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The repairer appointed to review the government’s response to Covid-19 again says “mixed messages” and a modified definition of close contacts have confused the public.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins announced Tuesday that the government would establish an independent group to provide ongoing advice on the Covid-19 response, led by Sir Brian Roche, who last year reviewed the testing systems and government contact tracing.
Roche said Things that “the simple question of communication” during the response to the recent Papatoetoe cluster would be among the first questions addressed by the group.
“The system, as used in recent weeks, has given quite exceptional results,” said Roche.
The-Dominion-Post
Sir Brian Roche at a preliminary hearing of the select committee. (file photo)
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“There were, at times, contradictory messages and the definition of close contacts was modified and that confused people.
“The public has been confused and that message has been loud and clear. So that’s something we would like to see.”
Roche, along with health economist Heather Simpson, reviewed the government’s evidence and contact tracing response in September.
The report, released in late December by the government, included a promise to enact its 28 recommendations and a $ 3 billion commitment to bolster the response.
He said the current response could not “serve effectively for the next 24 to 36 months” and severely criticized the communication from the Ministry of Health.
“Messages addressed to physicians (for example) are interspersed with messages for decision makers or the general public. This makes it very difficult to easily understand the changes that are being made, ”the report reads.
Roche said some work had been progressing on its recommendations since September, however things like saliva testing “have not progressed as fast as some would have liked.”
He said the system was not yet “fit for purpose”, as he previously told Hipkins it had to be. But the Covid-19 pandemic had changed since September.
“I wonder, on one level, if we’ll ever get to that steady-state model. The virus itself has kept changing and the system has to respond to that.
“We didn’t have this UK variant, we didn’t have the idea of the South African variant, so the system must always be adaptable.”
Communication with families at the center of the Papatoetoe Covid cluster has become a contentious issue.
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins in Parliament. (file photo)
The February cluster was the first outbreak in which the government decided to end a blockade of Auckland, only to return the city to level three conditions upon discovering two community cases of Covid-19, a blockade that ended Sunday for the morning.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had harshly criticized members of two Papatoetoe High School families who tested positive for Covid-19 for breaking self-isolation rules and expectations that families would be tested, holding them responsible for the latest closure of Auckland.
In the House on Tuesday, Ardern said officials were confident in his communication with families at the school.
Hipkins said his opinion was similar to Ardern’s, in that “there was certainly enough information” for the family from a Covid-19 case, who went to work at KFC, “that person should have known that he needed to be at home”.
“One of the things the review team will look at, and the Ministry of Health is already considering as part of its own reporting process, is whether having additional categories of contact adds to the confusion.”
