The other virus set for resurgence once the borders open!

View the latest Flutracking Report at any time by visiting
https://www.flutracking.net

Basic hygiene, masks and less community mingling obliterates flu - but the elderly will need their flu shots before winter. 

COVID-19      16.09.2021

Covid communication at its most accessible!  

(Thanks to Siouxsie Wiles & Toby Morris)

Open Letter From 'Doctors Stand Up For Vaccination' Endorsed by PHA

This letter is written on behalf of the undersigned doctors of Aotearoa New Zealand. We wish to present a united and evidence-based voice to the people of Aotearoa New Zealand in support of vaccination against COVID-19 for all eligible New Zealanders. Our group contains Public Health physicians, GPs, Intensive Care physicians, Urgent Care, Respiratory and Infectious Disease physicians, Paediatricians, General physicians, Emergency Medicine physicians, obstetricians, gynaecologists, surgeons and more.

It is a difficult time for our country, with the Delta variant of COVID-19 currently in our community. We would like to thank the people of Aotearoa New Zealand for the hard work they have done to keep our shores largely free from COVID-19. There is a great deal of misinformation that circulates regarding COVID-19, and sometimes it can be hard to know where to look for medically sound and approved advice. We have compiled a FAQ Document that supports this letter, to answer some questions that we hear on a frequent basis. We wish, as a group, to speak directly to the people of Aotearoa New Zealand. We overwhelmingly support vaccination against COVID-19 and other public health measures such as mask use in public areas, physical distancing and hand hygiene.

These measures are not just an individual choice: when we undertake these measures, we do so for our whānau, friends, work colleagues and the entire country. By following this advice the medical community and the general public will work as a team to ensure our country is safe.

To sign the letter, please follow this link

Kia kaha Aotearoa: we will get through this together.

If you have any queries, contact NZDRSUV@gmail.com 

Key web sites

New Zealand Ministry of Health latest digest Unite against COVID-19

Interactive map, New Zealand

WHO Covid dashboard

Johns Hopkins Global map

COVID -19 and speed of spread:  R, Reff and K numbers explained

Vaccination update (Source 15.09.2010 Ministry of Health)

• Essential workers list expanded - Book now
• Bookings for everyone aged 12 and over NOW open 
  
• Children over the age of 12 can attend with booked parents

A six-week gap is now advised between doses for most.

Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā National Māori Pandemic Group https://www.uruta.maori.nz/

Spotlight on: Pandemic Supplement to the Integrated Planning Guide 

(Health in all policies, CDHB Community and Public Health Team Te Mana Ora )

The response to COVID-19 reinforces how policies and actions outside of the health sector can protect wellbeing and foster resilience. Three key priorities need to be taken into account while planning the recovery from this pandemic:

• health and equity;
• addressing climate sustainability; and
• incorporating wider social goals.

PHA member publications: 

The braided river of health geography

Lovell, S., Ergler, C., Kearns, R., Wiles, J., & Witten, K. hy. Social Science & Medicine, 114370. (2021). 

Abstract

Professor of Māori Studies, Angus Macfarlane opened the 18th International Medical Geography Symposium (IMGS) in Queenstown, New Zealand. He offered the image of the braided river as a symbol of the potential co-learning possible between the ‘streams’ of Western science and Indigenous knowledge (Macfarlane et al., 2015). Braided rivers are a distinctive landscape feature of Te Waipounamu (New Zealand's South Island). Their scale and power have led them to be deeply significant to Ngāi Tahu, the tāngata whenua (people of the land). These mighty rivers, complex systems of constantly shifting shingle and gravel channels (Williams, 2017), have become part of Ngāi Tahu cultural identity and ūkaipō (sense of place) (SPREU, 2018). MacFarlane's He Awa Whiria model sees Western and Indigenous knowledge systems as distinct streams, able to combine through braiding, all the while retaining the uniqueness of each stream.

Policy Spot Archive now accessible via the PHA publication page

PHANZ

From the PHA national office:

Our Zoom facility is on hand for all branches, caucuses and SIGs to deploy, for remote face to face meetings online. Please contact Leah (leah@pha.org.nz) for support to plan your zoom meetings. 

Please take care of yourselves and your bubble.

Arohanui from the team at national office.