May 24, 2022
Data gap worry as Covid splits
A Māori researcher wants to see surveillance and prevalence testing so authorities have a better idea of the extent of Covid-19 on the community.
Rawiri Taonui has been crunching the numbers since the start of the pandemic and pushing the Health Ministry to release ethnic breakdowns.
He says while the world seems to have reached the conclusion Covid in now endemic and needs to be lived with, people still need to be cautious.
New Zealand cases seem to have levelled out at about 50,000 new cases a week, but there is probably significant under-reporting, especially among Māori.
There is now only self-testing at the border, despite new arrivals being the source of about 1000 cases a week including new variants.
“Any new problematic variants or sub-variants will come into the country a lot quicker. In the past what we’ve benefited from is having some time to prepare before new variant arrives. The scenario is they will arrive first and they will arrive suddenly and we will be dealing with the consequences,” Dr Taonui says.
He says the current spread of cases indicates the expected winter surge could be coming early to Auckland and the upper North Island.