2019 Novel Coronavirus Covid-19 Discussion

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#2622210 15-Dec-2020 18:52

My experience. HR gets paid by the company, and paid to protect the company.

I can personally attest to seeing several executives getting "golden handshakes" when caught with their pants down.

Any position that starts with "chief" are not only 95% immune from any HR complaint, but will be protected by HR against the complainant.

Bad publicity / bad optics often results in reduced sales, and often this will shake up executives.

clinty

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#2622232 15-Dec-2020 20:57

freitasm:

This kind of people are the ones that will bring destruction and death. It seems he's more interested in profits than human life.

"'Don't call in sick for the next three weeks' jeweller Pandora tells staff"

In a video sent to staff, the head of The Howley Group, Joseph Howley, Pandora’s franchisor of some New Zealand and Australian stores, said because the company was going into a “very busy” time of the year, staff should not call in sick for the next three weeks.

“You are very important to this business. Don’t call in sick. If anyone’s calling sick, cancelling shifts, I need to know about this. You need to talk to me directly,” Howley said.

“Unless you have something serious you’re not supposed to do that for the next three weeks. After that you can do whatever you want, no problem.

I bet instead of the boss getting a notice from HR there will instead be a witch hunt to find out who leaked the video...

From the article:

A Pandora spokeswoman said that Howley was not asking staff to avoid taking leave over Christmas.

“Whilst it was not communicated effectively, in the video staff were being asked to contact The Howley Group directly in the event that they cannot attend their allocated shift, in order to best manage alternative arrangements,” she said.

“The video is not aligned with our overarching approach at Pandora.”

and

Pandora had discussed the video with Howley “at length this morning”, she said.

“We sincerely apologise to staff for any upset caused and we categorically make ourselves available to ensure that they are aware of their entitlements.”

to me at length means he got a royal telling off, but we can't say that :)

Clint

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#2622245 15-Dec-2020 21:38

clinty: to me at length means he got a royal telling off, but we can't say that :)

Everyone knows what the boss wants, this tells me there's a risk associated with entering these stores during the xmas period.

sen8or

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#2622506 16-Dec-2020 10:29

In a large organisation, HR should be outside the normal chain of command at the same level as a CEO, reporting only to the board to protect the integrity of the HR function.

On one hand, I can completely understand the sentiment behind the video, its going to be busy and they want all hands on deck, but message delivered poorly and in these times when even a sneeze will get you ostracized, extreme poor judgement was shown.

Handle9

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#2623072 17-Dec-2020 02:07

sen8or:
In a large organisation, HR should be outside the normal chain of command at the same level as a CEO, reporting only to the board to protect the integrity of the HR function.

On one hand, I can completely understand the sentiment behind the video, its going to be busy and they want all hands on deck, but message delivered poorly and in these times when even a sneeze will get you ostracized, extreme poor judgement was shown.

How many organisations are set up like that? HR is a mostly technical function. It doesn't exist to serve the staff, it's purely for the benefit of the organisation.

Compliance is often setup as a separate organisation but that serves a very different purpose to HR.

freitasm

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#2623358 17-Dec-2020 15:59

Press release:

The Government will purchase COVID-19 vaccines from pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and Novavax, meaning every New Zealander will be able to be vaccinated, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today.

The new agreements secure access to 7.6 million doses from AstraZeneca – enough for 3.8 million people, and 10.72 million doses from Novavax– enough for 5.36 million people. Both vaccines require two doses to be administered.

The four pre-purchase agreements secured to date are:

750,000 courses from Pfizer/BioNTech;
5 million courses from Janssen;
3.8 million courses from the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca; and
5.36 million courses from Novavax.

There are multiple types of vaccine technology that have been used to develop COVID-19 vaccines. Our strategy has been to purchase different types of technology, to ensure if some are found in development or in trials not to be a successful option we will have alternatives available.

“We now have agreements in place with four providers, covering three different types of vaccine technology and we have secured more than enough doses to cover our entire population plus the Pacific,” Jacinda Ardern said.

“The AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines announced today complement our other purchases, and are compatible with existing infrastructure and storage facilities in New Zealand.

“If proven to be safe and effective by New Zealand’s pharmaceuticals regulator Medsafe, they will provide broad population coverage for New Zealand and our Pacific neighbours.

“This will be New Zealand’s largest immunisation roll out ever. Most countries are factoring the roll out to take all of 2021 and some of 2022 to complete due to its scale and complexity, also due to production and delivery timeframes.

“Our first priority will be to vaccinate border workers and essential staff who are at the greatest risk of getting COVID-19. We expect vaccines to be delivered to our front line workers in the second quarter of 2021.

“Our aim is to then commence vaccination of the general public in the second half of the year. All vaccine roll out will be dependent on Medsafe sign off, which we are streamlining, and speed of manufacture.

“We are moving as fast as we can, but we also want to ensure the vaccine is safe for New Zealanders.

“Never before has the entire globe sought to vaccinate the entire population at the same time. This will be a sustained roll out over months not weeks but our pre-purchase agreements means New Zealand is well positioned to get on with it as soon as it is proven safe to do so,” Jacinda Ardern said.

Minister of Research, Science and Innovation Megan Woods said the agreements ensure that we are invested in a range of options and that we’re not putting all of our eggs into one basket.

“As there are no guarantees that all the vaccines will successfully complete clinical trials, or be approved for use, this approach ensures we are able to access safe and effective vaccines at the earliest possible time, Megan Woods said.

“Our plan is to ensure no-one misses out, even if it means we’ve purchased more than we need. It’s an investment worth making.

“The world of vaccine development is dynamic. While we’re confident our four agreements place us in an excellent position, we’re not ruling out other purchases if required,” Megan Woods said.

The Government’s portfolio approach works alongside other aspects of the COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy, including membership of the global COVAX Facility, which is also an avenue for securing vaccines.

COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said preparations are well in hand to gear up for what would be New Zealand’s largest ever immunisation programme.

“New Zealand has never before attempted an immunisation programme of this scale and complexity. We’re putting all of the building blocks in place to make it run as seamlessly as possible.

“Workforce planning to ensure we have enough vaccinators is well advanced. There are around 12,000 health professionals already able to administer vaccines and more will be trained.

“And, as part of the new National Immunisation Solution, the Ministry of Health will have an inventory management system for COVID-19 vaccines with accurate information about where they are located and the temperature in central storage facilities.

“This will enable us to track and trace COVID-19 vaccines and consumables, including their expiry dates, to reduce wastage.

“The Ministry has also purchased nine large minus 80 degree Celsius freezers that can store more than 1.5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. They are on track to arrive by the end of the year.”

Chris Hipkins said the start of COVID-19 immunisation will not mean any changes to our borders initially

“Our border remains the first line of defence against COVID-19 from imported cases. To make any decisions around borders we need to be confident that the New Zealand population is sufficiently protected.

“It means we will need information on whether the COVID-19 vaccines are effective at providing individuals with protection from contracting the virus and reducing transmission – and a gradual building towards population immunity, which will take time.

“Our technical advisory teams will be monitoring data from clinical trials and learning from the experience of other countries,” Chris Hipkins said.

Minister of Health Andrew Little said eventually, everyone in the country will have access to a vaccine free of charge.

“Currently, given we have no community transmission, the first group who would be immunised are those most at risk of being exposed to COVID-19. This includes the border and MIQ workforce, the COVID-19 frontline healthcare workers, and their household contacts. This will further strengthen our border,” Andrew Little said

“The aim of this approach is to create a layer of protection around the country to prevent any spread of COVID-19 into our communities. Officials are continuing to review the evidence, and monitor information about the vaccine characteristics, so we will continue to provide updates on the approach to sequencing as we get more information.

“We’re aiming to start vaccinating this group during the second quarter of 2021, followed by the public, in stages, from the third quarter.

“We’re factoring into our planning a large number of complex and interconnected individual strands, including the safety approval process, global supply chains, as well as lead-in times to manufacture and ship vaccines in bulk quantities.”

Andrew Little said Medsafe has agreed to allow pharmaceutical companies to make rolling applications for their COVID-19 vaccines, which means they may submit their data as it is completed and ready for assessment to speed up the process.

“Pfizer and BioNTech and Janssen have already started to submit data, and timing around Medsafe’s approval process depends on many factors, such as the data that companies provide and whether it meets internationally agreed criteria for safety and efficacy.

“Medsafe has streamlined its assessment processes and is prioritising the assessment of COVID-19 vaccines over other pharmaceuticals to obtain a vaccine more quickly, but there will be no compromise on the safety of the vaccine. Medsafe will remain in close contact with its Australian counterpart throughout,” Andrew Little said.

freitasm

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#2623359 17-Dec-2020 16:00

Press release:

The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Premier of Niue Dalton Tagelagi have announced next steps towards quarantine-free travel between the two countries. Negotiations on the text of an ‘Arrangement to Facilitate Quarantine-Free Travel between Niue and New Zealand’ have concluded and both Cabinets have agreed to its signature.

“We welcome progress towards the recommencement of two-way travel between Niue and New Zealand,” said Premier Tagelagi.

The Arrangement outlines the health and border requirements for each country to meet in order to recommence quarantine-free travel, and annexes provide further detail on the implementation, including border and travel protocols.

“Niue has successfully remained COVID-19 free throughout 2020, and this next step is a testament to all of our hard work to protect ourselves and the Pacific,” said Prime Minister Ardern.

In recognition of Niue’s COVID-19 free status, Prime Minister Ardern and Premier Tagelagi have also agreed that officials will progress discussions to enable one-way quarantine-free travel from Niue to New Zealand, to enable improved access for essential travel and to support Niue’s economic recovery.

Both countries will now develop in further detail the practical measures needed to safely recommence both one and two-way quarantine-free travel.

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freitasm

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#2623360 17-Dec-2020 16:00

Press release:

New Zealand is preparing to support our Pacific partners to access safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines at the earliest opportunity, Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Associate Foreign Affairs Minister Aupito William Sio say.

“Pacific countries have worked hard to keep COVID-19 out, or to stamp it out, and New Zealand has been committed to supporting them in this,” Nanaia Mahuta said. “But their success has been hard-won. A safe and effective vaccine will be key to the region’s economic and social recovery.”

Nanaia Mahuta confirmed $75 million of Official Development Assistance had been earmarked to support Pacific and global vaccine access and roll-out.

“New Zealand is pursuing a portfolio of potential COVID-19 vaccines to ensure we have flexibility and choice in the fast-moving global marketplace. We want to make sure Pacific countries can also access suitable options, and have the support they need to run successful immunisation campaigns.”

Aupito William Sio said New Zealand’s support has to be flexible, given the uncertainties around vaccine development.

New Zealand’s approach will be to purchase sufficient vaccines to cover the Realm of New Zealand (Tokelau, Niue, Cook Islands) and our Polynesian neighbours (Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu) should their governments wish to take these up.

“We are best placed to support these countries directly because of our constitutional relationships in the Realm, and the strong links between our health systems and our close people-to-people ties across Polynesia,” Aupito William Sio said. “We will also be scaling up existing health investments to enable us to play our part in vaccine roll-out.

Included in the $75m support package, New Zealand plans to make a further $10m contribution to the COVAX Facility Advance Market Commitment, which is the key multilateral mechanism that has emerged to support equitable global access. New Zealand is also ready to contribute to wider Pacific regional initiatives as they take shape.

KrazyKid

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#2623361 17-Dec-2020 16:01

New community transmission cluster in Sydney - Northern Beaches area.
3 cases found so far today.
A local RSL (pub) is suspected as the possible main center of transmission

Concerningly one of the people with Covid is a member of a band that has be travelling extensively...

Oblivian

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#2623362 17-Dec-2020 16:04

And driver of airport staff. And couple hard to get hold of and didn't isolate waiting results.. Can't teach stupid.

Tinkerisk

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#2623395 17-Dec-2020 18:07

We're in lockdown in Germany (at least 'til Jan, 10th) - only basic supplies and services are open (seems to be Amazon's et al finest hour). Xmas visits are heavily restricted.

But ... all vaccination facilities and logistics ready as projected since two days. Storage and security will be handled by the German Forces. Waiting for European vax approval decision on next Monday and then expected vax start on 27th (yes, it's a Sunday).

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#2623404 17-Dec-2020 18:37

Tinkerisk:

We're in lockdown in Germany (at least 'til Jan, 10th) - only basic supplies are open.

But ... all vaccination facilities and logistics ready as projected since two days. Waiting for European vax approval decision on next Monday and then possible vax start on 27th (yes, it's a Sunday).

Wishing you all the best. Unfortunate that this coincides with Christmas - New Year though.

Hope it does succeed this time. Hindsight suggests 'flatten the curve' with minimum intervention may not have been the best strategy to minimise human & economic impact. Experience here (NZ) and especially in Victoria, Australia (+ China & Singapore) shows that hard lockdowns can largely eliminate the virus locally, allowing close to normal life afterwards. NZ going early meant we have had two relatively short periods in lockdown (one hard, one regional and relatively soft), and have enjoyed relative normalcy for most of the last 9 months. And, cross fingers, a 'normal' Xmas - New Year.

That is other than overseas travel & tourism but that would not have been such an issue had sufficient other countries adopted similar approaches or had been sufficiently prepared (Taiwan, Vietnam, et al).

Of course it would be harder to achieve in Germany without a unified approach throughout at least most of Europe (which is probably what was most missing, especially when the outbreak first occurred in Italy).

Fred99

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#2623502 17-Dec-2020 22:01

KrazyKid:

New community transmission cluster in Sydney - Northern Beaches area.
3 cases found so far today.
A local RSL (pub) is suspected as the possible main center of transmission

Concerningly one of the people with Covid is a member of a band that has be travelling extensively...

Looks like it could a bit of a problem for trans Tasman travel bubble, and they'll need to try to ringfence it before the holiday season.

17 cases now:

freitasm

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#2623756 18-Dec-2020 11:07

Press release:

The Government has set aside extra funding to support the health system’s COVID-19 response and to maintain quarantine facilities up to June 2022, Minister for COVID-19 Response Chris Hipkins said today.

“We are committed to continuing our sustained approach of keeping COVID-19 out, preparing for it, and stamping it out, for as long as it takes, and have funded that for another 18 months if needed,” Chris Hipkins said.

“As we move into 2021 there are exciting developments on the vaccine and safe travel zone fronts. But we also need our health system to have sufficient capacity and support to maintain effective levels of contact tracing and testing, and for managed isolation and quarantine facilities to be fully resourced for our overall elimination strategy to work.

“That requires cash injections for the Ministry of Health, DHBs and agencies working at the quarantine facilities to provide funding certainty.”

Funding agreed by Cabinet will pay for a series of COVID-19-related health activities to June 2022, including:

Maintaining up to 7000 tests a day including swabbing and laboratory services.
Contact tracing, supplies of PPE and supporting technology.
Additional support for the Ministry, and for DHBs on an as-needed basis.
The additional funding of $1.12 billion adds to the $251 million injection provided to health in October.

Further additional funding of $1.74 billion, split across the agencies involved, will ensure the MIQ operating model is fully resourced up to June 2022, including the costs of accommodation, transport, food, security and health and wellbeing services.

“These are significant investments that are critical to keeping our defences strong. Keeping COVID-19 out and quickly managing any incursions that do occur is an expensive business but it’s the best investment we can make for our health and our economy,” Chris Hipkins said.

“As well as continuing high levels of frontline delivery, the extra health funding will enable the Ministry to enhance its oversight and policy roles and other activities through a new COVID-19 Response Directorate and to continue to make improvements to the way it operates. That includes a focus on improved Information Technology.

“New functions being developed include a greater role in research, more capacity to undertake infection, prevention and control audits and a beefed up policy and strategy unit,” Chris Hipkins said.

Further improvements to the response administration and governance

“Throughout our response to COVID-19 so far, we’ve adopted a mind-set of driving constant review and improvement in the face of an unpredictable and fast evolving situation,” Chris Hipkins said.

“The system of multiple interconnected agencies and portfolios is complex but has stood up well overall. Continual improvements have and continue to be made – but making substantial changes at the same time as focusing on keeping COVID-19 out has been a challenge.

“With much-improved testing, contact tracing and border control now in place however, the Government is in a position to consolidate and strengthen administration and governance of the response.

“This is increasingly essential to meet the added complexity of keeping New Zealanders safe, implementing the biggest immunisation programme in our history, while further stimulating the economy and managing a staged opening of our borders.”

The updated approach, to be in place by March 2021, involves:

Strategic leadership and central coordination to be led by a COVID-19 Response unit, building on existing all-of-government functions in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
The public health response, including strengthened surveillance and testing, and public health advice, to be managed by the Ministry of Health.
End-to-end management of our borders, including links to MIQs, led by a Border Executive Board of interdepartmental chief executives.
Lessons learned and progress on surveillance, testing and contact tracing

In August, the Government established an Advisory Committee, chaired by Sir Brian Roche and Heather Simpson, to review testing and surveillance systems and propose improvements. This was followed in October by a review of contact tracing performance, also led by Sir Brian Roche.

“The reports are independent and between them contain 28 recommendations, of which 25 are for the Ministry of Health,” Chris Hipkins said.

“Overall, the Committee found that by the time the reports were being written, the required improvements, including border testing, were under way.

“Cabinet has this week considered an update from the Ministry and other agencies on progress against the recommendations. Actions on five of the recommendations have been completed, with 23 underway.

“The Ministry has all year been at the heart of a massive response to a global pandemic that a year ago no-one could have foreseen,” Chris Hipkins said.

“It has continued to improve and adapt its response to COVID-19, while delivering on its many other obligations. New Zealanders should have confidence in the containment of recent community cases to date as a result of a stronger Ministry response and the hard work of public health units,” Chris Hipkins said.

wellygary

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#2623786 18-Dec-2020 11:41

Fred99:

Looks like it could a bit of a problem for trans Tasman travel bubble, and they'll need to try to ringfence it before the holiday season.

17 cases now:

I'm not that particularly worried about the outbreak ( at the moment) NSW have shown they have a strong track and trace system....

What is interesting to watch is that none of the states are taking any notice of the Federal Government's hot spot definition ( 10 cases for 3 days)

They have started to implement different various restrictions, ( some on all of NSW, Some requiring 14 days self isolation on those form the Northern Beaches regions, while others are fully banning them) ..

This indicates that NZ would be totally fine to implement restrictions earlier that meeting the Hotspot criteria ... I suspect this is why NZ announced it was happy to push on with the bubble by 31 March...

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