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The BulletinSeptember 30, 2024

PSA: It’s the last day to get free Covid-19 tests

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(Image: Getty)

It signals a broader shift in how we view the virus, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin.

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Tests to cost

From tomorrow, a major milestone in our Covid-19 response will be marked – though it’s perhaps not one everyone will be aware of, or welcome. Rapid antigen tests (or Rats) will no longer be freely available from October 1. As this RNZ explainer details, while Covid-19 testing will still be available, you’ll have to pay for the privilege – a pack of five is advertised online as $16.99 at Chemist Warehouse. It’s been about four years since free Covid testing was rolled out, with people able to pick up rapid tests at pharmacies or specialised collection points for no cost. In June, reported the Herald, health minister Shane Reti confirmed the government was extending the supply of free tests through until the end of September to make sure they were available across winter when illnesses tend to surge.

‘Depressing’

The move has left those in the health sector worried that Covid testing will become less common and only something done by people who can afford it. Microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles called the end of free rat tests “depressing”, in comments shared via the Science Media Centre. “Rapid antigen tests are a really important tool to help people determine whether they have Covid-19 and, if so, take the necessary precautions to prevent spreading the infection to others. They shouldn’t only be available to those who can afford to buy them,” she said.

Otago University’s Michael Baker agreed, expressing concern that removing the funding for Covid tests would limit who tested and could mean further exposure to the virus. As The Press reported, Shane Reti said that free testing was never intended to last forever and the focus now was maintaining access to vaccines and therapeutics. But official health advice still urges people test for Covid if they’re symptomatic, and isolate for five days if the result is positive. It’s also still encouraged that confirmed cases of Covid are lodged online (though official numbers suggest many people are not doing this). It’s not a stretch to foresee fewer people testing, and therefore fewer people isolating, if tests aren’t freely accessible.

Learning to live with Covid

The end of free testing signals a shift in how we view Covid-19. Late last year, the Herald’s Thomas Coughlan reported the government was considering ending free universal vaccinations for Covid-19 as part of its cost-cutting drive (not everyone can access free flu vaccinations and the eligibility rules were adjusted earlier this year, though Covid jabs remain free for everyone aged over five). In a piece for NZ Doctor (paywalled), Fiona Cassie described Covid-19 “business as usual” when discussing the decision to axe funding for free Covid-related GP consultations.

All of this suggests that we are now learning to live with a virus we once attempted to stamp out completely.

It’s something the rest of the world is grappling with as well. Writing for The Conversation last year, Auckland University’s Paula Lorgelly explained that The Netherlands has not had subsidised testing since October 2021, while Australia has made tests free for concession card holders, and states may have additional allowances. In the United States, reported CBS, the government has confirmed free testing will resume later this month after a summer wave of Covid-19 cases. In her piece, Lorgelly noted that as we increasingly learn to live with the virus, as we do with other illnesses like the flu, there is a need to re-evaluate the public provision of tests, vaccines and treatment. “Funding Covid vaccinations, tests and treatments means we are not able to fund other types of health care,” she wrote.

Earlier this year, it was confirmed that millions of dollars worth of expired tests along with PPE and other equipment would be converted into alternative fuels, reported Stuff’s Hannah Martin. Health NZ says any free tests collected before the end of the day will have a shelf life ranging from December 2025 to May 2027.

Does it signal ‘pandemic complacency’?

The end of free testing certainly does not signal the end of Covid-19. Lesley Gray from Otago University said about 50 people a week are still being hospitalised with the virus. In a piece for The Conversation earlier this year, health experts warned of “pandemic complacency” from both political leaders and the public, urging for a continued focus on both prevention and control of Covid. Last year, approximately 1,000 New Zealanders died from the virus and as Michael Baker and others explained in a briefing in December, new waves triggered by evolving variants can happen at any time.

Then there is Long Covid, the effects of which are still being learned. Researchers estimate it’s costing the economy $2 billion a year in lost productivity, reported RNZ. By comparison, this year’s budget allocated just $230 million over four years to Covid and pandemic preparedness. “Long Covid is more than a health crisis – it also imposes an important economic burden,” the researchers said.

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The BulletinSeptember 27, 2024

War on the waggers: How David Seymour plans to see truancy stats turned around

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(Image: Getty)

Parents could face prosecution if their children are unjustifiably out of school, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin.

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The ‘star’ scheme

David Seymour is on a warpath against truancy. The associate education minister warned parents could face prosecution if their children are unjustifiably out of school as part of a new education policy unveiled by the government yesterday. As reported by the Herald, the new “star” scheme – meaning Stepped Attendance Response – will place obligations on parents and schools to ensure children attend classes regularly. “Any student who reaches a clearly defined threshold of days absent will trigger an appropriate and proportionate response from their school and the ministry,” said Seymour.

Meanwhile, Seymour said that schools had “their part to play” in setting a good example for students and urged them not to hold teacher only days during term time. And Seymour also took aim at children intending to participate in a school climate protest today saying it should be held in the holidays, which would somewhat dampen the whole “strike” angle.

New truancy stats released

All of this took place against the backdrop of the latest round of truancy figures which showed a slight increase in the number of students regularly attending class when compared with one year ago – though the numbers remain stubbornly low. In term two this year, 53.2% of students were in class regularly compared with 47.1% over the same period in 2023.

Truancy data is a lot more complex than it sounds, as Rachel Judkins explained earlier in the year for The Spinoff. In order for a child to be deemed as a regular attendee, they must be present 90% or more of the time. If a student missed more than one day per fortnight, or more than one week per term, they would not considered to be attending regularly. “When you look at the regularly attending stats, it covers people in hospital, it covers funerals, it covers everything,” Vaughan Couillault, president of the Secondary Principals’ Association of New Zealand, told Judkins.

Daily attendance figures are higher (in the mid-70s to 80s), though Seymour said that for schools to reach the target of 80% regular attendance by 2030 the daily attendance number would need to be 94%.

A chilly reception

Some of Seymour’s previous criticism has been directed at parents intentionally taking their children out of school during term time for “cheap flights”, reported the Herald’s Derek Cheng. But the latest figures, reported 1News, show the main reason for non-attendance in term two this year was short-term illness or medical absences. While the threat of punishment could work in the former case, there is concern that a blanket approach won’t get to the core reason some kids don’t make it to class, as detailed by RNZ’s Felix Walton. Principals Federation head Leanne Otene said it shouldn’t be up to schools to dish out punitive measures, while Post Primary Teachers’ Association president Chris Abercrombie said the ministry could already prosecute parents, but it was hardly used.

“It doesn’t happen very often because students who have got chronic absenteeism… There’s lots of other issues going on in that family and fining them isn’t necessarily going to help the situation at all,” he said. One principal, Pat Newman, told Newstalk ZB’s Heather du Plessis-Allan it was a political decision that sounded good, but wouldn’t work in practice.

There has also been push back against the call for teacher-only days to be held in the holidays, reported The Post’s Hanna McCallum. “I quite like giving schools the right to make those decisions – what’s best for them,” said one mum. “They don’t do it for fun”. It’s hard to find a single voice in the media endorsing the government’s moves, though Seymour has no apologies. “If the truancy crisis isn’t addressed there will be an 80-year long shadow of people who missed out on education when they were young.”

Te reo course funding redirected

If last week was all about crime, this week is shaping up to be the government’s education week. While David Seymour was rolling out his own policy yesterday, the education minister Erica Stanford also confirmed that $30m of funding for a course to help teachers learn te reo Māori would be redirected into the government’s revamped and fast-tracked maths curriculum, reported the Herald’s Rachel Maher. Speaking to Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking, Stanford argued that that maths achievement was a higher priority.

But the move blindsided some, New Zealand Education Institution president Mark Potter told RNZ’s Checkpoint. Potter believed the decision was shortsighted. “It gave a different world view through the Māori lens as well as increasing their confidence, their skill levels and by doing so, the same thing for the children they are teaching, it has been enriching for everybody,” he said.

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