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Parents of immunocompromised children are anxious about protecting them when many Covid restrictions are eased in the next fortnight. (Photo: Getty Images; additional design: Tina Tiller)
Parents of immunocompromised children are anxious about protecting them when many Covid restrictions are eased in the next fortnight. (Photo: Getty Images; additional design: Tina Tiller)

SocietyMarch 24, 2022

Parents of vulnerable children angry at easing of Covid restrictions

Parents of immunocompromised children are anxious about protecting them when many Covid restrictions are eased in the next fortnight. (Photo: Getty Images; additional design: Tina Tiller)
Parents of immunocompromised children are anxious about protecting them when many Covid restrictions are eased in the next fortnight. (Photo: Getty Images; additional design: Tina Tiller)

Within a fortnight, many Covid restrictions will be ditched. But for two parents of tamariki who are particularly vulnerable to getting very sick from the virus, the government’s decision adds yet another layer of pressure in protecting their own.

Anger is what Kelly* feels – anger at New Zealanders who she feels have chosen their own freedoms over helping protect her eldest son, who lives with cerebral palsy. The government’s decision to scrap within the fortnight many Covid-19 restrictions, including most vaccine mandates, vaccine passes and contact tracing through the scanning of QR codes, may have been inevitable, but it’s come too soon, says the west Auckland mother of four.

Sarah*, meanwhile, says she’s already tired from having to constantly assess the risks of contracting the virus against simply letting her three sons live their lives. Her 19-year-old has lupus, a long-term autoimmune disease that orders his immune system to attack his body; her 16-year-old has type one diabetes, another autoimmune disease that wreaks havoc with his insulin-making cells; and her youngest is four years old, too young to be vaccinated. Her whānau had to think of those vulnerabilities before the pandemic hit but, as contracting Covid could have dire consequences for them, “now it’s more at the forefront”, she says.

Parents of immunocompromised children will soon have one more factor to consider when a set of changes to New Zealand’s Covid-19 Prevention Framework, which prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced yesterday, come into effect. From 11.59pm on April 4, vaccine passes will no longer be required. Outdoor gathering limits will be ditched ahead of that deadline, and indoor gathering restrictions will increase to 200, in time for this coming weekend. QR code scanning will be scrapped at midnight this Friday, March 25. Along with passes, vaccine mandates will be dropped for education, police and defence force workers – and for staff of businesses that have until now had to use vaccine passes, such as hospitality. Businesses remain free to keep sighting vaccine passes, but it’s no longer legally required. All these changes apply to the current “red” Covid setting.

The changes were expected, say Kelly and Sarah. Both understood they were inevitable but they would’ve preferred the number of Covid infections to have decreased substantially before restrictions were eased – currently, daily new case numbers are still hovering around the 20,000 mark. And both parents can’t wrap their heads around scrapping vaccine mandates for the education workforce, especially those teaching in early childhood education centres, where children aged under five, some of whom may be immunocompromised, are not yet old enough to receive a paediatric Covid vaccination. “I understand it has to change but some things are just too important to change right now,” says Sarah. “And who’s said there’s not another variant around the corner?”

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 17: Kaipara Flats School welcomes children as they return for their first day at school since Auckland went into lockdown 92 days ago on November 17, 2021 in Auckland, New Zealand. 200,000 school students from years 0 - 10 are able to return to classrooms across the Auckland region from today under eased COVID-19 restrictions. New rules set out by the Education Ministry include keeping children in separate, stable groups that don't mingle, using physical distancing where practical, and requiring faces masks inside for children in Year 4 and above. The rules apply to all schools in COVID-19 Alert Level 3 regions. (Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)
Tamariki returning to Kaipara Flats School in Auckland late last year following the nationwide delta lockdown (Photo: Getty Images)

Kelly, whose 11-year-old son was diagnosed at age four with cerebral palsy, a physical disability affecting his movement, feels for adults living with disabilities too. “It’s not easy and the world is not the most accessible of places, but then you add this on top of it and my heart really goes out to them,” she says. What upsets her most is seeing on social media people wearing “I trust my immune system” badges. “It should basically just be a badge saying ‘I’m an asshole’,” she says wryly, “because [it says] ‘I couldn’t care about anybody else who can’t trust their immune system’. It’s incredibly disheartening.”

Immunocompromised families don’t get to live their lives on autopilot as others do, says Sarah. “You have to keep asking the same question – ‘is this worth the risk?’ – for all the little things you do.” Her two teenage sons have needed to take more days off from work and school this year to care for their mental health because it is draining to constantly assess danger, she says. “They’ve already missed out on a lot of stuff because of their health issues and we don’t want them to miss out on more, but you just have to weigh up everything, every day.”

Kelly made it through the first two lockdowns assuming her eldest son was immunocompromised, based on information that suggested people living with disabilities were at higher risk of becoming very sick if they contracted Covid. But it wasn’t until she tried to get the boy his first Covid-19 vaccine dose early that his developmental paediatrician told her he wasn’t considered immunocompromised. Regardless, children with cerebral palsy are considered to be at higher risk of becoming very unwell with Covid. Having given birth to her son prematurely, watched as he was on life support for two months, and carried around an oxygen bottle in his first few years, Kelly’s continued to take precautions, although her son’s first vaccination alleviated some of her worries. “I didn’t have to live like a complete hermit, which is how I lived when he was a little baby,” she says. “I had to shut myself away for winter.”

She asks whether the most vulnerable are “allowed to have choices? Are we allowed to say ‘actually, I don’t want somebody [unvaccinated] working with my child’?” For Sarah, it’s troubling the vaccination mandate, which the education workforce has largely respected, will disappear. “How can you learn if you don’t feel safe?” she asks. Schooling shouldn’t be another decision parents have to make. Scrapping the mandate sends a clear message that “people will care but only for a certain amount of time”, she says.

In the meantime, both mums will continue making the best decisions for their whānau – Kelly says her gym will be reopening to everyone, regardless of vaccination status, so she’ll be cancelling her membership. Ensuring her kids receive the same treatment that others get is a fight Sarah will continue to pursue. “Just because they need to be accommodated a bit more, that’s what we should do as a society, look after our weakest members,” she says. “It’s horrible to see no space being held for them.”

*Names have been changed and surnames and identifying details have been withheld to protect privacy.

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ASB Polyfest returns for 2022, only this time via livestream. (Image: Archi Banal)
ASB Polyfest returns for 2022, only this time via livestream. (Image: Archi Banal)

SocietyMarch 24, 2022

With ASB Polyfest going online-only, students are cheering on their school from the couch

ASB Polyfest returns for 2022, only this time via livestream. (Image: Archi Banal)
ASB Polyfest returns for 2022, only this time via livestream. (Image: Archi Banal)

Competitors in the world’s largest Polynesian festival competition are this year performing to an empty stadium, reports Sela Jane Hopgood.

Yesterday the upbeat sound of Cook Island drums, synchronised swinging poi and the rhythmic slap dance from Sāmoa returned to Auckland’s Manukau Sports Bowl – but without a live audience nor stallholders making delicious kai and selling traditional handicrafts.

This year ASB Polyfest, the world’s largest Polynesian dance festival, is available to watch via live stream on its website and on Māori Television. As with other major events and competitions this year – including the recent Winter Olympics – nobody but performers, their tutors, venue coordinators, accredited media and judges are allowed on site.

It’s the latest in a series of hurdles for the festival, which celebrates its 47 year anniversary this year. In 2019, ASB Polyfest was cancelled in the wake of the Christchurch terrorist attacks that occurred a few days before it was scheduled to start. In 2020, Covid-19 had just entered the country, which led to the canning of the event for a second time. Third time was a charm, and Polyfest finally took place at nearly full capacity in April 2021.

Preparing for the festival – the biggest event in many participants’ calendars – is grueling. It involves hours of practice before and after school in the summer heat and humidity; this year it included the new pressure of students testing positive and having to isolate at home, resulting in some groups rehearsing on Zoom and practising intense dances and singing while wearing masks. It’s unsurprising then that only 28 schools are participating this time around, in contrast to the more than 100 who would sign up in a normal year. Festival director Seiuli Terri Leo-Mauu says only 60 groups will perform this year across all six stages.

Students from Manurewa High School performing on the diversity stage. (Photo: Sela Jane Hopgood)

Yesterday’s opening day began with performances on the diversity stage, pumping with sounds from across the Pacific, including Fiji, Hawaii, Kiribati and the Philippines. There was even a Chinese lion dance spectacle performed by students from Auckland’s Macleans College.

As a journalist, I was one of the lucky few who were granted access to the performance site at Manukau Sports Bowl. After getting the all-clear to proceed by security staff I showed my vaccine pass to the entrance coordinator and scanned the QR code on my way in. It was an eerie feeling to walk the empty concrete pathways that would normally be ringing with the sound of excited teenagers chatting and laughing. This is a venue where I’m used to seeing parents holding bags filled with handmade costumes for their kids, hearing the cheers and clapping of families in the audience, and smelling the unmistakable scent of chop suey lingering in the crowds as they move from one stage to another.

Manukau Sports Bowl without the crowds that would typically fill the venue during Polyfest week. (Photo: Sela Jane Hopgood)

Backstage, I watched from a distance as a school bus from Kelston Girls High School pulled up to the entrance to drop the performers and tutors off. In a single file, they proceeded through the entry – only the adults were asked to show their vaccine pass as there’s no requirement for students to be vaccinated. The group made their way to the changing area to get into their costumes before being welcomed by the MC on stage to perform. The “live audience” consisted of a handful of judges and the cameraman who was livestreaming the event. At the end of the performance, the MC conducted a brief interview with leader of the group before they headed off to get changed back into their school uniforms.

As they exit the venue teams are handed a Covid-19 kit, which includes a face mask, a small bag of mini cinnamon donuts and a lunch box filled with fruit skewers, muffins and a nut trail mix, neatly packed by volunteers from Avondale College. Leo-Mauu says schools have been advised to not hang around at the venue after their performance due to the current restrictions.

Kelston Girls High School’s Fijian group on the diversity stage. (Photo: Sela Jane Hopgood)

Beyond the lack of a live audience, the most notable change to ASB Polyfest this year is the amount of schools that signed up for the Sāmoan stage. Only three co-ed schools are competing – Māngere College, Manurewa High School and Avondale College – which coincidentally are the schools that took the top three places in the co-ed division last year. 

There was no sign of defending champions Auckland Girls Grammar School and St Peter’s College in the girls and boys-only school competition. Leo-Mauu says the boards of most Auckland schools decided for safety reasons to sit this year’s competition out. Further impacting their decision was the reality of a lot of students testing positive over the past two months, making attendance at rehearsals difficult.

Another interesting change is on the Niuean stage, where only Alfriston College and Manurewa High School are performing as non-competitors. The majority of competitors on that stage this year are giving speeches.

Hawaiian group from Manurewa High School. (Photo: Sela Jane Hopgood)

Another restriction introduced this year is a limit of 60 on the number of performers allowed on stage at one time. “Tonga is our biggest stage with a lot of performers,” says Leo-Mauu. “They have their dancers, and then they bring the village to sing and the brass band to play, so we’ve had to limit that number to comply with the current Covid-19 restrictions, as they can easily exceed 100 people on stage.”

An online system where people can send a support message or make a shout out to a school has been established to replace the applause, the enthusiastic cheers and che-huu’ing that would typically take place during a performance on the day. The messages will pop up during the livestream for each stage, so that performers can feel the support from their families, friends and school communities, which keeps in tone with this year’s festival theme of family/whānau. As Manurewa High School students put it when interviewed about Polyfest on the AM Show this week, the schools participating this year are doing it for all the schools that couldn’t make it on stage.

ASB Polyfest runs until Saturday and can be watched live at asbpolyfest.co.nz.

This is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.

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