Health and Economic Impacts of the COVID-19 Response: NZ Compared to OECD Countries

Friday, December 4th, 2020 | tedla55p | 2 Comments

Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Leah Grout, Dr Jennifer Summers, Dr Nhung Nghiem, Prof Michael Baker (author details*)

Aotearoa/NZ has achieved the lowest death rate in the OECD from the COVID-19 pandemic, equivalent to around 2000 lives saved compared to the OECD average. With regard to economic harm, NZ appears to be close to the OECD average, with the IMF predictions for GDP in 2020 overall being -6.1% for NZ and -6.3% for the OECD. Nevertheless, a fuller accounting of health, economic and equity impacts probably needs to wait until vaccination is sufficiently available and border restrictions are lifted. Despite NZ’s health success there is still a need to improve border controls (eg, with a “traffic light” system), until the population is protected by vaccination.

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