Education Minister Chris Hipkins has warned that nearly every New Zealand school and early childhood centre will have contact with covid-19 in the next few weeks.

He told students at Mana College in Porirua today that one in five schools were already managing cases among students or staff but they were well prepared.

“We’re now up to one in five schools [which] have covid-19 cases in them and that’s going to just continue to increase from here,” he said.

“We expect in the next few weeks that just about every school, every early childhood service potentially is going to end up coming into contact with covid-19 as it spreads more rapidly throughout the community. That is now going to happen,” he said.

His comments came as the Ministry of Health reported an almost doubling of new community cases to 12,011, with five further deaths — the highest number in a single day taking the total to 61.

Yesterday’s number was 6137 cases.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said 8223 of the positive results came from Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs), while 3807 were PCR tests.

There are currently 237 people in hospital with the coronavirus, including three in intensive care.

92% of students vaccinated
Hipkins said 92 percent of secondary students were fully vaccinated, the government had 42 million facemasks on order or in the country for schools, and it was expecting 5000 air purifiers for rooms with poor ventilation.

He also said schools might get easier access to rapid antigen tests after two large orders arrived in the next two weeks.

Currently the tests were a last resort for teachers who were isolating and whose schools could not find enough teachers to safely supervise children who could not be at home, such as the children of essential workers.

“In another week or two we will have a greater supply of rapid antigen tests in the country and at that point we may be able to say actually we can be a bit more generous than that and we can provide tests in a few more circumstances than that including for what we call surveillance which is just to give you reassurance that it’s not out there,” Hipkins said.

Auckland Secondary Principals Association president Steve Hargreaves said that could make a big difference as the pandemic bites.

“That’ll help keep schools open.

“Schools are having to roster year levels home and children are having to learn remotely because so many staff are tied up as close contacts, family members have test positive but they’re still well, they’ve been able to isolate successfully at home and if we can keep those teachers in schools through the use of rapid antigen tests, that’ll be good for our children.”

After-school sport
Hipkins also promised to clarify the rules around unvaccinated children’s participation in after-school sport and cultural activities.

The Education Ministry’s website said there were no limits on curriculum-related activities like PE classes, but extra-curricular events like team training at schools must be limited to 25 people if any were unvaccinated and 100 if all were vaccinated.

Hipkins said that was not the government’s intention.

“Some schools are interpreting something like a kapa haka rehearsal after school hours or sports after school hours as being included in the guidance.

“We’d never intended for that to be the case so we’re clarifying that so to make it clear that if you’re participating in a school-organised activity, that includes sports, kapa haka, those other cultural events, the vaccine requirement will not apply,” he said.

The minister’s office and the ministry were unable to confirm details and Hargreaves said that was a shame, because he had unvaccinated students ready to play sport tomorrow.

“It’s really sad because we don’t want to exclude any children from these great extra-curricular opportunities but we’ve been following the guidelines around events, gatherings and those size limits and of course College Sport Auckland has its rule around needing to be vaccinated to comply with those rules and that’s blocked a few kids from playing and the sooner we can get this tidied up the better,” he said.

More detail needed
School Sport New Zealand chief executive Mike Summerell said he wanted to see more detail but allowing more unvaccinated children to play sport would be good.

“We welcome the news. It’s been a divisive and difficult time for sport and for schools in terms of inter-school activity but the announcement this morning means more kids are going to have access to sport where over the last few months they haven’t so that’s a real positive,” he said.

He said the change would not be enough to return big regional sports tournaments to the calendar because they involved more than 100 people.

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

Covid-19 will be in ‘just about every school’ soon – Hipkins https://t.co/6095x7BEfX

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) February 25, 2022

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A New Zealand iwi development and social services leader in Taihape is urging rural people to prepare urgently for self-isolation or infection as the threat of omicron looms.

Mōkai Pātea Services general manager Tracey Hiroa, who is also a Rangitīkei District councillor, says country people think of themselves as self-sufficient but must make plans for extended periods of isolation or sickness.

She said people must connect now with family, friends and neighbours to put practical measures in place for a worst-case scenario.

“We’ve been very, very lucky in this region so far, but it’s just a matter of time,” Hiroa said.

“Probably one of the key things that people need is their own whānau plan. Be prepared as opposed to sitting back and thinking, ‘oh no, that’s not going to happen to me’.

“Preparation really is the biggest thing. If you’re self-isolating, if you are diagnosed with [covid-19], think about things that in theory are going to be able to keep you going.

“If you’ve got animals, have you sorted out anything to make sure that they’ve got food? Make sure you’ve got kai to last you over that two-week period. Make sure you’ve got a chilly bin or something like that — with a lid — that can be left out by the front gate that kai or anything else is able to be put in, so that you’re not in contact with people.”

Two weeks of supplies
Hiroa said people should get in two weeks of supplies and items such as torches and batteries or candles, as well as sanitiser, masks and medicines for fever, congestion, muscular pain and sore throats or coughs.

And she said it is vital for people to make sure they have support at hand if needed.

“Making sure that you’ve got those relationships already in place if something was to happen. Have you made the connections out with your whānau to say here’s some of the things outside of the home that I need you to be picking up on.

“It might mean you’ll need somebody to go and feed out your cattle. Go and meet your neighbours so that if something happens you’ve got somebody to call on.”

Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by Asia Pacific Report, RNZ, the News Publishers’ Association and NZ On Air.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Zealand’s Ministry of Health has reported 139 new community cases of covid-19 today, with 64 people now in hospital with the coronavirus.

In a statement, the ministry said two of the new cases were in Waikato and one was in Northland, with the remaining cases were all in Auckland.

The Northland case — which takes the total number of cases in the region to 15 – is a close contact of the two previously reported Taipa cases and has been isolating at home.

The two new cases confirmed in the Waikato overnight are both from Hamilton, and are known contacts of previous cases.

The ministry said 72 of today’s cases were still to be linked. There have been 452 unlinked cases in the past 14 days.

There were also three new cases reported at the border.

Five of the 64 cases in hospital are in intensive care.

Self-isolating person dies
ast night the ministry announced the death of a person who had covid-19 and was isolating at home in Auckland.

The person tested positive for covid-19 on October 24 and had been self-isolating in Manukau.

The ministry said the cause of death was unknown and the coroner would determine whether it was due to the virus or something else.

It said today it was aware of speculation that the death was vaccine related, “but we can confirm it was not”.

“The Northern Region Health Coordination Centre and the Ministry will undertake an incident review of the public health and clinical oversight of this person with independent input.”

There were 100 new cases reported yesterday – 97 in Auckland and three in Waikato.

There have now been 3871 cases in the current outbreak.

There were 26,999 vaccine doses administered yesterday, including 6659 first doses and 20,340 second doses. The ministry said 89 percent of New Zealanders had now had their first dose and 77 percent were fully vaccinated.

“Getting vaccinated will help to stop people from becoming seriously ill from Covid-19 and will save lives,” said the ministry.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz