2019 Novel Coronavirus Covid-19 Discussion

Forums › Health and fitness › 2019 Novel Coronavirus Covid-19 Discussion

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13684 posts

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#2743874 14-Jul-2021 08:14

To put some perspective on the NSW outbreak, in mid August last year Aus had about 8000 "active" C-19 cases - and they managed to nail it. Active cases now are only about 10% of that.

Sure the Delta variant is an extra challenge, but the modes of transmission are better understood, contact tracing no doubt improved, and added tools like genome sequencing of every case and routine regular sewage testing.

Fred99

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#2743880 14-Jul-2021 08:39

sbiddle:

I'm not sure about needing to make things "official" with changes to the current orders but I still find it nuts that we didn't have increased mask wearing mandatory at L2 in Wellington. Along with so many other things this a reactive response rather than proactive. It's pretty clear now that if we'd had any Delta cases in Wellington that L2 would have been totally insufficient to prevent spread.

Yup.

The current epidemic of RSV is something that might not have been so bad if people had been sticking to hand hygiene and other general contagion reduction - as we'd been pretty good at (mask wearing perhaps not) a year ago.

Batman

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#2743984 14-Jul-2021 11:35

Europe doesn't treat all vaccines as equal

https://i.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/300356789/immunised-but-banned-europe-says-not-all-covid-vaccines-are-equal

Ge0rge

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#2743994 14-Jul-2021 11:45

Batman: Europe doesn't treat all vaccines as equal

https://i.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/300356789/immunised-but-banned-europe-says-not-all-covid-vaccines-are-equal

To be fair, it's not actually the vaccine that's the issue here - it's where and how it's produced.

sbiddle

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#2744005 14-Jul-2021 12:04

Ge0rge:
Batman: Europe doesn't treat all vaccines as equal

https://i.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/300356789/immunised-but-banned-europe-says-not-all-covid-vaccines-are-equal

To be fair, it's not actually the vaccine that's the issue here - it's where and how it's produced.

And it's not even just that - it's politics at the end of the day.

There were issues a few weeks ago where some UK vaccinated people discovered they had a similar issue - because they were vaccinated with Covishield (Indian manufactured AZ) they were potentially ineligible to participate in the EUDCC program.

The EU still have issues with AZ and still seem pretty bitter after losing their legal action against them

Scott3

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#2744021 14-Jul-2021 12:54

The whole vaccine passport thing and deciding to recognize different covid-19 vaccines is a massive can of works ethically.

The facts are:

Some vaccines are better than others (current evidence shows Pfizer more effective then Sinovac).
Some countries have issues with fraud and corruption.
Some vaccines have greater transparency than others.
Not all non western vaccines are bad (Sputnik IV sounds really good).
Countries / regions are going to protect their own.

China initially (march 15) would only accept people vaccinated with china made vaccines. Journalists were asking our PM if we were going to start offing china made vaccines in light of this. Our PM did well, and dodged saying that Medsafe is politically independent and make that call, and it is rightfully kept away from the politicians.

China softened this stance on 20 April and now accepts some other vaccines

This stuff is highly topical in the Philippines where my in laws live. A lot of people work offshore, especially in arab countries.

https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/list-countries-covid-19-vaccine-brands-required-before-entry

Philippines has a real mix of vaccines: AZ, Pfizer, Sputnik IV, Sinovac, moderna. Vaccines are allocated per "City" (more like suburb). So it is luck of the draw what you get. Somehow the rich suburbs lucked into Pfizer, and area's outside manila basically haven't got any, and the invites sounded to be driven off property rates databases, so the large number of informal residents miss out. (an aid agency is offering moderna to anyone, but you need to pay a token fee for it)

Parents in Law have AZ, brother and sister in law have sinovac. (done before the moderna offer was on the table).

Sounds like it is fairly common for people to just walk out of the vaccination center when they find out sinovac is all that is on offer. Driven by both concerns over safety, effectiveness & travel limitations (a lot of people aspire to work offshore).

My Brother and sister in law aren't to happy with the sitauation, and think they should have waited for a better vaccine. (we advised them to go ahead ASAP with whatever given the widespread covid-19 in their area, and given that the aid agency thing came as a surprise.) Ultimately reassured them the decision they made was good, Zero chance of them traveling to NZ this year, and so just to wait to the end of the year to see how the situation pans out. Suggested they may well have to get re-vaccinated.

There are definitely ethical issues about re vaccinating people just to tick a travel compliance box, especially in a country with only 3.2% of the population fully vaccinated (And no clear pathway to a rapid vaccine ramp like NZ does.)

[edit] - but despite the ethical issues, we need to acknowledge that some vaccines do protect better than others and that alters risk profile. Also both fake vaccination certificates and entire fake vaccines aren't unheard of.

empacher48

368 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2744027 14-Jul-2021 13:00

Saliva testing now available to all frontline border workers instead of nasal swabs…

Saliva testing for border workers

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PolicyGuy

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#2744031 14-Jul-2021 13:17

empacher48: Saliva testing now available to all frontline border workers instead of nasal swabs…

Saliva testing for border workers

Not quite

All frontline border workers who are required to be regularly tested for COVID-19 will soon be able to choose regular saliva testing.
This will be a full replacement for nasopharyngeal testing.
Saliva testing will be expanded as an option for all those on a regular testing cycle under the Required Testing Order. This will start with those on a 7-day testing cycle from mid-August, and be expanded over several months to include the rest of the estimated 13,000 estimated active border workers.

Emphasis added

So it's coming 'soon' - if you call a month's time 'soon' - and will take 'several months' (Christmas?) before it's provided to all border workers.
Soooo s-l-o-w :(

The good news is that it's a full replacement for nasopharyngeal testing.
This is really good news for those unfortunates who because of their job have to have a knitting needle stuck up their nose every week or every fortnight. Hooray! :D

Scott3

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#2744034 14-Jul-2021 13:24

97 Local cases in NSW, Lock-down extended.

NZ press conference atm.

NZ's first "mass vaccination event" announced at Vodafone event center.

Prototype event. Planning in excess of 5000 doses a day across three days.

Good to see things spooling up for our first massive (350,000 dose) pfizer shipment in under a week.

openmedia

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#2744035 14-Jul-2021 13:33

Scott3:

97 Local cases in NSW, Lock-down extended.

NZ press conference atm.

NZ's first "mass vaccination event" announced at Vodafone event center.

Prototype event. Planning in excess of 5000 doses a day across three days.

Good to see things spooling up for our first massive (350,000 dose) pfizer shipment in under a week.

Decimal point is in the wrong place yet again. If they said 15,000 or 20,000 a day I'd be impressed. By now we should have 90+ of over 16s vaccinated with atleast the first shot.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

FineWine

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#2744039 14-Jul-2021 13:44

msukiwi:

freitasm:There are still idiots who can't be bothered wearing a mask while using public transport.

And still, NOTHING will happen to them!

YEP - A mate drives for NZ Buses Tauranga and he would be lucky to get at least one person per shift wearing a mask. QR scanning is little better even though there are entry/exit codes and every third pole has the code. 😱

SELFISH SELFISH

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

Scott3

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#2744054 14-Jul-2021 13:49

openmedia:

Decimal point is in the wrong place yet again. If they said 15,000 or 20,000 a day I'd be impressed. By now we should have 90+ of over 16s vaccinated with atleast the first shot.

It's just a singe event. It comes in addition to the regular (non event) vaccination centers.

We are currently sitting at around 120,000 doses a week or 24,0000 per day. This weeks shipment should have been 150,000. Not really much opportunity to ramp the roll out up untill our big shipments land next week.

Regarding 90+ over 16's. If you are talking absolute numbers, that is super low, currently we are at around 560,000.

If you are talking percentages that is quite unrealistic. I don't know if any country has got to that level of vaccination. Despite statements from politicians we were never going to be at the fount of the queue globally. We don't have on shore manufacture, a desperate need compared to other countries, or willingness (and enough covid-19 in the community) to be a science experiment like Israel. Note that a decision has been made to delay our vaccination program in order to have the benefits of an all pfizer roll out. I support that decision.

wellygary

8328 posts

Uber Geek

#2744055 14-Jul-2021 13:50

openmedia:

Decimal point is in the wrong place yet again. If they said 15,000 or 20,000 a day I'd be impressed. By now we should have 90+ of over 16s vaccinated with atleast the first shot.

Vaccinated with what?,

NZ's first Pfizer contract for 1.5 million doses was in October 2020, We didn't fully contract the remaining 8.5 million doses in March ..

To have vaccinated 90% of 16+ (4 million ppl) with one dose would require us to have had 3.6 million doses (i.e 2.1 million doses we don't/didn't have)

Batman

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#2744059 14-Jul-2021 14:02

https://i.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/300357244/covid19-australia-sydney-lockdown-extended-for-two-weeks

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300357211/covid19-nzs-first-mass-vaccination-event-to-be-held-in-auckland-at-end-of-july

mattwnz

20164 posts

Uber Geek

#2744065 14-Jul-2021 14:23

FineWine:

YEP - A mate drives for NZ Buses Tauranga and he would be lucky to get at least one person per shift wearing a mask. QR scanning is little better even though there are entry/exit codes and every third pole has the code. 😱

SELFISH SELFISH

Why don't they announce over the loudspeaker than they can't drive until everyone has their mask on? Especially as Tauranga is full of old people who would be worst affected. I have heard it is pretty good in the wellington region.

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