Only critical workers will be able to get RATs and use them from home or at work to break self-isolation; PM concerned RATs not accurate enough and that people who don’t need them will waste them
I really don't understand why Bishop is so obsessed with RATs. They are really only useful as a sampling mechanism to pick up a few more cases. They do not give an individual a reliable yes/no answer to having covid.
In some respects that makes them even more dangerous than not testing at all, as some will take it as unequivocal evidence that they are covid free and will behave as such passing on to others.
Perhaps suspecting that they have covid without an RAT to confirm/deny might result in them being more cautious!
Whatever the value of RATs, the dissembling by the PM really doesn't reflect well on her here. I'm with David Seymour's take - it's spin to cover complacency.
On another matter, who is REALLY going to follow strict "isolate within the home" (i.e., when one person in the house get infected and you are supposed to isolate them in the basement or something) protocols. We saw even with delta infect one (in the house) you infect them all. Omicron going to be even quicker. Lack of seriousness here.
Agreed. The incentives to break isolation or even willingly get the virus are significant for the young and double vaxxed.
NZ flats are not pleasant places to isolate. If someone in your flat tests positive you’re looking at least 24 days of isolation (without possibility of RAT parole if you’re not a critical worker). Many students and yo-pros crammed into city flats will either ignore isolation requirements entirely or roll the dice on COVID in the hopes they can recover quickly and escape isolation sooner.
Some people are querying the use of RATs. I have observed how they are used in Uk and USA where the govt provides them free to all. People test if they have symptoms, they also test before joining vulnerable friends or family. It is seen as the responsible thing to do and slows the spread.
In NZ the government is once again too slow to order the tests (like they were with N95 masks, vaccines and boosters) so they ration them or talk down their usefulness. Really this is pretty pathetic behaviour, but worse still is the effective ban on companies importing their own, and by failing to recognise many available brands which have been approved by reputable countries they are further restricting access. This is placing petty politics above the needs of Kiwis and it must stop,
Here in Italy you can only use the at-home antigen tests for personal confirmation. The wait for a PCR test are insanely long, so you would only really get one if absolutely necessary. Besides that, everyone seems to have a vaccination card (green pass) which enables you to sit inside at restaurants, etc. Without a vaccination card, you’d have to get an official fast test done at the pharmacy if you want to eat out. I feel like that works the best? Anyway, I do understand the fear of being an island! If the virus spreads, that’d be absolutely no good.
I'm so confused as to why people are salty about not being able to get RATs. It would clearly be better if we had easy access to them, but with a mere 4.6 million in the country it is very clear that there isn't enough to just use them everywhere and anywhere.
Once there's sufficient supply, we might expect that to change.
I really don't understand why Bishop is so obsessed with RATs. They are really only useful as a sampling mechanism to pick up a few more cases. They do not give an individual a reliable yes/no answer to having covid.
In some respects that makes them even more dangerous than not testing at all, as some will take it as unequivocal evidence that they are covid free and will behave as such passing on to others.
Perhaps suspecting that they have covid without an RAT to confirm/deny might result in them being more cautious!
Whatever the value of RATs, the dissembling by the PM really doesn't reflect well on her here. I'm with David Seymour's take - it's spin to cover complacency.
On another matter, who is REALLY going to follow strict "isolate within the home" (i.e., when one person in the house get infected and you are supposed to isolate them in the basement or something) protocols. We saw even with delta infect one (in the house) you infect them all. Omicron going to be even quicker. Lack of seriousness here.
Agreed. The incentives to break isolation or even willingly get the virus are significant for the young and double vaxxed.
NZ flats are not pleasant places to isolate. If someone in your flat tests positive you’re looking at least 24 days of isolation (without possibility of RAT parole if you’re not a critical worker). Many students and yo-pros crammed into city flats will either ignore isolation requirements entirely or roll the dice on COVID in the hopes they can recover quickly and escape isolation sooner.
Some people are querying the use of RATs. I have observed how they are used in Uk and USA where the govt provides them free to all. People test if they have symptoms, they also test before joining vulnerable friends or family. It is seen as the responsible thing to do and slows the spread.
In NZ the government is once again too slow to order the tests (like they were with N95 masks, vaccines and boosters) so they ration them or talk down their usefulness. Really this is pretty pathetic behaviour, but worse still is the effective ban on companies importing their own, and by failing to recognise many available brands which have been approved by reputable countries they are further restricting access. This is placing petty politics above the needs of Kiwis and it must stop,
Here in Italy you can only use the at-home antigen tests for personal confirmation. The wait for a PCR test are insanely long, so you would only really get one if absolutely necessary. Besides that, everyone seems to have a vaccination card (green pass) which enables you to sit inside at restaurants, etc. Without a vaccination card, you’d have to get an official fast test done at the pharmacy if you want to eat out. I feel like that works the best? Anyway, I do understand the fear of being an island! If the virus spreads, that’d be absolutely no good.
Informative post, thank you!
I'm so confused as to why people are salty about not being able to get RATs. It would clearly be better if we had easy access to them, but with a mere 4.6 million in the country it is very clear that there isn't enough to just use them everywhere and anywhere.
Once there's sufficient supply, we might expect that to change.