A Covid-19 testing station in Wellington (Photo by Lynn Grieveson/Getty Images)

ScienceJune 23, 2021

Siouxsie Wiles: Why the Covid-19 weekend in Wellington is so serious

Contributing writer

A Covid-19 testing station in Wellington (Photo by Lynn Grieveson/Getty Images)

How did we get here, why is the alert level change necessary, and could this all have been avoided?

After several scares, it’s finally actually happened. What is likely to be the uber-infectious delta variant of Covid-19 has hitched a ride to Aotearoa. It’s come via a visitor from Sydney who took advantage of the trans-Tasman bubble to spend the weekend in Wellington and visit the surrealist art exhibition at Te Papa. As a result, from 6pm tonight, Wellington, the Kāpiti Coast, and the Wairarapa will move to alert level two.

How we got here: Sydney’s growing Bondi cluster

A week ago, on Wednesday June 16, health authorities in New South Wales announced that someone who works as a driver transporting international flight crews had tested positive for Covid-19. Later that day their household contact also tested positive. The two cases had visited a number of places including the Westfield at Bondi Junction. The next day, another two people tested positive, one of whom had visited the same cafe as the first two cases. By Sunday, there were 10 cases, almost all linked through the Westfield mall or close contacts who were already in isolation. As of today, the Bondi cluster has grown to 31 cases. Four cases currently remain unlinked.

As we’ve seen so many times before, the virus has transmitted predominantly to close contacts, especially those living in the same household. It’s also passed through a birthday party, where eight of the approximately 30 attendees have now tested positive, including a two-year-old. It’s also passed between strangers, including two people who momentarily walked past each other in the Westfield mall. That’s how potentially infectious this delta variant is.

Moving Wellington to alert level two

Thanks to their use of our Covid Tracer App, we know our visitor from Sydney stopped off at a lot of places during their stay, including the types of venues that are ripe for a superspreading event. This includes an evening spent at a bar, as well as the very busy surrealist art exhibition at Te Papa. That does mean quite a lot of people in Wellington will have potentially been exposed to the virus. What we don’t know of course, is how infectious the person was when they were out and about. They’d had their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which may mean they were less infectious than they could have been. But we do need to brace ourselves for the possibility that this one case may result in many others.

The New Zealand government is still pursuing an elimination strategy with Covid-19. In the first instance, they will try to control the virus using the test-trace-isolate strategy – identifying those who have been exposed and getting them tested and into isolation to stop any further spread. That’s why it’s so important for anyone who was in Wellington over the weekend to check the Ministry of Health’s list of locations of interest and follow the advice about isolating and getting tested. And even if you weren’t in Wellington, if you have any symptoms that could be Covid-19, please arrange to get tested.

Read this chart in a range of languages here.

Moving Wellington to alert level two is another tool in the toolbox which will hopefully help reduce the chances of further transmission. One thing we have to keep in mind though, is that our alert levels were put in place before the more infectious variants of the virus evolved. While level two does put a limit on gathering sizes, it still has quite an emphasis on maintaining physical distancing as a way to reduce spread and this is unlikely to be as effective as it was before. After all, this virus is airborne. If you are indoors, especially in a poorly ventilated space, keeping two metres away from others is unlikely to offer much protection. Much better would be for us all to be wearing masks when indoors, at least in venues where we aren’t eating and drinking.

Could this all have been avoided?

A lot of people are asking me if this could have been avoided, by for example, adding pre-departure or on-arrival testing to visitors coming from Australia, or by pausing the trans-Tasman bubble earlier, or by speeding up the vaccine rollout. It is certainly a good question.

I am disinclined to criticise our vaccine rollout for two main reasons. The first is that we are at the mercy of vaccines being delivered and, quite frankly, there are people around the world who need those doses far more than we do at the moment, so I am happy for us to wait. Even so, we will all be vaccinated long before many healthcare workers or vulnerable people in low-income countries will be. That is appalling and just one of the reasons why this pandemic will keep going for some considerable time. If you have $10 to spare, please consider buying a vaccine dose for someone less privileged. The second reason is that the vaccine rollout is no easy task. I am so grateful to everyone in the health system and beyond who has been working behind the scenes to get everything ready for what is the biggest vaccine rollout in our history.

As for pre- or post-departure testing, we need to remember that testing is no silver bullet. It’s a measure of viral load at a point in time and hasn’t stopped transmission of the virus on planes. It’s not even clear it would have picked up our Sydney visitor. Pre-departure testing 72 hours before certainly wouldn’t have. If we have the capacity, it may be a good idea to swab people on arrival if there are community cases in Australia but not enough to put a pause on the trans-Tasman bubble. Again, it wouldn’t guarantee people didn’t have the virus, but it would pick up anyone who was infectious but not yet symptomatic.

The way it could have been avoided was if the trans-Tasman bubble had been paused earlier. It was paused on Tuesday June 22, a full week after the first case in Sydney. So why wasn’t it paused earlier? Until that Tuesday, almost all cases were linked to the original case which had a clear link to the border. It’s clear to me that health officials and the government here are trying to balance the risk of a case arriving in New Zealand with unnecessary disruptions to travel if the risk is very low. And the risk was very low. But it wasn’t zero. And this time it didn’t work in our favour.

And that is why we should never be complacent. Remember, the Swiss Cheese Model? Make it a habit to scan in everywhere you go. Wear a mask, especially indoors. Get tested if you have any symptoms that could be Covid-19. And get vaccinated when its your turn.

Keep going!

ScienceJune 18, 2021

Exclusive: We found out what nature is gossiping about

Josie Adams

Contributing writer

Gossip Week: The Spinoff’s gossip coverage so far this week has been dominated by people. It’s time to stop being so self-centred and see what’s abuzz in our native forests.

All week, The Spinoff is taking a look at the role of gossip in Aotearoa’s past, present and future – read more Gossip Week content here.

We are facing three major natural disasters: the climate crisis, the biodiversity crisis, and the fact the world may not revolve around humans. I am devastated to report that, after extensive research, we’ve discovered nature talks shit – and it’s not even about us.

Take a look at the sea. Bottlenose dolphins can nurse a grudge for 20 years. Humpback whales, who are generally big sweethearts, just freaking hate orcas, in much the way as some humans hate chimps – they’re stomping out the child-gutting boogeymen. While the occasional whale might mock our disgusting voices, most of nature’s goss stays within species.

And on dry land here in New Zealand, there’s just as much chatter within our native forests.

Ines Moran and Yen Yi Loo are both PhD researchers studying tītipounamu (Riflemen), and the way they “talk” with each other. “Tītipounamu do not really gossip like humans, but they do have a unique vocal signature,” they say. These tiny little birds have rich social lives – and while they’re not spreading rumours, they are very, very chatty.

Moran and Loo have a loose idea of what they might be saying to each other. “They can ‘say’ many things like ‘watch out a New Zealand falcon is here!’ or ‘go away tītipounamu-eating ruru monster,’ or ‘hi kids, it’s me, Mum, I’ve brought you some crushed small wetas for a snack,’ or ‘here honey, a little grub for you as a gift’.”

Like any social animal, the tītipounamu lives a life filled with scandal and tragedy. Sometimes a predator might eat a bird’s partner or a chick. “When such things happen, they try to call very loud with their decrescendo-like calls so other tītipounamu can come help out, for example to mob at a ruru or to scare away humans or rats that are close by to their nests.”

Yen Yi Loo (left) and Ines Moran (right) with the tiny tītipounamu. (Photo: supplied.)

The tītipounamu are also hassled by other birds on the scene. “We have seen robins, tuis, bellbirds, tomtits, and grey warblers chasing or attacking the tītipounamu,” they said. “We believe that these birds don’t directly predate them so we think they are just ‘bullying’ them. “

They cuss out other members of their species, too. “Some tītipounamu definitely quarrel and some chase away unwelcome individuals from their home space. They probably remember the tītipounamu they had a bad quarrel with.” Moran and Loo acknowledge that a rowdy bunch of birds could possibly be yelling at us. “They could be saying things like ‘get away, rude human!’”

Turns out New Zealand’s forests are filled with yarns, usually from a cranky tui. Dr Kristal Cain, a lecturer at the University of Auckland, explained there’s plenty of gossip in the bird world.

“There are some outrageous scandals,” she said. “Most species look and act like they are a happily committed couple, but in almost all these species there is some fooling around behind the partner’s back.” Hot goss! Australian fairywren dads will apparently cut back on childcare if they suspect their mate of having a side piece.

“Cooperatively breeding birds have incredible memories and will certainly hold a grudge against another bird – or even a human that disturbed their nest!”

Dr Kristal Cain with a lovely tītipounamu. (Photo: supplied.)

Cain said the beautiful songs we hear echoing throughout our native bush might sound like music to our ears, but they’re basically the bird equivalent of blasting hard rock music early in the morning. They’re saying, “this is my territory. These are my tunes. Don’t even think about coming over here.” And sometimes, someone does pop by and tell them to turn it down.

“Other birds will listen in on this, and if there is a fight they will eavesdrop and listen in to what happened and who won.” Tui fight, tonight, be there or be square – pass it on!

What about plants? AUT ecologist Professor Sebastian Leuzinger speaks for the trees, and he said very little. “Plants are reasonably simple creatures,” he said. “They lack all the abilities that we’ve got, but they do communicate via chemicals.” Thankfully, the trees cannot hear him.

What do your leaf eyes see? (Photo: Satoru Kikuchi, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

According to Prof Leuzinger, the main form of inter-plant communication is a sort of chemical power posing called allelopathy, used to keep plants out of each other’s personal space. “They don’t want other plants to be there, so they send signals to make it harder for other plants to establish,” he said. “This happens a lot. A plant needs to defend its root base somehow. It needs to say, ‘I’m here, this space is taken’.”

Sometimes they say too much. Leuzinger explained by putting himself in the shoes (roots) of a tree. “If I get attacked by insects and I send chemical signals, then surrounding plants of the same species or other species can sense that as well and might have a response to that,” he said. This response would enable the other plants to put out insecticide-esque chemicals, possibly saving their lives. So far there is no chemical response that can ward off a logging machine.

Do they warn each other on purpose? “No,” he said. “Nature is not very romantic in that sense.” Nature: slammed. You heard it here first!