March 16, 2020
Concern on Coast about pandemic preparedness
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An East Coast wahine says the Covid-19 coronavirus crisis is exposing the profound under-investment in services for rural communities, especially those with high Māori populations.
Marise Lant says Te Tairawhiti is already feeling the effects of the outbreak with the large number of forestry workers laid off and what seems to be a lack of coordination in the government services they need to access for help.
There’s also concern about what happens when the virus itself comes to the Coast, perhaps carried by some hapless tourist.
“We do not have the facilities or the resources healthwise to cope with that right now. That is an issues we have been discussing for a number of years. To have the high risk of that hitting the East Coast is going to be devastating and detrimental to our people’s survival,” Ms Lant says.
Marise Lant
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