What the Govt should be doing with coronavirus
While the Government is failing to address the coronavirus situation effectively, there is a series of practical steps they should be taking, National’s Health spokesperson Michael Woodhouse says.
“If the Government wanted to ensure New Zealanders’ safety and protect us from this virus, they should be implementing the following steps;
• Question passengers checking in on flights where
they commenced travel from in China and their present health
status
• Provide information in a variety of languages,
not just Chinese, on the virus to all passengers flying into
New Zealand of the risk, what signs and symptoms to look out
for and who to contact if they become unwell
• Have
public health staff in the arrivals halls of all
international airports actively screening
passengers
• Require customs officials to ask arriving
passengers if they feel unwell
• Liaise with Australian
authorities to ascertain any connections between those
infected and New Zealand
• Connect with Chinese travel
companies in New Zealand to monitor the health status of
tour party individuals
• Provide advice to the public
on how they can keep themselves safe
• Provide advice
to schools on what they should be doing about international
students arriving from China or domestic students who have
holidayed in China
• Provide proactive advice to
accommodation providers and tourism operators on what to do
if guests become unwell with virus symptoms
• Ensure
general practitioners and public hospitals are familiar with
protocols for managing international travellers presenting
coronavirus symptoms
• Ensure sufficient protective
equipment is available to health providers in the event of
an outbreak
• Brief media regularly and provide
reassurance to the public that everything possible is being
done to keep Kiwis safe
“This should be the bare minimum in an event such as this. But as we’ve seen in the cases of meningococcal in Northland and measles, the Government’s responses to these issues is sadly lacking.
“The Government must take these proactive steps
to ensure the coronavirus outbreak does not spread to New
Zealand and give Kiwis confidence.”