Scott3:

 

There aren't enough P2 / N95 masks around for everybody to do this.

 

Regarding masks - please check this thread.

mattwnz:

 

One of the arguments the DG made for them not requiring masks during the first outbreak in NZ, was that NZers didn't know how to wear them safely, and NZers weren't used to wearing masks.  So someone could touch a Covid infected surface such as a door handle, and then adjust their 'mask', transferring the virus from their hand to the potentially damp mask, and then could be infected. So the mask (or bandana) could potentially make someone some prone to getting infected. They also could give people a false sense of security. Although back then, my argument was that masking should still prevent people who have the virus, being able to spread the virus as easily, such as if they cough in a public area. But I think the decision back then had a lot to do with a lack of supply over N95 ones.

My issue is that we have now had months to educate how to safely wear a mask since the WHO recommended their use, but there has been no education. Only in the last week or two have they started to again roll out the Covid TV ads.

Masks however ar not a magic fix, and as I previously posted, I know someone in the US (young) who got a bad case of the  virus despite wearing a mask, and only going out a few times. 

 

I also would have thought it was wise  to now be wearing masks  on public transport, because when we have community cases start occurring, then there will be a time delay in that first infection occurring in the community, and then someone being detected with the virus. Dr Baker has been recommending their usage on public transport for months.

Such a negative thread from some. We can only do our best. MoH can only do their best, in fact the instance of virus spread here isn't up to them its up to us. 

Follow the rules

Batman:

mattwnz:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 months and 2 health ministers later you'd think they'd have figured that but last I hear we're still working on contact tracing in response to Dr Verrall's report?

I don't know if there has been an official update on whether they have now got up to the required levels. But heard the minister of health say that the contact tracing now has surge capacity to deal with up to 1000 new infections a day. Although based on what has happened in Victoria, where they are getting over 700 a day, with the lockdown, up to a 1000 per day is needed. But I don't think our health system and ICU capacity could ever cope with that number of cases in a day. Apparently Australias ICU capacity would cope with up to 1500 new cases a day, and apparently they have increased their ICU capacity. I am not sure if we have brought in new machines, and can free up hospital beds quickly to cope with a second wave here. As we have been warned, it is not if, but when we will get new cases in the community. It is all about planning and looking at all  the permutations in keeping the virus on the other side of the border.

We should always be looking at improving things, the more we learn about it and what works, and doesn't work. Also complacency is perhaps one of our biggest enemies in this fight.  There is no 'manual' for this, and we don't want to use the attitude that 'it is what it is'

Share the love (sorry, it's massive)

https://www.who.int/images/default-source/health-topics/coronavirus/clothing-masks-infographic---(web)-logo-who.png?sfvrsn=b15e3742_16

Not certain I fully understood this article, having only skimmed through it.  But I thought RT-PCR tests were more sensitive than seems to be implied in the article? 

Or are there “reference standard” tests more sensitive than the ones the article refers to?

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2015897

Does anyone here know the sensitivity of RT-PCR tests being used in NZ?

clinty:

 

These aren't bad, and will do :)

 

https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/workpro-disposable-face-masks-high-filtration-50-pack/p/362930

 

$30 for 50 masks

 

Clint

 

Either you had a 'typo' yesterday, or money-grabbing Mitre 10 just ramped up the price 33% off the back of all the recent publicity.

Now $40.

dafman:

 

clinty:

 

These aren't bad, and will do :)

 

https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/workpro-disposable-face-masks-high-filtration-50-pack/p/362930

 

$30 for 50 masks

 

Clint

 

 

Either you had a 'typo' yesterday, or money-grabbing Mitre 10 just ramped up the price 33% off the back of all the recent publicity.

 

Now $40.

 

Pretty sure they were $29.99

Clint

kingdragonfly:
Otott claimed in his letter that the pictures were taken out of context to criticize the school’s reopening, saying that the school of more than 2,000 students will look like the images that circulated for brief periods during the day. 

When this is the attitude you are up against, there is no hope!

If in any doubt about the need to isolate asymptomatic people

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2769235

"Many individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection remained asymptomatic for a prolonged period, and viral load was similar to that in symptomatic patients; therefore, isolation of infected persons should be performed regardless of symptoms."

dafman:

 

clinty:

 

These aren't bad, and will do :)

 

https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/workpro-disposable-face-masks-high-filtration-50-pack/p/362930

 

$30 for 50 masks

 

Clint

 

 

Either you had a 'typo' yesterday, or money-grabbing Mitre 10 just ramped up the price 33% off the back of all the recent publicity.

 

Now $40.

 

Yip, price gouging

Google cache from 5 Aug 2020  says $29.99

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Ik_aOqTLAoQJ:https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/workpro-disposable-face-masks-high-filtration-50-pack/p/362930+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=nz

frankv:

 

Rikkitic:

 

New Zealand isn't the US. That's why all the rich Americans want to come here.

 

 

I believe that the *really* rich Americans are just fine with living in the US, because it's a great place to enjoy their wealth and to increase it. NZ is attractive as a quaint holiday place, free of disease and masks and lockdowns, but they wouldn't want to pay our taxes or be limited in their money-making ventures by pesky corporate or environmental controls. All of that is [gasp] socialism.

 

The ordinary rich and middle class Americans want to move up the scale, so don't want to come here, despite the chances of moving up over there are actually quite slim for the ethically encumbered.

 

It's only the pinkos and tree-huggers and underachievers that want to come here. [/tongue-in-cheek]

 

 

 

not sure, things don't appear healthy ... https://www.marketwatch.com/story/41-of-businesses-listed-on-yelp-have-closed-for-good-during-the-pandemic-2020-06-25

wellygary:

 

Yip, price gouging

 

Google cache from 5 Aug 2020  says $29.99

 

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Ik_aOqTLAoQJ:https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/workpro-disposable-face-masks-high-filtration-50-pack/p/362930+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=nz

 

or supplier price gone up due to demand > supply. easy to blame the retailer but there are many layers of middlemen that are probably the real cause