‘Fourth wave’ of Covid hitting NZ, says epidemiologist

Is it starting to feel like a lot of your friends/family/colleagues are getting sick once again? I spent my birthday in semi-isolation last weekend after someone in my household and a bunch of my close friends tested positive for Covid-19. And according to one top epidemiologist, my incredibly small sample size is representative of something bigger.

Michael Baker told RNZ that as New Zealand heads into the colder months, we’re also now riding our fourth wave of Covid-19 infections.

“We’ve seen that numbers reached a low point in February and have been tracking up since then,” he said.

The latest weekly figures will be out at 1pm today but last week the Ministry of Health reported daily case numbers were averaging 1,729 – an increase on the week before. There were 12,129 cases reported overall in the week ending April 9.

“It’s really important that everyone who has a position in authority thinks about the health of their workforce and their school population and the social venues that they operate in,” said Baker.

The government confirmed last week that mandatory self-isolation would remain a requirement for positive cases until at least June, meaning that the last line of defence against the virus would stay in place into winter. Prime minister Chris Hipkins said he expected that by the time Spring arrived, we would be starting to treat Covid-19 a bit like other seasonal illnesses.

Baker said while masks aren’t a requirement any longer, people should be protecting themselves, for example, on public transport. “If you are on a bus commuting … or train, you are going to be in that indoor environment for many hours every week and the ventilation is poor, so that would be a situation where I think masks should still be worn by everyone.”