Op Protect – the Covid battle

EMPATHY AND ORDER THE ROLE WE PLAY

By Judith Martin

With pillows jammed under their arms, hair dishevelled and their faces lined with fatigue, a couple and their two young daughters wearily climb the stairs at the RNZAF’s Air Movements Terminal in Rongotai, Wellington.

Major Nigel Elder is on the landing and greets them. “Welcome home – come on in,” he says.

He’s wearing a mask, but his voice exudes warmth and confidence.

The people he is speaking to as they and 17 others pour off the Air New Zealand ATR charter flight are returning to New Zealand after a long flight from Los Angeles to Auckland, and then on to Wellington where they will spend the next two weeks in managed isolation in a Wellington hotel.

While tired, they too are calm and obviously appreciate the atmosphere they have encountered and the approach taken by Major Elder, the officer in charge of the Regional Isolation Quarantine Coordination Centre. He and his team of Captain Grant Daniels and Lance Corporal Joe Sunckell are joined by two police officers, an aviation security representative, and a public health nurse as the 21 returnees gather in the terminal lounge.

The team works well together, having processed many such flights over recent weeks as Kiwis return home to comparative safety during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The system is slick. First up, a health brief. The returnees are given information on how to use the personal protection equipment they are issued with, and what they can expect when they reach their isolation facility. They are handed forms to fill out and told a bus would soon take them to their hotel about 10km away.

Every detail appears to be covered: the bus will travel via the Wellington bays rather than through Mt Victoria tunnel to avoid the problems a potential breakdown or holdup in the tunnel could cause. There are many head-counts, and there appears to be virtually no opportunities for returnees to abscond before they reach their hotel.

MAJ Elder says the key to making sure things run smoothly is using the “soft skills” Army personnel have. “Empathy in particular,” he says. “These people might be in a situation they don’t want to be in, they’re tired and possibly feeling vulnerable. It’s up to us to reassure them they’re going into a safe environment, and we’ll be doing everything we can to ensure their stay is as pleasant as possible. After all in the main they’re Kiwis coming home.” There have been few hiccups.

“There was one person who was quite claustrophobic and anxious. We did what we could to make him feel better. This situation (managing returnees) is continually evolving. We want the process to be well-managed and do everything we can to ensure its integrity. We give them firm directions so we can take care of them, and they generally respond well.”

LCPL Sunckell did a stint at a managed isolation facility (MIF) in Christchurch earlier in the year, and sees his role at the coordination centre as a continuation of that work.

“At the MIF we tried to ensure the nursing, hotel and security staff were all working together properly. We’d address any issues that arose, and try and help wherever we could. It’s interesting work, and while it’s not something I ever thought I’d be doing, it feels worthwhile to be helping people. Ultimately that’s why you join the Army.”

CAPT Grant Daniels (left) and MAJ Nigel Elder wait for returnees to arrive.

A significant commitment

Operation Protect has been stood up to manage the different components of the NZDF support to the Government’s Covid-19 response.

The NZDF is currently planning on providing support to the Government’s Covid-19 response for a further 18–24 month period. This is a planning figure, and could be extended or reduced depending on any future requests from the Government.

The current commitment to Op Protect has a large number of NZDF personnel supporting, or standing by to support, Covid-19 response activities. This level of commitment is significant and the NZDF is constantly reviewing its activities to ensure it can meet its obligations under Op Protect, while maintaining its own training, force generation, mandated operational deployments and other aid to the civil power.

Eighty personnel have been supporting the work of Customs at the maritime border, and another 100 will be involved in providing electoral support in the MIQFs during the upcoming General Election.

This increase in effort has seen the total number of NZDF personnel involved in supporting the all of Government response to Covid-19 increase significantly. In addition to the tasks at the MIQFs, maritime border and during the General Election, NZDF personnel have been supporting tasks at the Auckland border road check-points and various Covid-19 response headquarters.

Clockwise from top left: The inter-agency welcoming party at a managed isolation facility; Temperatures are taken regularly; Soldiers helped manage road block in Auckland during the Level 3 lockdown there; More than 600 NZDF personnel are now involved in Op Protect; Enroute to an Op Protect deployment.

Mitigating the risk

The NZDF’s role in Op Protect means soldiers, sailors and airmen could be at a greater risk of exposure to Covid-19 than the general public, acknowledges Op Protect Commander Colonel Andy Shaw.

“I am aware that there is a growing level of anxiety in our wider military community about the risks involved. I would like to assure our NZDF whānau that we take the protection of our personnel very seriously. We have assessed the risk and have taken additional steps to keep the families of our personnel as safe as possible.

“The duties that NZDF personnel are typically involved with are less risky in terms of Covid-19 exposure than other occupational groups such as medical staff and first responders, and we have measures in place to avoid direct, prolonged contact with individuals at risk of infection with Covid-19. In order to reduce the risk further, our personnel comply with Ministry of Health guidelines within the facilities including social distancing, hand washing, cough etiquette and wearing PPE as appropriate. There have been, so far, no members of Op Protect who have contracted Covid-19 in the course of their duties.

“We are accommodating our personnel within the MIQFs or in nearby facilities while they are undertaking duties, and before any NZDF member returns home from a MIQF, maritime border or regional checkpoint task they will have had a test and returned a negative result.

“To further protect our people, we have applied an extra level of scrutiny to ensure that no-one with underlying conditions which would put them at risk of severe Covid-19 or complications of Covid-19 is deploying into front line roles as part of Op Protect. “We cannot eliminate the risk completely, and we are working in areas with a low risk of prolonged unprotected contact with people who have the Covid-19 virus. We have good procedures in place within the facilities, and we have additional layers of protection for our families by accommodating our people away from home during their duties, and not releasing them until they return a negative result. We are doing everything we practically can to keep our people, and their families safe while we undertake these important roles that contribute directly to protecting the people of New Zealand.”