SPECIAL REPORT
COVID FATIGUE
When the
lights go red
Words by: Anne Hardie
W
hen the Government’s Covid-19 Protection Framework moves the traffic lights to red in a region, farmers will need a plan to know how they will continue to operate their business with higher risk and more restrictions. The traffic light system assumes Covid-19 is in the community, but about 90% of eligible New Zealanders will be double vaccinated. The higher the risk, the more restrictions and public health measures, beginning with green and moving up to red as the risk increases. Green is when there are some Covid-19 cases in the community, limited community transmission and hospitalisations are at a manageable level. Orange kicks in when there is increasing community transmission that is putting pressure on the health system and there is an increasing risk for at-risk people.
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Red is the high-alert level when more action is needed to protect at-risk people and protect the health system from an unsustainable number of hospitalisations. On the farm, there are the basics to follow regardless of the traffic light system, including social distancing, mask wearing, cleaning protocols and personal hygiene through to isolation of anyone on the farm who has, or may have Covid-19, and vaccination. Pāmu Farms has created a manager’s guide under the traffic light system and head of health, safety and wellbeing, Mark Ogilvie, is quick to point out that the plan will be continually updated as the industry learns how to operate at different Covid-19 levels. For the most part, he says its managers – and it’s the same for anyone in charge of dairy farms – will be following the basic precautions they have already had in practice to keep people safe and that is knowing where everyone coming on to the farm has been and what risks they might bring to the farm.
Pamu head of health, safety and wellbeing, Mark Ogilvie. “The nub of the issue is that internally on the farm we have an understanding of where our people are and what their level of exposure has been. But if you have contractors or vets coming on, then you can’t guarantee where they have been and you have to base it on trust where they have been and if they are vaccinated or not.” It comes down to mitigating the risks and when there are large outbreaks of the virus in a region that push it into the red light, those on the farm will need a plan, albeit flexible, to ensure
Dairy Exporter | www.nzfarmlife.co.nz | December 2021
