March 29, 2022
Long Covid threat for Māori ignored
Infectious disease authority Siouxsie Wiles is concerned the Government response to Covid-19 could expose Māori to a greater risk of long Covid.
The University of Auckland University associate professor says people are tired and want to get back to normal, but the pandemic has changed everything, and countries that drop public health measures find cases rising again.
She wants to see more research into the long term effects of Covid in Aotearoa.
“It does worry me that because Māori was massively more impacted for example in our Delta outbreak, the people who have had it already will be more at risk of long term things, and I think that’s been a real failing of our response,” Dr Wiles says.
She also likes to see more resourcing so everyone with the virus is able to isolate it properly to limit its spread and to have enough time off work to ensure their long term recovery – something that is often a challenge in Māori households where the pressure is on the get back to their jobs.