Kiwis could be wearing masks at work according to experts’ plan

Auckland residents would be wearing masks to work and school and still wouldn’t be able to leave the city under a Covid-19 “alert level 2.5” if a team of public health experts had their way.

And in addition to alert level 1, the trio has proposed a transition house of “alert level 1.5”, which would bring stricter limits on the size of meetings.

This is today’s Prime Minister and Cabinet meeting to discuss the next restriction move for Auckland and the rest of the country.

The University of Otago group has called for a review of current alert level systems to incorporate the latest research from abroad.

Professor Nick Wilson, Professor Michael Baker and Dr Amanda Kvalsig said this could help New Zealand eliminate the virus again and potentially address any future outbreaks in cases without the need to resort to a level 4 lockdown.

Among the trio’s recommendations, the key was the introduction of a more gradual alert level system that includes 2.5 and 1.5 level restrictions.

Under the proposed level 2.5 restriction, masks would be mandatory in almost all public settings.

That includes at workplaces, high schools, and social gatherings. Elementary schools and the home would be the only exceptions.

Travel outside of any outbreak region would also not be allowed, while all social gatherings, including funerals and tangihanga, would be limited to 10 people.

Under the proposed new alert level 2, masks would be required in public transportation and in health and care facilities for the elderly, while social gatherings would be limited to 50 for funerals and tangihanga or 20 otherwise.

People would also not be allowed to travel between the North Island and the South Island if one of the islands were subject to an outbreak.

The new alert level 1.5 would reflect alert level 2, except that public gatherings would be raised to a limit of 50, while 100 mourners would be allowed at funerals and tangihanga.

Alert level 1 would then have no restrictions, except possibly for nursing homes. Meetings of more than 100 people would also need to have contact tracing systems.

The authors said New Zealand had made good progress in controlling the current outbreak and in adopting the use of face masks in public transport.

However, there was still an inappropriate use of “mass masking” and the country had a rather crude alert level system that lacked nuance, they said.

Mounting evidence increasingly pointed to “mass masking” as an effective and low-cost intervention to reduce Covid-19 transmission, they said.

“NZ is also not rapidly moving forward with digital technologies to drive manual contact tracing.”

Professor Wilson told Newstalk ZB today that more people wearing masks would help businesses because it could mean less need for physical distancing.

It could also hasten the return to alert level 1.

Wilson also said he did not expect the Cabinet to lower the alert level to 1 as of Sunday, but did not think it would be too far away.

“We’re really not seeing enough evidence of really good control yet … we still get cases every day in the community. To be really safe, we should be waiting to see days when there are no new cases,” he told Mike. Hosking.

Wilson and his colleagues said that ideally there would be adequate community consultation before a new alert system is implemented.

“Unfortunately, there is no time for these processes while there is urgency associated with an outbreak in Auckland, so we urge the Government to consider acting immediately to review the alert level system,” they said.

“Then when all of NZ returns to level 1, there should be a detailed investigation to further optimize the alert level system in the event of a border control failure before an effective vaccine arrives.”