National’s five-point plan to avoid lockdowns

The latest community outbreak in South Auckland has reminded us all that despite it being a year with Covid-19, our response can always be improved on.

Locking down our largest city hurts. Businesses, workers, and our communities all feel it.

The Government needs to get on top of the latest Covid-19 outbreak in Auckland, and we have put together a five-point plan for managing future community cases.

Because, at the end of the day, we do not want to be yo-yoing in out of lockdown.

Our five-point plan for managing community outbreaks is:

1. Introduce rapid antigen testing – nasal swab tests that return results in 15 minutes.

2. Roll out high intensity, well-staffed testing stations across Papatoetoe and at every single location of interest

3. Conduct higher intensity wastewater testing at suburb and sub-suburb levels in Papatoetoe

4. Set aside enough vaccines for all border and port workers, then priority vaccinate South Auckland

5. Increase monitoring of people who are required to self-isolate, including spot checks

New Zealand should be following in Taiwan’s footsteps, where managed isolation at home comes with strict protocols, such as random phone calls and requests to confirm their location through a video call or supplying an image.

The high trust approach we take to self-isolation in this country comes with risks, as we have seen over the past few days.

New Zealanders have largely done a great job of following self-isolation advice, but it is unlikely we’ll ever have 100 per cent compliance, and it’s extremely frustrating when a small number of people don’t follow the rules

Monitoring of self-isolators should be ramped up to guarantee compliance, this means regular spot checks, and if not contact is made within 24 hours then the police are involved.

The Government also needs to roll out more staff across more testing sites to cut down times and make it easier for people to visit a testing station.

Long queues and wait times only discourage people from getting tests. We need to fix this.

National would also like to see rapid antigen testing introduced. These nasal swab tests provide results in 15 minutes and are common overseas. They would be an added layer of testing alongside our standard tests.

This type of testing would allow us to test large numbers of New Zealanders, quickly. Those who test positive would then have their results confirmed by a standard Covid-19 test.

The rapid antigen tests are especially good for giving quick answers and peace of mind to people who are showing symptoms of an illness and want to know if they have Covid-19.

The Government should also set aside enough vaccines for all border and port workers, and priority vaccinate South Auckland.

South Auckland presents an increased risk of transmission due to the density of population and the number of border workers who reside there.

The National Party is focused on challenging and pushing the Government to make sure our response to any outbreaks is strong, and to prevent any further community transmission.

Locking Auckland down every couple of weeks cannot be the only answer. We need to be thinking creatively to make sure we are doing everything possible to avoid lockdowns.

By putting in place National’s five-point plan, New Zealand would be in a strong position to fight Covid-19.

- Judith Collins, National party leader based in Auckland. Leader of the opposition, Member for Papkura, National Party.