Industrial Safety News: June - July 2022

Page 24

JUNE - JULY 2022

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s we head further from the peak of the vaccine campaign and the Omicron outbreak, people’s immunity will eventually start to wane. The coronavirus is also continuing to mutate, with subvariants like BA.4 potentially making it easier for people to be reinfected.

Does reinfection increase the risk of Long Covid?

University of Auckland Dr Anna Brooks says “we are hearing from our international partners that anecdotally, repeat infections, especially in children and adolescents may lead to a higher chance of long term health complications, including Long Covid. “We know that vaccinations are excellent at protecting against severe illness, however they aren’t great at reducing the risk of Long Covid. Protective immunity will also wane over time. Symptomatic infections, even while triple vaccinated are common. 24 safetynews.co.nz

What you need to know about Covid-19 reinfection New Covid-19 variants and waning immunity could see more New Zealanders catching the virus for a second time “In addition, surviving one infection unscathed does not mean you will be out of the woods with getting Long Covid. It might be a 2nd or 3rd exposure that triggers this illness. “Many also don’t seem to realise that there are no treatments to reverse the debilitating symptoms experienced (shortness of breath, brain fog/cognitive impairment, extreme fatigue to name a few). “Limiting exposure to the virus, even if previously infected and/or fully

vaccinated is the best way to avoid the risk of developing long term health complications.”

If you’ve already had Covid-19, how well are you protected from getting it again?

The figure of three months of immunity is largely a generalisation, Brooks says. “Cases of reinfection are definitely occurring within this time frame. Even if you’ve had Covid, you may have fairly decent immunity for at least a month or

so, but you’re certainly not immune to further infections in the near future. The best approach is to avoid exposure, regardless of your vaccination or preinfection status.” University of Otago Dr Dianne Sika-Paotonu says many who’ve recovered from Covid-19 will have developed immunity at least for the initial months following infection, however re-infection risk with the SARS-CoV-2 virus remains. “Although previous infection with the SARS-


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Articles inside

Cutting-edge solutions to handle building waste

5min
pages 66-68

Site Safe congratulates 2021 construction health and safety champions

1min
pages 62-63

The growing importance of ESG in property

3min
pages 64-65

SiteRight – It’s the right fit for your business

2min
pages 52-53

Industry leader in soft fall protection on construction sites

2min
page 59

How to solve the problem of slumping commercial property values by acting now

13min
pages 54-58

Office market strategies changing

2min
pages 60-61

Hard work gets results

1min
pages 48-51

Money alone will not solve New Zealand’s infrastructure woes

5min
pages 42-43

A start to solving our poor record on low carbon cement replacement

5min
pages 46-47

New Zealand roading project wins top engineering prize

2min
page 37

New dam safety regulations

2min
pages 26-27

What you need to know about Covid-19 reinfection

5min
pages 24-25

The construction conversations we should be having

8min
pages 38-41

Infrastructure strategy cannot wait

4min
pages 44-45

Chemical safety relies on meaningful cooperation

2min
pages 22-23

How upskilling your staff can future-proof your business

4min
pages 18-19

Nurses not monoliths are the backbone healthcare system

6min
pages 10-13

Skills shortages require pragmatic response

7min
pages 4-7

Why video calls are bad for brainstorming

1min
page 21

There is no known safe level of exposure to welding fumes

2min
pages 8-9

One thing we all have in common is that we will all age

3min
pages 14-15

The great unlearning

6min
pages 16-17

Vocational training leader applauds budget

2min
page 20
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