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Management of Auckland’s external border with the world and internal boundary with NZ needs major changes to reflect the city’s shift from Covid-19 elimination to suppression

Monday, November 8th, 2021 | carra86p | 13 Comments

Dr Lucy Telfar Barnard, Dr Jennifer Summers, Lesley Gray, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick Wilson*

Analysis of countries with reasonable quality data implies that the risk of Covid-19 infection for most vaccinated international arrivals is typically less than the current risk for Auckland residents. Current MIQ requirements for vaccinated arrivals to Auckland could therefore be dropped for most, without increasing the risk for Aucklanders. It would also be consistent to require tight control measures (vaccination, testing, and potentially some home quarantine) for people travelling from Auckland to other parts of NZ to help maintain elimination in those places (to give time for improved vaccination coverage).

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Monitoring CO2 indoors for improving ventilation as a Covid-19 control tool

Wednesday, October 27th, 2021 | carra86p | 1 Comment

Dr Ian Longley and Dr Julie Bennett*

Poor ventilation in indoor settings is widely recognised as a risk factor for the airborne transmission of the virus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes Covid-19. Virus-laden aerosols can remain airborne for hours in indoor spaces with low levels of ventilation. In this blog, we discuss how to use carbon dioxide (CO2) measures as a proxy for estimating the level of ventilation in a building and to guide ventilation improvements in schools and workplaces.

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Reducing the risk of Covid-19 transmission through the use of air purifiers

Tuesday, October 26th, 2021 | carra86p | 5 Comments

Prof Mark Jermy, Dr Julie Bennett, Dr Jason Chen, Phoebe Taptiklis and Dr Caroline Shorter*

Indoor environments increase the risk of transmission for the virus that causes Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) by containment and concentration of the airborne virus. However, to reduce such transmission, the particles that carry the virus can be diluted by bringing in as much outdoor air as possible. When good ventilation is not possible, air purifiers can be used as an additional preventative measure to reduce the number of virus-laden particles. Ventilation and purification of indoor air needs to be used alongside public health measures, such as vaccination, staying home when unwell and mask use. This blog outlines some basic principles of using air purifiers to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission.

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Is Funding Euthanasia a Health Priority for Aotearoa New Zealand: Part 2?

Friday, October 22nd, 2021 | carra86p | No Comments

Dr Ben Gray*

Providing equity of access for assisted dying without equity of access to palliative care is to completely undermine the goals of the End of Life Choice Act. The choice is distorted towards aid in dying and away from palliative care. In this blog I will describe the detail in the Gazette Notice documenting the funding mechanism for provision of services under the Act. I will argue that the focus in this policy on equity is misplaced and that the effect of not allowing practitioners to charge a co-payment will significantly undermine provision of aid in dying.

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COVID-19 in Aotearoa: what does public health do now?

Monday, October 18th, 2021 | carra86p | 1 Comment

Dr Belinda Loring, Dr Ruth Cunningham, Dr Polly Atatoa Carr*

Public health activities have collectively made an incredible contribution to minimising the impact of COVID-19 in Aotearoa. But the work for public health is not over. As the situation in Auckland heralds a transition point in our approach to the pandemic, the challenge now is to be bold and clear about how we prioritise our public health resources and effort going forwards to the activities that will make the greatest impact on protecting and improving population health.

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