Dawn Chorus: Elimination's time of death

TLDR & TLDL: It’s been revealed that on Sept 7 the Govt chose not to do widespread surveillance testing for Covid in South Auckland, which modeller Rodney Jones says is the decision that likely sounded the death knell for the elimination strategy.

People present for Covid testing (adhering to guidance for those who are symptomatic or a contact of a case). But a proposal for broad surveillance testing of the at risk Pasifika communities in South Auckland was opposed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKaka

Elsewhere in the news, numbers, charts and quotes of the day below:

half of Murupara’s doctors have stopped working because of vaccination mandates, leaving the PM’s home town with 50% of its 1,393 residents unvaccinated;

• US CPI inflation and Chinese factory gate price inflation rose to near 30 year highs in Oct, adding to fears/hopes the US Federal Reserve will start hiking interest rates sooner and higher in 2022 than expected;

• Andrew Little says the health system wasn’t ready for 150-200 Covid cases per day and 4,000 health workers are still to be vaccinated;

• Kainga Ora knowingly promoted soon-to-be Labour MP Arena Williams in paid promotions in the NZ Herald, which Megan Woods says was unprofessional of Kainga Ora’s leadership;

• electric double-cab ute company Rivian, which has made 56 vehicles, floated on Wall St with a valuation higher than Honda and barely below Ford; and,

• Climate Action Tracker estimated the promises made at the Glasgow Summit would warm the planet by 2.7 degrees and it rated NZ’s promises as among the worst, lumping us in with Australia, Japan and Japan.

Later today, I’ll be watching food and rent data for Oct and watching for more interest rate and housing action in markets and via Kainga Ora.