Experts have called for the Government to focus on Covid-19 safety in public schools, amidst the emergence of the Omicron XE variant in New Zealand on Saturday.
The Ministry of Health announced the XE variant had been detected in Aotearoa for the first time, found in an overseas traveller.
It’s a variant that, while only 10% more transmissible, is expected to impact the number of Kiwis getting infected with the virus, according to Professor Michael Baker from Otago University.
Unsplash
Experts have called for the Government to focus on Covid-19 safety in public schools, amidst the emergence of the Omicron XE variant in New Zealand on Saturday.
There’s fresh concern with the variant arriving in New Zealand that school children are particularly vulnerable, given their statistically low vaccination rates in comparison to adult vaccine rates. Only 22.4% of eligible 5-11 year olds are fully immunised.
READ MORE:
* Covid-19: Omicron XE not ‘a big leap’ from previous variants – experts
* Covid-19: Omicron XE variant detected in NZ for first time, 7930 new community cases, 19 deaths reported
* XE: What is the Omicron recombinant variant that might be more transmissible than BA.2?
“The thing I’m concerned about is orange light doesn’t require any barriers in schools, what environments do they come back to when holidays end?” Baker told Stuff.
“We haven’t yet transformed the safety of indoor air in schools, masks do work, but that barrier is removed in the orange setting.”
The Ministry of Health reported on Saturday there are 7930 new community cases of Covid-19, with 494 people in hospital with the virus.
Two people under age 9 and one person in their 20s are among the latest reported deaths of those with Covid-19, which occurred over the last seven days.
All of New Zealand moved to the orange traffic light setting on April 13. All gathering restrictions were then removed.
As part of that shift, mask requirements remain until green, apart from at schools, where they are encouraged but no longer required across the board.
SUPPLIED
Not all masks are created equal when it comes to protection against different strains, so which one is best for you?
At the time, Baker urged the Government to reconsider its mask requirements for schools.
Dr David Welch, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland’s School of Computer Science, made it clear the vaccine rates among children are not where they should be.
With a “complacent” attitude around getting boosted, Welch said XE is the opportunity to pick the vaccine response back up.
“It’s literally stagnant, it’s almost like people have forgotten about it.
“The Government did well to get the adult population vaccinated, a mediocre job of rolling it out and a poor job of getting kids vaccinated,” he said.
“Something has to spark that conversation. I don’t think XE is going to be the next dominant variant, but there are going to be new variants that do arrive and there’s still a high prevalence of Omicron around.”
[ad_2]
Originally Appeared Here