Coronavirus Q&A
I’ve received a number of questions about covid life in New Zealand, and instead of answering each person individually - especially since many of the questions are similar - I thought I’d combine them all into one Q&A post. Enjoy!
Are you still happy with how New Zealand is handling the pandemic?
When I look at the big picture - yes. When I think about this moment in the pandemic specifically, I’m not happy. Overall, New Zealand got an extra two years of more or less covid-free life. Yes, we had lockdowns, especially here in Auckland, but we didn’t live with the day to day stress of covid spreading in the community.
Shutting down the border, while contentious, bought us a lot of time to vaccinate, and most people did. 94% of the population over 12 is double vaccinated, and as people become eligible for boosters, they are getting them - though not at quite the same rate. I think the government took too long to approve the children’s vaccine, and I think it is frustrating that they were only made available in January and we have to wait eight weeks to get a second dose. However, I realize that we are really, really lucky to be entering covid life with such a high vaccine rate and with the omicron variant. It could’ve been a lot worse.
My other complaint in how New Zealand is handling the pandemic right now surrounds testing. Covid (PCR) tests have always been free and easy to get because so few people needed them. Instead of stocking up on rapid antigen tests when we didn’t need them, the government delayed approving any of them and now we are scrambling. Supposedly this is going to change over the coming weeks, but I’m sure there will be a hoarding period that will exacerbate the problem as more tests are made available. Again, this is a short-term problem and a giant mistake on the government’s part, but it is temporary and it isn’t like tests aren’t available.
What is mask wearing compliance like?
In Auckland, people are generally very courteous about mask usage. They’re required most places, and I’d say 95% of people comply and wear masks correctly. Every once in awhile I’ll see someone wearing a mask below their nose, but that’s the extent of it. Since the government started pushing for higher quality masks, most people wear N95s (or the equivalent) or at least surgical masks. Cloth masks are rare these days.
I know there are parts of the country, however, where mask wearing is not as ubiquitous. There are reports of people getting belligerent when a store clerk tells someone they have to put on a mask to enter and of unmasked people on JetStar planes. Personally I have rarely seen people not wear masks where required and never seen anyone get upset when reminded to put one on.
In schools, kids in Year 4 and above must wear a mask at school, though there are many exceptions when they can take them off so I don’t imagine it is effective. I’ve noticed that the teachers are becoming more and more lax about mask wearing and I often seen kids wearing masks by their chins at pickup. All adults at school must wear masks and be vaccinated.
Is it easy to get a covid test?
Covid tests (PCR tests) have always been available in New Zealand. At first they were just at community testing centers, but then GPs started doing them as well. Your sample got sent off to a lab, and you would get a call if positive or a test if negative. This system worked pretty well until the omicron outbreak when there was such a demand for tests that people were waiting up to a week for results. (And in New Zealand, you have to isolate until your test result comes back, which, as you can imagine, causes problems.)
A couple of weeks ago. rapid antigen tests became available, but only at the community testing centers that suffered from LONG lines. If you go to a community testing center or your GP, the tests are still free, but if you want a stash to keep at home, you’ll pay between NZ$8-$10 per test. If you can find a RAT test. They just started popping up in stores over the weekend, and they are not universally available.
Do you find certain schools handle covid differently? Why do you think your kid's school is not communicating? Are teachers not worried about getting the virus?
The schools all appear to be following Ministry of Education guidelines when it comes to handling the pandemic. I haven’t seen much variation between public and private as all of the administrators can take cover under the umbrella of “we’re following the MoE’s guidance. This is the way it is.” When I pointed out to the principle of my daughter’s school that their vague emails were only fuelling a viscous rumour mill among parents trying to piece together where positive cases are, she agreed to start releasing weekly updates. At my son’s school, however, they will only do the minimum required by the MoE and will not even notify you if there is a positive case in class as only household contacts matter anymore. I think the MoE and administrators are prioritising keeping kids in class over all else. My guess (and this is only my take on it) is that if they tell parents where cases are in the school and how many there are, parents will keep kids at home because every parent knows that schools are petri dishes.
The schools and teachers are concerned about catching covid, but they seem less concerned about getting really sick - thanks to the high vaccination rate - and more concerned about getting stuck at home isolating because of government rules that mandate isolating for ten days if you get a positive test and the inconvenience that will cause to the classroom.
Without family nearby, what do you do if you get covid?
At the beginning of omicron, there were lots of PSAs with things to do to get ready for the outbreak. The advice ranged from things like grocery supply lists to have on hand, to recommended types of masks, to family planning suggestions. Thanks to these PSAs, it became common practice to discuss with people what your plan will be, and even as expats with no family around, we have a small group of people with whom we have a covid understanding if we need something while sick. I think we would’ve found people anyway, but the PSAs made it much easier to bring it up in conversation because everyone was already talking about it.
One of the plusses to living in Auckland where there are so many expats is that many people are in the same situation. There are a number of American families who I know I can reach out to as well as a few families from school who will help if needed.
