After guiding New Zealand through two and a half years of a pandemic, Dr Ashley Bloomfield’s time as Director-General of Health has come to an end.

We look back on some of the key moments during his time in the role:

22 May 2018
Dr Ashley Bloomfield was named as the new Director-General of Health while he was serving as the acting chief executive of Capital and Coast District Health Board.

2019
The health system faced some big challenges in 2019. Dr Bloomfield fronted health responses to both a measles outbreak and the Whakaari/White Island disaster.

27 January 2020
“Kia ora koutou katoa, welcome to the Ministry of Health, thank you very much attending this briefing this afternoon. My name is Dr Ashley Bloomfield, I’m the Director-General of Health.”

After two and a half years of a pandemic, it is probably hard to remember a time when Dr Ashley Bloomfield needed to introduce himself.

Before New Zealand had its first case of covid-19, back when it was referred to simply as a coronavirus (WHO would name it covid-19 on 12 February 2020), Dr Ashley Bloomfield and Director of Public Health Dr Caroline McElnay held a media stand-up.

Like most of the early briefings, it was held at the Ministry of Health.

It was two weeks after the first confirmed case outside of China had been identified and across the ditch, Australia had four cases. There had been 56 deaths worldwide.

28 February 2020
Almost exactly one month later, New Zealand’s first covid-19 case was confirmed in someone that had returned from overseas.

Reminiscent of a format we would come to know more intimately as time went on, the evening news would cut to a live press conference where Dr Bloomfield and then-Health Minister David Clark would provide more details of New Zealand’s first case. (Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was in Australia at the time.)

The following day, supermarkets would see a rush of customers buying up toilet paper, hand sanitiser and tinned food.

March 2020
We would start to hear a lot more from Dr Bloomfield as the second, third and fourth (who had been at a Tool concert) cases of covid-19 were confirmed in early March.

By the end of the month New Zealand would be in lockdown and Dr Bloomfield had become a daily part of our lives.

“It did feel a little bit like I was having a performance review at one o’clock every day, broadcast live on television. But that’s as it should be — your job is to ensure that we’re being held accountable for our response,” he said.

Daily cases had jumped to numbers in the eighties and the briefings had shifted to the Beehive, against a backdrop of yellow and white striped Unite Against Covid-19 branding.

On 29 March, during the 1pm briefing, Bloomfield would announce New Zealand’s first covid-19 death.

4 May 2020
“No new cases”. For the first time since New Zealand went into level 4 lockdown on 25 March, Dr Bloomfield announced there were no new cases of covid-19. It would be a phrase we would hear more of as the first community outbreak would start to slow.

And it evoked such emotion that “There are no new cases of covid-19 to report in New Zealand today” came second place in Massey University’s Quote of the Year.

August 2020
In an effort to encourage people to test for covid-19, Dr Bloomfield had his first covid-19 PCR test while filmed at a community testing site.

“It was much less painful than tackling Billy Weepu on the rugby field a couple of weeks ago.”

*Raises eyebrows
With millions of people stuck at home in isolation watching daily media briefings, it was no surprise that Dr Bloomfield would find himself in meme-territory.

This was Dr Bloomfield’s response when he was asked about 5G in 2020:

And a year later when Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said people should go outside and “spread your legs”.

The Guardian on the Hipkins quote.

Festival debut
Who would have thought Dr Bloomfield would grace the main stage at Rhythm and Vines festival?

December 2020
Dr Bloomfield was awarded the New Zealand Medical Association’s highest accolade — The Chair’s Award

17 August 2021
The prime minister announced another nationwide lockdown after a case, assumed to be the delta variant, was detected. That meant the 1pm briefings, and daily doses of Dr Bloomfield, were back too.

22 September 2021
As New Zealand tackled the delta outbreak, Dr Bloomfield broke the news that we may never get to zero cases of covid-19.

A portrait pie of Dr. Ashley Bloomfield. Photo: Supplied / Devoney Scarfe

October 2021
During Super Saturday, Dr Bloomfield was caught on camera busting a move at one of the community events.

Dr Ashley Bloomfield’s dance moves.

6 April 2022
Announced he was stepping down.

“It seems we’re at a good point in terms of the pandemic, the response is shifting, I’m also confident that the system is in good hands with the changes that are afoot, and most certainly my family will be very pleased to have a little more of my time,” he said.

May 2022
Dr Bloomfield tested positive for covid-19 while he was at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.

Professional history

• In May 2018, Dr Bloomfield was appointed the new Director-General of Health.
• Dr Bloomfield was the acting Chief Executive for Capital & Coast District Health Board from 1 January 2018.
• From 2015-2017, he was chief executive of the Hutt Valley District Health Board – the first clinician to lead the Hutt Valley District Health Board.
• In 2017 Dr Bloomfield attended the Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme.
• Prior to becoming chief executive at the Hutt Valley DHB, Dr Bloomfield held a number of senior leadership roles within the Ministry of Health, including, in 2012, acting Deputy Director-General, sector capability and implementation.
• From 2012-15 he was Director of Service, Integration and Development and General Manager Population Health at Capital & Coast, Hutt and Wairarapa District Health Boards.
• From 1999-2008 he was a Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine. Since 2008 he has been a Fellow of the NZ College of Public Health Medicine.
• In 2010-2011 he was Partnerships Adviser, Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health at the World Health Organisation, Geneva.
• Dr Bloomfield obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at the University of Auckland in 1990.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced which regions will move into red and which into orange as the new traffic light system comes in on Friday.

Ardern confirmed that all of Northland would join the Auckland region in red, along with Taupō, Rotorua Lakes, Kawerau, Whakatāne, Ōpōtiki, Gisborne, Wairoa, Rangitīkei, Whanganui and Ruapehu districts.

All other regions would be in orange.

“At orange, the big change here for parts of the country which will enter into this setting is that for the vaccinated and where vaccine passes are used, there are no gathering limits,” Ardern said today.

“People can gather again safely. At red, it will feel a lot like level 2. Your vaccine pass lets you go everywhere but number limits of 100 will apply to most activities.”

For Aucklanders, the changes meant they would be able to see family and friends indoors again.

• There were 182 new community cases
• 93 people were in hospital with the virus
• Five of the new cases were in Northland, 167 in Auckland and 10 in Waikato
• 123 of the new cases were yet to be epidemiologically linked
• Five close contacts are self-isolating after a local border case reported yesterday in Canterbury

New omicron variant
The world may not learn the true level of the threat posed by the new omicron variant of Covid-19 for several weeks, says a University of Otago scientist.

“I think it’s right to be concerned at this moment, but we need to know more,” he said.

Institute of Environmental Science and Research principal scientist of genomics professor Mike Bunce told RNZ Morning Report the country was well-placed to deal with the new threat but it was important to maintain border protections to “buy us time”.

At the weekend, the government moved nine countries into the very high risk category, restricting travel from those countries to New Zealand citizens only and requiring a full 14 days in MIQ.

“If we see more widespread cases in those countries then we will consider whether they need to be classified as very high risk countries,” said Ardern.

Omicron does not change the advice on vaccine boosters, which are now available to anyone who had their second dose six months ago, she said.

A group of Māori kaumātua in Auckland were among the first in the country to receive their booster doses on Monday morning.

No cases of omicron have so far been identified in the country.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Zealand’s most restrictive border controls will be eased early next year, the government announced today.

Most fully-vaccinated travellers into New Zealand would not be required to go through managed isolation from early next year, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said.

A seven-day self-isolation requirement will take the place of MIQ.

Hipkins revealed fully-vaccinated New Zealanders would be able to travel from Australia without having to quarantine from 11.59pm on 16 January, and from 11.59pm on 13 February that would extend to fully-vaccinated New Zealanders from all countries.

From April 30, all fully-vaccinated foreigner travellers would also be able to come to this country without having to quarantine, though proof of vaccination would be required.

All travellers not required to go into MIQ would still require:

• a negative pre-departure test proof of being fully vaccinated;
• a passenger declaration about travel history, a day 0/1 test on arrival;
• a requirement to self-isolate for seven days, and
• a final negative test before entering the community.

Government ‘still cautious’
Hipkins said: “It’s very encouraging that we as a country are now in a position to move towards greater normality. I do want to emphasise though that travel in 2022 won’t necessarily be exactly the same as it was in pre-2020 travel.”

The government defended its decision not to open the trans-Tasman bubble before Christmas.

Hipkins said the government needed to remain cautious about how much risk the country was exposed to in a short period of time.

He said loosening restrictions domestically and at the border need to be staggered.

215 new covid-19 cases
There were 215 new community cases of covid-19 today — 181 in Auckland, 18 in Waikato, three in Northland and 12 in the Bay of Plenty.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield this afternoon said 87 people were being treated in hospital, eight people of those in intensive care.

The Ministry of Health said 118 of today’s 215 new cases were yet to be linked.

There were 18,880 vaccine doses given yesterday — 6496 first doses and 12,384 second doses, meaning 92 percent of eligible people in New Zealand have had their first dose and 84 percent are now fully vaccinated.

Traffic-light system legislation
Legislation setting up the traffic light system — including mandating vaccinations for some workforces — has been pushed through Parliament in less than 24 hours.

Passed under urgency, the bill was opposed by the opposition National, Act and Te Paati Māori parties.

National called it secretive, divisive and unduly rushed. Act said the government had plenty of time to move it through the regular process involving greater scrutiny, and the Māori Party called it a “cruel law change” that would victimise vulnerable communities.

MPs also rejected a change to the traffic light system, which would have seen places of worship and funerals exempt from vaccine certificate requirements.

National’s Simeon Brown had put forward a proposed change to the bill.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Zealand will move into the covid-19 traffic light system at 11.59pm, Thursday,  December 2, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today.

That is in 11 days from today, November 22 — and Ardern said it was important that people prepare.

At a post-cabinet briefing this afternoon, Ardern said: “The hard truth is that delta is here and it is not going away”.

“And while no country to date has been able to eliminate delta completely once it’s arrived, New Zealand is better positioned than most to tackle it because of our high vaccination rates and the inbuilt safety measures in the traffic light system like vaccine passes.”

Ardern said the most important thing to communicate about the traffic light system was “for the most part, if you’re vaccinated, you can go about doing all the kinds of things you’d usually expect … what varies is just how large those gatherings are at different levels”.

Vaccine levels would play a key determining factor for which regions go into red and which go into orange, Ardern said.

“We will look at … vaccine rates, we will look at case rates, and that will be the major determining factor but we’ll also be pragmatic. So you know, a good indication is if you’ve hit 90 percent first dose is a good indication of where you’re heading.”

Legal requirements
Cabinet decided on the December 3 date (the first full day of the traffic light system) today, which allowed for the legal requirements in getting the system set up, Ardern said.

Legislation would be introduced and passed this week to enable that, Ardern said.

Watch the media briefing

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Zealand has reported 149 community cases of covid-19 in the country today, including nine outside Auckland.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said there were 83 people now in hospital — up 13 from Saturday — including five in intensive care.

The new cases reported today included 140 in Auckland, six in Waikato, two in the Bay of Plenty and one in Canterbury.

“The spread of covid-19 cases to regions throughout New Zealand is a reminder that everyone needs to heed the advice that will help keep our communities as safe as possible,” the statement said.

“That includes ensuring you and your loved ones are fully vaccinated if eligible, get tested even if you have only mild symptoms, wear a mask, keep a safe distance from people outside your bubble, and keep track of your movements outside your home.”

Earlier today, a positive case was confirmed in Hawke’s Bay and testing is underway in the area. The person had travelled to the region from Auckland, with a travel exemption.

The ministry said this afternoon that the the person was relocating from Auckland and advised to isolate in Hawke’s Bay after the positive result was returned. The case is currently isolating safely and remains well.

Contacts tested negative
Contacts have so far tested negative for covid-19.

The Bay of Plenty case reported today is in Tauranga and is a contact of a known cluster, while four of the six new cases in Waikato are linked to earlier cases.

The ministry said the Christchurch case was an initial weak positive result and was being further investigated. The case recently travelled to the North Island, and was linked to another case in the Lower North Island.

There were no further cases reported in the Wellington region today.

The ministry said 84 of today’s 149 new cases were yet to be linked.

On Saturday there were 172 community cases reported in New Zealand, 148 of which were in Auckland.

There have now been 6850 cases in the current community outbreak and 9608 cases of the coronavirus in New Zealand since the pandemic began.

21,501 vaccine doses
There were 21,501 vaccine doses given yesterday — 6002 first doses and 15,499 second doses.

The ministry said 91 percent of eligible people in New Zealand had now had their first dose and 83 percent were fully vaccinated.

It said 12 district health boards (DHBs) had now reached the 90 percent first dose vaccination milestone, with South Canterbury the latest area to achieve it.

More than one million people had now downloaded their My Vaccine Pass.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

As New Zealand readies for more covid-19 cases, warnings about the ability of public hospitals to cope are escalating.

There are 289 intensive care unit (ICU) or high dependency unit (HDU) beds at the moment, with Minister of Health Andrew Little insisting that could be ramped up to 550 if needed.

But that has been roundly questioned by opposition MPs, clinicians and ICU experts, including a recent New Zealand Medical Journal article concluding fully staffed, extra capacity would be more like 67 beds.

It describes New Zealand’s “comparatively low ICU capacity” as a “potential point of vulnerability” in the covid-19 response.

Intensive care
There is a reason it is called intensive care.

Patients there are so sick, each one has a nurse with them around the clock.

Those there because of covid-19 are usually struggling to breathe, their lungs unable to give their body all the oxygen it needs to function.

There are doctors, physios, pharmacists who come and go to give vital care but it is the nurses who are the constant.

That’s why the shortage of ICU nurses is at the heart of the debate.

New Zealand’s intensive care was already in a perilous position long before covid-19, with one of the lowest number of beds per capita in the developed world.

Doctors and nurses have been asking for help for 10 years, failing to make meaningful traction with successive governments.

The small community pulled together, pooled resources, when crises like the White Island eruption and the mass shooting in Christchurch hit.

But covid-19 is different. It is here for longer and will hit everywhere.

Political football
Little is “assured that we will manage and we will cope”.

High vaccination rates will mean fewer people will actually end up in hospital and “the vast majority who then get infected will be able to be cared for in the home with appropriate sort of monitoring, the stuff we’re putting in place at the moment”, he says.

He acknowledges any move to surge up would mean deferred operations for things like hip and knee replacements, and people needing a lower level of care getting it somewhere other than a hospital.

“The impact will be on non-covid patients who can be safely referred to other places for their care and recovery at the hospital.”

National Party MP Shane Reti says there are simply not enough specialist ICU nurses.

“Five point three nurses [needed per ICU] bed, it’s orphaned out and what we know from specialists … is that instead of the hundreds of beds that Andrew says we’ve got we’ve probably only got about 67 to surge to.”

Not wanting to sound like a “political caricature”, Little, however, lays the blame at the feet of the previous National government.

Heath underfunded
“Our ICU capacity – if we’re talking about just designated ICU wards, and ICU beds, yep, that’s been a long standing problem … the reality is health has been underfunded for a long time, particularly when it comes to health facilities and buildings,” he says.

He is confident any outbreak can be managed, saying expanding to 500 or so beds would require an increase to about 200,000 covid-19 patients across the country.

However, Reti says that the May 5 public sector pay freeze has impacted on staffing, with some going to Australia, and that New Zealand’s now competing with the world for ICU nurses with an immigration system that’s not friendly to them.

Nursing shortage
Even with the known nursing vacancies, New Zealand’s needs could be met with the training of about 1400 more nurses to work in ICU under supervision, Little says.

Through May 2020 till mid August this year, there were no new, resourced ICU beds in Auckland DHB, but the ICU nurse headcount dropped from about 250 to just over 212.

Reti says the nursing shortage is a major obstacle.

“When Minister Little says, ‘I’ve trained up 1400 ICU nurses’ — no you haven’t, what you’ve done is you’ve given them half a day’s online training and half a day on a mannequin.

“In no shape or form is that an ICU nurse — they’ll be valuable, don’t get me wrong — but valuable for turning patients in ICU?”

Auckland has the biggest ICU unit in the country, and needed to find nurses from across New Zealand on September 1 when eight active cases arrived there, he says, showing just how thin the margins are.

On the ground
Vice-president of the Australasian College of Intensive Care Rob Bevan says right now intensive care is coping well.

That is due, in large part, to high — and rising — vaccination rates and the fact that Auckland’s been in lockdown.

Quieter lives mean fewer car accident and workplace falls, while hospitals have delayed many of the planned operations which might involve ICU recovery.

But Dr Bevan, a specialist at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital, says more beds will be needed next year when covid-19 is in the community and life was comparatively back to normal.

“There is going to be a burden of covid that people will need hospitalisation and intensive care for that we need to add onto what we were doing before,” he says.

“And acknowledging that our intensive care bed capacity before was still not enough to care for everybody without resorting to the deferment of planned care on occasion.”

Many who work in intensive care say the government and health bosses are wrong to count physical beds (and the equipment that comes with them) when there are not enough nurses to use them all.

Shocked by ‘training’
When they said they were training other nurses to help in ICU, the nurses organisation kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku said she was shocked to learn what that meant.

“Four hours online training — to go and support in ICU. Those decisions about what’s in the best interests of nursing have not been made for nurses,” she said.

Indeed, specialist ICU nurses say they would have to spend time supervising the online trained back-ups, adding more work to an already very challenging job.

And Bevan says surging up to more than 500 beds is not a realistic picture.

“That is a crisis, short term, and largely unsustainable model that we would have had to have moved to had we been overwhelmed like they have been in other parts of the world,” he says.

“But that would most likely achieve worse outcomes for all patients in ICU than they have in other parts of the world compared with our best model of care that we’ve been able to provide to date.”

The message is starting to get through to those who made decisions, he says.

Intensive care meetings
Intensive care bodies are meeting with the Ministry of Health twice a week and there is work underway to try to recruit more nurses from overseas, he says.

But it has to go beyond talk and into action, first to sort the short term problem but then to keep building on that over the next several years.

“The next pandemic is inevitable … it might be in 10 years, it might be in 100 years, but it is coming,” Bevan says.

Little says he has also asked for decisions on three DHBs proposals expanding ICU capacity to be “accelerated”, but even then, those “will be some months away — they won’t be instant”.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A New Zealand emergency medical specialist has written about their experience working at an Auckland hospital, issuing a warning ahead of yesterday’s Auckland border announcement.

Auckland’s border will reopen on December 15 for fully-vaccinated travellers or those who test negative for covid-19 within 72 hours of departure.

The new rules will apply until January 17.

The medical specialist’s warning:

I see my colleagues, busy caring for patients, contacting specialties, arranging tests, performing procedures, talking with families. I see police lining the corridor. I call for security when I hear someone screaming profanities at one of our nurses. I note that our isolation rooms are already full.

I see that we have one resuscitation room available, the rest are already full. There are three people mentally unwell who need care in a mental health unit, one of who is suicidal and has been in the busy and bright emergency department for over a day. 

There is no room available in any mental health unit in Auckland. We try our very best to provide them with care, but we are not a mental health inpatient unit. There are multiple patients waiting for admission to a ward; I am told that no beds will be available until the next morning. The charge nurse and I sigh. Another evening of balancing emergency care with providing ward care to those we’ve already seen and admitted with hardly any room in the emergency department. The nurses bear the brunt of this burden.

That was in early August, before the current outbreak.

Now, I head into my shift in charge as an Emergency Medicine Specialist. Before I’ve left [home] I have to shave so the N95 mask seals. I ready a box for my clothes (when I get home I strip naked before entering and beeline to the shower, I don’t want to infect my family).

The ambulance bay is packed. Everyone is in PPE, I can’t recognise people. The paramedics look tired. I don my N95 mask, check the seal and enter the department. Inside, all my colleagues are in full PPE. I see all the negative pressure isolation rooms are already full. The pregnant patients wait alongside the suicidal patients and the elderly breathless patients.

I am told the hospital has run out of negative pressure rooms on the ward, but that one might be freed up in an hour. There is no plan in place for what to do if there are no negative pressure rooms available. 

The charge nurse and I make one up. It is not ideal and has some risk. We inform management of the situation, but they can’t magic up new wards. A call from microbiology, “another covid positive result”. I quickly confirm that the patient is in a negative pressure room rather than in our makeshift four bedded very unlikely but theoretically possible covid space. They are. A relief — I would feel responsible for causing extra infections.

I hear security being called. I walk behind them and see someone in a negative pressure room throwing medical equipment around the room. They are covid positive and are thought to be high on methamphetamine. We can’t calm them down, the situation escalates. The security guards have to restrain them, risking covid infection.

A covid outbreak brings so many new incremental tasks and barriers to care and the new addition of significantly increased risk to the personal health and wellbeing of healthcare providers and patients. Paramedics, nurses, health care assistants, doctors, security and cleaners take an extra 3 minutes to don and doff PPE for every interaction. 

If I interact with 20 patients during an in-charge shift – that’s an hour of the shift that I am spending donning and doffing PPE that I could be using to provide care. Rooms need extra cleaning. Wards want to wait for negative covid swabs before admitting people even though they aren’t supposed to — I get it, they don’t want to be infected either. 

Our Emergency Department is more and more frequently overflowing. Ambulances might wait over 30 minutes to transfer their patients to our care leaving them unavailable for 111 dispatches. People can wait half a day for an ambulance transfer between hospitals — there are none available.

We hear a lot about ICU beds. It is absolutely true that we have half the number we should have even in the absence of a pandemic. But this issue is only one part of the problem.

If the number of unvaccinated covid cases increases significantly the problem will be that the entire health system will be overwhelmed — what will that look like?

How many ambulances, emergency department rooms, and ward rooms will there be, and, crucially, will there be enough healthcare workers?

When wards and EDs are full, ambulances cannot hand over care of their acutely unwell patients and so they wait in the ambulance bay for hours and days. When that happens, there will be no ambulances available. When an ambulance is called for my friend’s baby that is born early at home, for my uncle’s chest pain, for my cousin’s car crash, for my grandmother’s fall, my child’s nut allergy or my neighbour’s child with asthma — they may be queued at the hospital ambulance bay and unable to attend.

When wards are full, patients wait in the ED and when the ED is full, they wait in the waiting room and the corridors.

This is in Auckland, where there are more ambulances, more ED beds and more ward beds than Whanganui, or Taupō, or Greymouth.

Everyone has their reasons for or against the vaccine. These are my reasons for the vaccine:

• Vaccination decreases the rate of infection and therefore decreases the number of people who become unwell with covid.
• The Pfizer vaccine provides around 95 percent protection from symptomatic viral infection after two doses, which means 95 people out of 100 exposed to the virus will not develop symptomatic covid. Face coverings and social distancing help to further decrease the risk of infection on exposure. As there is active community transmission, we are all exposed. 
• Those vaccinated individuals who do become infected have very mild symptoms and so are less likely to pass it on. Fully immunised individuals rarely become unwell enough to require hospital level care, so they rarely need to come to hospital. This then decreases the risk of infection for health care workers.
• Every infection in a health care worker has flow-on effects, it is at least 10 patients per shift per clinician that have to be cared for by someone else in the place I work.

As the cases in the community grow, and contact tracing struggles to keep up, more cases become infectious in the community. The capacity to follow-up patients with Healthline also becomes exceeded while GPs are taking on more care for covid patients in the community.

GP practices are already overloaded, and people with chronic disease may not be able to get timely care or may feel uncomfortable seeking care — becoming acutely unwell as a result, needing hospital care.

Except when they need it there may be no bed for them, and, no ambulance.

That is a health system overwhelmed.

• This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

There are now 91 people in hospital and seven in ICU across the country, reports the Ministry of Health.

More than 21,000 doses of vaccine were administered yesterday.

Of today’s official cases, 197 cases are in Auckland, 20 are in Waikato, two are in Taupō, two are in Wairarapa, and one is in Northland.

Public health officials said they were investigating a common link between cases reported in Taupō, Tararua and Masterton.

Patient in 70s dies
In a statement this afternoon, the ministry confirmed a patient in her late 70s had died at Auckland City Hospital after she was admitted on November 11 and had subsequently tested positive for the virus.

This takes the total of deaths from covid-19 in New Zealand to 35.

Public health staff in Auckland are now supporting 4416 people to isolate at home around Auckland. This includes 2023 covid-19 cases.

There are 18 community testing centres available across Auckland today.

The ministry said 21 residents and four staff members of Edmonton Meadows Care Home in Henderson had tested positive since the start of the outbreak.

Five residents who tested positive are receiving appropriate ward-level care at Auckland hospitals, it added.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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About 2000 New Zealand district health board workers had not been vaccinated 15 hours before the deadline to lose their jobs.

From today no one can work in healthcare unless they have had at least one dose of the covid-19 vaccine or are exempt from the government mandate.

Unite Union’s Gerard Hehir represents six Waikato Hospital orderlies who have decided to quit.

They had a last minute meeting with the district health board (DHB) yesterday, one of a series over the past few weeks.

“People have been given the opportunity to think about it, respond, have some time, offered more information,” he said.

Even though they could not work from today, they would have one more meeting this week, a chance to change their minds before their contracts were terminated, he said.

Other DHBs also met with workers yesterday, with most offering the chance for last minute vaccinations.

Numbers unclear
It was still unclear how many people have made the same choice as the Waikato orderlies.

A spokesperson representing all district health boards said at 9am yesterday they estimated there were about 2 percent or 3 percent of their 80,000 staff nationally who were unvaccinated — between 1600 and 2400 people.

But it would be a few days before they knew the final number, she said.

That estimate did not count the tens of thousands of contractors who worked at hospitals, doing jobs like carpentry, food preparation or patient transport.

Counties Manukau DHB managers have been told they are responsible for checking every contractor who is coming on site to do work for their team.

The mandate went beyond DHBs to people working in the community – GPs, physiotherapists, psychologists, midwives, chiropractors and more.

The College of GPs medical director Dr Bryan Betty said it was also trying to get a gauge on how many of the country’s 5000 GPs were not vaccinated.

He knew of about 20, but also of nurses and receptionists who would lose their jobs.

Awaiting DHB figures
Nurse and midwife organisations were also waiting on DHB figures to find out how their professions were impacted.

Nurses Organisation Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku said there was a small number out of the roughly 50,000 nurses working around the country.

She knew personally of six who were still holding out but also of some who had been reluctant then realised their jobs were more important and got vaccinated.

College of Midwives chief executive Alison Eddy said she worried about losing any midwife from the workforce, because it was already so stretched.

Hehir said the union was supporting its workers but it did back the mandate.

When it surveyed its DHB workers, for every vaccine hesitant response, there were many more from those who said they would be uncomfortable working with unvaccinated people.

“It is a real serious issue with people losing their jobs but it is also a very serious issue for people concerned about their health and the health of their families,” he said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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A Northland high school principal says she has been accused of being “complicit in mass genocide” by people opposed to getting vaccinated.

After today, anyone who works or volunteers in an education setting in New Zealand and who has not received at least one dose of the covid-19 vaccine will be barred from school grounds.

Last week, thousands of people marched up the streets of Wellington to Parliament to protest for various covid-19-related reasons.

Some were angry at the covid-19 vaccination mandates, the lockdowns or the vaccine itself.

The protesters screamed abuse at police and media, demanding an end to covid-19 restrictions.

This level of anger is all too familiar for Whangārei Boys High School principal Karen Gilbert-Smith.

“I appreciate that what’s happening for a lot of people is really challenging, but the kind of things that have been happening from my end, and I know speaking to other colleagues, they’re experiencing similar things, is relentlessness that we’re doing something to others,” Gilbert-Smith said.

‘Worst message’
“I think the worst message that I got was that I was complicit in mass genocide by supporting the vaccination mandate,” she said.

“We get a lot of emails from parents: the vast majority of those are positive, but the ones that kind of take the wind out of your sails and that require the most thoughtful response are the ones that are really awful and vindictive.”

The abuse was coming from all angles and although it was a minority, their voices were loud, Gilbert-Smith said.

“I think it’s the ill-informed or misinformed anti-vaxxers that are really whipping up that hatred. That just feels really abhorrent to me that misinformation just gets so widely spread and is leading to that sense of lack of safety for people in their communities.”

But today the no jab, no job policy for education staff officially kicks in.

Teachers need to have received at least one dose of the covid-19 vaccine if they want to continue to work with students in a face-to-face learning environment.

‘Where are we going to find those replacements?’
Gilbert-Smith preferred not to comment on their own staffing situation at Whangārei Boys High School, but did say she was nervous.

“As principals, many of us have had conversations about the impact in our own schools and certainly in Te Tai Tokerau, it’s likely to have a significant impact on staffing across our schools, so we’re not just talking about teachers,” she said.

“We’re talking about groundsmen, canteen staff, support staff, everyone. We can ill afford to have staffing shortages and in Tai Tokerau it’s difficult enough.”

She is concerned that it will impact on students.

“It’s hard enough to put well qualified, passionate, knowledgeable, smart teachers in front of students, which is what they deserve. And now we’re in a situation of being a little bit further behind than that.

“Where are we going to find those replacements? Particularly teachers. That is very worrying to me.”

She said the constant hate and abuse was wearing her down and was making it harder for her to do her job.

‘Creating reassurance’
“Principals are creating reassurance for everyone in their community, but also fielding all the negativity that comes. Anyone with aspirations of being a principal right now, they might be reconsidering at this point,” she said.

“We are obliged to uphold the law, and that’s what we’re doing as principals, and we’re doing the best that we can. We’re managing people’s expectations and we’re dealing with their upset and distress.

“And keeping the school running as we’re supposed to do on any other day of the week, or any other time of the year. It is a lot of work.”

Gilbert-Smith said she loved her job, but the current conversations had moved too far away from being about creating better outcomes for young people in Aotearoa.

“That’s a real shame because they are the ones that will suffer, those young people in our schools.”

The impact of the vaccine mandate on teacher supply will not be known until the vaccination deadline has passed and numbers are clear, according to the Ministry of Health.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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Dr Siouxsie Wiles of the University of Auckland said the 207 community cases today – just above the previous record high of 206 cases on November 6 — were disappointing but not surprising, given that people are moving around more.

She expects case numbers to keep rising but said areas outside Auckland could take action to stamp out local outbreaks.

Keeping track needed
“We really need people to be getting tested if they have any symptoms, and also keeping track of their movements, and letting contact tracers know where they’ve been,” Dr Wiles said.

“So if everybody can do that, then we should be able to stamp out those cases again.”

Dr Wiles said if people did not take measures such as self-isolating there would be bigger outbreaks in areas beyond Auckland.

A total of 90 percent of New Zealanders have now had their first dose of the Pfizer covid-19 vaccine and 81 percent are fully vaccinated.

The latest figures show almost 27,000 first and second vaccine doses were given nationally yesterday.

Professor Michael Baker from the University of Otago said there were only five days left for people to get their first dose of covid-19 vaccine if they wanted to be fully protected before Christmas.

He said the clock was ticking and it was time to start a conversation with vaccine-hesitant friends and family.

In the areas with active cases, 71 percent of eligible Northlanders have had their second dose, 85 percent in Auckland, 78 percent in Waikato, 75 percent in Taranaki, 81 percent in Canterbury, 73 percent in Lakes DHB and 78 percent in MidCentral.

Ninety people in hospital
Ninety people are in hospital — most in Auckland but there is also one case each in Whangārei and Dargaville.

Of the hospital cases, 59 percent are unvaccinated or not eligible for a vaccine.

Dr Baker said he recommends only having vaccinated people at Christmas gatherings.

“If you have an unvaccinated person there, and the virus will be manifesting quite widely over that period, they are real risks to everyone at those events, and particularly to unvaccinated children and older people who may not have mounted such a good immune response to the vaccine,” he said.

Dr Baker said the government should keep a solid boundary around Auckland and keep the rest of the country in an elimination mode.

He also said the rollout of vaccines for children from ages 5 to 11 should start before Christmas.

“I think that would be a great Christmas gift to the children of New Zealand.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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Auckland mayor Phil Goff has hit out at anti-lockdown protesters who held up traffic on roads throughout the country today, describing their actions as “crass and stupid”.

Police are promising to follow up on any offences or breaches of the laws after the Freedoms and Rights Coalition protest group took to the roads, trying to create a gridlock in New Zealand’s largest city by driving slowly.

On Facebook today, Goff said he came across them as he was returning from a Pasifika vaccination event at Mt Smart Stadium where he saw “volunteers and medical staff working in the pouring rain to ensure people are protected”.

He said their vehicles spread across three lanes of the motorway, doing 50 km an hour and deliberately blocking people from going about their business.

Goff said they were spreading disinformation and lies about covid-19 and vaccinations.

“Crass and stupid but what else would you expect?” he asked.

Cases and vaccination rates
The Ministry of Health reported 175 new community cases of covid-19 – 26 fewer than yesterday’s total.

Of those 159 are in Auckland, two in Northland, eight in Waikato, one in Taupō and the five previously announced cases in Taranaki.

The two new Northland cases have clear links to known cases.

However, the ministry late today confirmed three more positive results for Taupō in addition to the case announced earlier.

Two are household contacts.

The third is a close contact. This person, who is now isolating in Taupō, travelled to Masterton last weekend, before becoming ill on Monday.

Two other household contacts of the case have tested negative.

Ninety three people are in hospital – all in Auckland and eight more than yesterday.

Nine patients are in intensive care or a high dependency unit.

The latest wastewater result for the Taranaki town of Stratford has not detected covid-19.

Close to 90 percent target
Just over 2000 first doses of the covid-19 vaccine are needed for the whole country to officially reach the 90 percent milestone.

The latest figures from the Ministry of Health show Auckland DHB is the first to surpass more than 95 percent of the eligible population to have their first dose.

Nationally, about 80 percent have had a second dose.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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An iwi that pastor Brian Tamaki descends from are calling him out to say he is putting Māori communities at risk.

This follows mass protests across the country on Tuesday organised by a “freedom” group set up by Tamaki opposing vaccines and lockdown restrictions.

Te Rūnanganui o Ngāti Hikairo located between Kāwhia and Te Awamutu were especially concerned with the number of young tamariki involved in the rallies.

They said Tāmaki, who was one of their own, was asking Māori communities to undermine science, putting their people at risk.

They have now called on the Destiny Church leader to take a whānau-first approach.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Health reported 185 new community cases of covid-19 today, including 25 in Waikato and eight in Northland.

Rūnanga chair Susan Turner said because Tamaki was a descendant of their rūnanga it was important to show leadership and encourage the right messaging and approach to combatting covid 19.

She said Tamaki needed to promote scientific advice among whānau, iwi and the wider community to protect each other against the virus.

‘Share the right messages’
“Brian as a member of Ngāti Hikairo, we wanted to encourage him to share the right messages and dispel the rhetoric that he and his followers are saying to our people.

“We want them to follow science and go with the right advice and for our people to be united in this fight against covid,” she said.

The inclusion of mixed messaging related to freedom and self-determination was particularly concerning.

It comes as the rūnanga battles to prevent an outbreak amongst Ngāti Hikairoa whānau.

Turner said it did not reflect a mātauranga Māori approach as tino rangatiratanga should be represented by a collective effort to protect whānau and those most vulnerable.

The current approach from Tamaki was promoting a colonial approach to preserving life and liberty, she said.

“The biggest concern that we’ve got is the fact that they’re giving our people the wrong information.

Tamaki message ‘opposing tikanga’
“Those sentiments simply oppose the whole concept of what we believe is our tikanga which is about protecting ourselves, protecting our whānau and the people that live in our community.

“It’s clear to us that this virus is going to spread, and we need to do all we can to protect our whānau, our rangatahi and our tamariki,” she said.

The rūnanga strongly supported vaccines and said Tamaki carried a Ngāti Hikairo name, and with that came obligations to use his platform to strengthen Māori communities by encouraging whānau to get vaccinated and comply with health restrictions.

A spokesperson for Tamaki rejected RNZ’s request for an interview but said they wished to speak to Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Hikairo face-to-face about the issues at hand.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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Some Aucklanders enjoying new freedoms today said there had been stress and anxiety in the community during New Zealand’s longest lockdown.

The country’s largest city moved to level 3 step 2 and shops can open — but swimming pools, cinemas and theatres remain closed.

Coincidentally, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visited Auckland for the first time in 12 weeks touring a factory and visiting a Pacific vaccination drive.

She faced criticism for not meeting with other businesses such as hospitality or hairdressers.

Ardern said she would be returning to Auckland to see how the people were dealing with the delta outbreak.

This morning she spoke with Employers and Manufacturers Association chief executive Brett O’Riley and toured an engineering factory, before visiting a Pacific youth vaccination event in Māngere. It is her first trip to the city since lockdown was imposed in August.

In the stand-up, Ardern said the reason she was delayed in visiting Auckland was limitations in Parliament.

“As soon as those measures lifted, I found the first available time to come home,” she said.

“Tāmaki Makaurau is my home and today’s been really important for me to reconnect with those I’ve been keeping in contact with at a distance — business representatives, health providers — but also to have a chance to talk to Aucklanders about their experience.”

Schools to reopen
Covid-19 Response and Education Minister Chris Hipkins said the benefits of reopening primary schools and kura in Auckland and Waikato on November 17 far outweighed any risks.

Children in Year 4 and up will need to wear a mask, the number on-site will be limited, and groups of children will have to distance themselves from one another.

Schools and kura will decide what works best for them, but most pupils in Years 1 to 8 will probably return part-time, while Years 9 and 10 go back full-time.

The opposition National Party wants all schools to reopen immediately, and said paying schools up to $400 per student and regularly testing children would help them make up for lost class time.

The party this morning released its “Back on Track” plan to help school students catch up on their curriculum.

The numbers

• 147 new community cases of covid-19: 131 in Auckland, 14 in Waikato, and two in Northland. And 63 cases from today remain unliked.
• The suburbs of interest in Auckland are Ranui, Sunnyvale, Kelston, Birkdale, Manurewa and Māngere.
• 81 people with Covid-19 in hospital, including 11 in ICU or HDU. Of those, 40 cases are either unvaccinated or not eligible, 25 are partially vaccinated, 10 are fully vaccinated, and the vaccination status of six is unknown.
• 4813 community cases in the current outbreak.

A man in his 60s who had covid-19 and was isolating at a home in Glen Eden in Auckland has died — the third such death.

The cause of his death will be determined by the coroner, including whether it may have been covid-related.

Two people isolating at home with covid-19 died last week.

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said allowing covid-19 patients to isolate at home was generally working well but the deaths were being reviewed.

AstraZeneca vaccine becomes an option
The AstraZeneca vaccine will be made available later this month for a small number of people aged 18 and over who cannot have the Pfizer shots for medical reasons.

Dr Bloomfield said people who were required to be vaccinated under the public health order, but who preferred AstraZeneca to Pfizer, could also opt for it.

He said only a few hundred people aged 18 and over would be eligible for the AstraZeneca vaccine from late November.

However, several hours later, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins told Newstalk ZB AstraZeneca would actually be available to anyone who has a conversation with their doctor.

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New Zealand’s Parliament was on high security today as thousands marched through the capital Wellington for an anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination protest.

Thousands of people gathered at Civic Square for an anti-lockdown and anti vaccination protest this morning.

The group intended to march to Parliament for what they are describing as a “freedom protest”.

Significant disruptions to the bus services in the capital were expected as buses detoured away from the central business distruct (CBD) to avoid the protest.

Protester ‘bites’ police officer
Meanwhile in Auckland, a police officer was bitten by a protester at the northern boundary as a group blocked traffic for more than an hour.

About 50 protesters arrived from the northern side of the boundary on State Highway 1 at Te Hana.

Traffic in both directions was brought to a halt by the group and some of their vehicles.

Police said they attempted to engage with the group and a number of vehicles were towed in order to clear the roadway.

Officers physically intervened to move protesters off the road and in the process one was bitten by an “as yet unidentified protester”, police said.

“Actions like this are totally avoidable and poses unnecessary risk to our staff who are simply trying do their part in preventing the spread of covid-19,” Waitematā District Commander Superintendent Naila Hassan said in a statement.

Protesters have dispersed and police will keep monitoring the site.

Protest ‘interferes with vaccination efforts’
Te Rūnanga ō Ngāti Whātua uri and chief operating officer Antony Thompson said trucks carrying food and medical supplies were being held up unnecessarily, “creating major risks to our communities and whānau of the North”.

He said thoughtless moves like this put whānau in danger and urged members of these groups to think about the impact they were having on those they believed they were trying to protect.

Thompson said protesters were using this as an opportunity to “grandstand their issue”.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz