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Strengthening Omicron mitigation strategies in Early Childhood Education settings

Thursday, February 24th, 2022 | carra86p | 2 Comments

Julie Bennett, Philippa Anderson, Sarah Donovan, Amanda Kvalsvig, Alison Leversha, Subhadra Rajanaidu, and Jin Russell*

Aotearoa New Zealand is in a major Omicron outbreak. With Covid-19 cases doubling every few days, what opportunities are there to strengthen the mitigation approaches in early education settings? In this blog we discuss what is needed to protect this group of children and their whānau as we navigate the next phases of the Covid-19 outbreak. There remains substantial scope for further risk reduction measures, especially relating to improving ventilation, increasing outdoor activities and appropriate mask use.

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Mortality declines in Aotearoa NZ during the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2022 | carra86p | 6 Comments

Dr Jennifer Summers, Professor Michael Baker, Professor Nick Wilson*

In this blog we review the impact of Aotearoa NZ’s Covid-19 response strategies on mortality patterns during the first 2 years of the pandemic. We find that NZ experienced an increase in life expectancy, decreased winter mortality, and net decline in (excess) mortality. These impacts are far more positive than experienced by all other high-income countries during this pandemic period. This picture supports the cautious elimination and suppression strategies used for the first 2 years of the pandemic and there has also been time to prepare the country for the current Omicron wave.  

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Promoting physical activity through the prescription of smartphone apps in primary care: Likely to produce health gains and cost-savings

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2022 | carra86p | No Comments

Dr Leah Grout, Kendra Telfer, Dr Cristina Cleghorn, Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Anja Mizdrak*

Over 40% of NZ adults are insufficiently physically active. In this blog we summarise our recently published modelling work that suggests that the prescription of smartphone apps for physical activity promotion in primary care could benefit health and save millions in health sector costs for NZ. Nevertheless, this type of intervention should ideally occur in conjunction with societal-wide shifts that support more walking and cycling, as these are likely to generate much larger health gains and cost-savings.

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COVID-19 hospitalisation peaks in Australian States since Omicron emerged: potential relevance to Aotearoa NZ

Friday, February 4th, 2022 | Nick Wilson | No Comments

Dr Jennifer Summers, Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Michael Baker*

In this blog we examine the hospitalisation and ICU burden from the recent waves of COVID-19 in Australia, dominated by the Omicron variant. The peak in hospitalisations in Australia during the months of December 2021 and January 2022 occurred on 19 January with 5,302 people in hospital. ICU numbers also peaked on the 19 January at 424 people. Applying the Australian experience to NZ on a per capita basis would suggest peaks of 1,107 people in NZ hospitals and 90 people in ICUs. We also discuss the value and limitations of using the Australian experience to inform planning for the developing NZ Omicron wave.

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Protecting New Zealand children from the developing Omicron outbreak

Tuesday, January 25th, 2022 | carra86p | No Comments

Amanda Kvalsvig, Nick Wilson, Carmen Timu-Parata, Belinda Tuari-Toma, Jennifer Summers, Cheryl Davies, Constanza Jackson, Julie Bennett, and Michael G. Baker*

Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) is likely to soon be experiencing widespread community transmission caused by the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In this blog we outline what is needed to protect the health and wellbeing of children (ie, those under 18 years) in this outbreak. Key principles include taking a whānau-centred, not a school system-centred approach; actively addressing inequities in risk and impact; and taking a precautionary approach to potential long-term harms. Māori leadership at policy and community level will be needed to ensure that children will be safe in all settings during an Omicron outbreak.

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