zealand might open up to the world.
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There were 2150 close contacts and 3775 casual plus contacts identified during the outbreak. The new contact categories were developed for “what boiled down to only two extra requirements”. The extra complexity for only two changes was “excessive”, the advisory group found. Individuals in an outbreak simply need to know if they are a close or casual contact and what, during that particular outbreak, is expected of them. While the new categories were supposed to increase clarity, “ironically, they facilitated blurring of the boundaries” between them, “increasing confusion” – such as when 1600 casual contacts were relabelled close contacts. At the time, the Ministry of Health said the additional classification of casual plus helps “provide flexibility in terms of the public health response to public exposure events as well as help standardise the approach for health services”.
Covid-19: Review of February cluster review finds Govt failed to learn lessons
Papatoetoe High School was at the centre of the Auckland February cluster. (Photo / File)
Covid-19: Review of February cluster review finds Govt failed to learn lessons Thu, 8 Jul 2021, 1:46PM
A review of the February Covid outbreak found a lack of coherency among central agencies, conflicting messaging that could undermine public confidence, and a Government that had failed to learn the lessons of past reviews.
The February review - by the independent advisory group chaired by Sir Brian Roche - also found a lack of stress-testing the system, and ongoing uncertainty about the system s ability to handle a large outbreak.