Covid-19: Free masks and RATs but traffic light setting expected to stay orange – Stuff

ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff

Covid-19 Response Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall will give an update on the traffic light system on Thursday.

The Government is expected to make it easier to get free masks and rapid antigen tests (RATs), with concerns many cases of Covid-19 are going untested and unreported.

Covid-19 Response Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall is set to announce an update to the Governments Covid-19 plan and guidelines on Thursday afternoon.

Stuff understands Verrall will outline plans for the Government to provide free masks and Covid-19 tests.

Verrall had already outlined plans to deliver 50 free masks to every school child in years 4-7.

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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, speaking in Fiji on Wednesday, said the country would not be moving to the red of the traffic light settings.

A move to red would introduce an indoor gathering limit of 200 people but there is little political appetite for such a disruption and most infectious disease experts do not think it would have a significant impact at this time.

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The prime minister says the Government anticipated cases would rise in winter.

National Party leader Christopher Luxon has criticised the traffic light system, saying it is out of date and confusing. However, it is understood Verrall will not announce major changes to the settings.

Instead, Thursdays announcement is expected to focus on ways for people to self-manage.

The spread of the flu and general colds has made identifying Covid-19 trickier during winter, and officials are concerned the virus is far more prevalent than official statistics indicate.

On Wednesday, the daily case count exceeded 11,000 and 729 people were in hospital with the virus.

Professor Michael Baker said the Government needed to do more to normalise mask use and urged Verrall to introduce a mask mandate for schools.

Children should come back to mask mandates in schools. Look, for instance, at my 12-year-old daughter, who has a high quality mask but says 'it is very hard to wear it all day if I'm the only one.

We need to switch to being a mask using environment, as quickly as possible.

Ross Giblin/Stuff

Infectious diseases and pandemic expert Professor Michael Baker says there should be masking requirements in all schools.

Stuff understands the Government is not interested in a U-turn on former Covid-19 minister Chris Hipkins decision to remove the mask mandate for schools.

Ardern said the Government remained focused on isolation requirements, mask use and vaccination.

She said there would be an increased focus on boosters for at-risk groups, such as older people and those who are immuno-suppressed. Many people in these groups are now eligible for a second booster.

While she acknowledged many countries had removed isolation requirements, Ardern said it was still important for household contacts of confirmed cases to isolate.

Baker said isolation remained crucial and anyone unwell needed to stay home.

Going out while unwell is just like driving drunk, he said.

You are going to kill people. You cant see the virus but it will kill.

Baker said there was no point moving to red, other than to indicate that the pandemic needed to be taken more seriously. He suggested a warning system, similar to the roadside fire risks, rather than the rules-based traffic lights.

At the end of June, Verrall said a move to red was not needed as daily cases remained below 10,000 and fewer than 500 people were in hospitals. In the weeks since, case numbers and hospitalisations have exceeded those thresholds but there is no sign the country will move to red.

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Covid-19: Free masks and RATs but traffic light setting expected to stay orange - Stuff