My Vaccine Pass
From today, Air New Zealand customers can link their My Vaccine Pass with Air New Zealand’s app. It will give vaccinated customers a more seamless experience when, from Tuesday, anyone over 12 years old will need to be vaccinated or produce a negative Covid-19 test in order to fly domestically, the airline said. More to come
Case
As of the 8th December there were a total of 21 cases, one has recovered and there is one case in Nelson Hospital. From the Ministry of Health web site there are no new locations of interest in the Nelson/Tasman region. It has become clear that the majority of cases in the Nelson/Tasman region were not fully vaccinated.
Covid cases by age
Ministry of Health
Nelson Hospital
Comment:
Nelson Hospital is old for a Hospital and it can ill afford to have covid cases in it. The nurses are wonderful, but they are exhausted with trying to prevent covid from getting into the Hospital, dealing with testing, vaccinations and their every day patients.
The doctors are superb also, coping with this outdated Hospital and still doing a magnificent job with limited resources.
At this time of crisis and population growth in our region the Government and Local Councils should be pooling funds to build a new Hospital for Tasman and Nelson, not going off on a tangent and thinking about glorious schemes like building a new library in Nelson when it looks like covid will be with us for a while. The physical and psychological well-being of our community should come first.
Comments:
Yes there is a real shortage of nurses at the Hospital now, he nurses that are still there are exhausted from having to do the extra work I hear. So sad its come the this.
Even 1 nurse is too many given the nationwide shortage and the fact that covid is likely to be in our backyard in the very near future.
Yes there is a massive lack of logical thinking when people are persuaded that we need to take incredibly unethical and immoral measures to save the healthcare system while concurrently dismantling its ability to respond. Makes zero sense.
Libraries Tasman/Nelson
In all of Nelson City Council libraries you will need a My Vaccine Pass to enter the library as the Nelson City Council has updated its orange alert level library policy to protect the health of staff and visitors.
In Tasman district, the public without a pass can still enter council libraries. The Council has had a lot of discussions and feedback around it.
The Mayor and Councillors of Tasman District Council should impose the same policy as Nelson for its libraries to protect their staff, the elderly and the children.
Tasman District Council have issued a press statement this morning they state:
“Most of our services are publicly accessible and we have a natural reluctance to limit access to these services for any resident. However, that reluctance needs to be balanced against the District's current health needs and direction from the Government.
“Last week the Council announced the access requirements put in place to meet the introduction of the CPF; these remain in place at this time. These are currently still valid and can be found at Council services at Orange | Tasman District Council “(see article in Pigeon Post Below)
Tasman District Council CEO Janine Dowding said “at the time of the announcement the Council acknowledged we are dealing with a constantly changing environment and access to services and facilities may change rapidly”
"These access requirements are reviewed every day following government advice, health updates, and feedback from our residents and staff. We continue to work through the implications of the information we receive to make considered decisions.”
"It is regrettable that some believe we are disregarding their personal concerns. That is not the case and we have a wide range of situations, responsibilities and practicalities to consider.”
"With specific regard to access to our libraries we are considering the situation daily and if the current access requirements change, we will give residents a few days warning prior to enacting any changes.”
Janine Dowding said “in the meantime, if residents feel unsure about physically visiting the library, many services are available online or over the phone.”
“We appreciate people may be feeling frustrated in this current environment, but we ask that you don't take those frustrations out on staff who are doing their best to deliver a good service in conditions they have no control over.”
The Council has a difficult balancing act to follow as in some parts of the district there are low vaccination rates and in others high vaccination rates.
In the Richmond library the elderly go in for a coffee to meet and browse around on a daily basis and there are a lot of children who pop in.
Another aspect is the up and coming children’s holiday programmes at libraries. A stricter covid policy should be imposed by Tasman District Council for its libraries at that time to help prevent the spread of Covid among the children.
Locations for Covid-19 testing 8th December
Covid-19 testing
Community Testing Centre
Testing is free for people with COVID-19 symptoms in the Nelson Marlborough region. If you are unsure of whether you should get a COVID-19 test, call Healthline for advice: 0800 358 5453.
Nelson
Saxton Field parking area, Suffolk Road, Stoke, Nelson:
- Thursday 9 December: 9am to 6pm
- Friday 10 December: 9am to 6pm
Trafalgar Centre carpark, Paru Paru Road, Nelson:
Richmond
Richmond Showgrounds, 359 Lower Queen St:
- Thursday 9 December: 9am to 6pm
- Friday 10 December: 9am to 6pm
Motueka
Motueka Recreation Centre, Old Wharf Rd:
- Thursday 9 December: 9am to 3pm
- Friday 10 December: 9am to 3pm
Marlborough
The Marlborough Urgent Care Centre is providing COVID-19 testing between 1pm-4pm daily.
Other testing options
Testing is also available for free from your GP clinic, after-hours medical centres or iwi health providers. There is no consultation fee if you need to get a COVID-19 test. See healthpoint.co.nz for further options especially for other towns in the area.
New Pfizer Covid-19 Antiviral Drugs
The Minister of Health announced a few days ago“In October, New Zealand was one of the first countries in the world to make an advance purchase of a promising new antiviral drug, molnupiravir,”
“Today” the Minister said “I am pleased to say Pharmac has secured from Pfizer 60,000 courses of another antiviral medicine which, like molnupiravir, can be taken as a tablet and used to stop people with mild symptoms of Covid-19 becoming very sick.
“Pfizer’s antiviral drug, which does not yet have a brand name in New Zealand, also inhibits replication but in a different way, by preventing the cleavage of certain proteins necessary to create a fully functioning virus.
“Molnupiravir works by introducing copying errors during replication, which means you are less likely to get a fully functioning virus.
“We’ve made sure Pharmac can continue to secure early access to new and promising COVID medicines as soon as possible, with $175 million allocated for medicines and supply chain costs and another $300 million available for purchasing more Covid-19 therapeutics.
“Both drugs are still subject to approval by Medsafe, but trials look promising and by securing access to both we are doing everything possible to make sure New Zealanders have available medicines that are easy to administer and prevent most people who contract COVID-19 from being so sick they need to go to hospital,” Andrew Little said.
“The Pfizer anti-viral is expected to be delivered to New Zealand in April, once approved by MedSafe. Other COVID-19 medicines secured by Pharmac are baricitinib, remdesivir, tocilizumab, and Ronapreve.
Recently, Pharmac has been subject to investigations into its decision making about which drugs to purchase and it has not been cooperating fully with these enquiries. It is a government agency and has been white washing answers about its decision making in accessing medications for New Zealanders.
Pigeon Post News
