There are many reasonable and well-reasoned recommendations in the phase 1 report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Covid-19, but the heat that just the mere mention of the "C" word generates runs the risk of extinguishing the light that the distinguished panel have cast on the topic of pandemic preparedness.
The commissioners, headed by respected epidemiologist Prof Tony Blakely, heard from 1600 people in drafting their report, from all bands of the diffuse Covid-19 spectrum — including denialists and mandate opponents.
The panel held 400 meetings throughout the country and read through 13,000 submissions; although some will cavil, it is indisputable that the commissioners have not done all that was possible to canvas a broad range of opinion.
Although examining what happened, warts and all, has been the central mission of phase 1, underpinning the commissioners’ work and the foundation of their 39 recommendations is how to do better the next time.
When the 1918 global influenza pandemic struck New Zealand it killed many thousands; it is estimated that Covid-19 caused, or contributed to, the deaths of about 4000 people up until October this year.
Given the astronomical Covid death tolls endured elsewhere, New Zealand can be pleased that the health system and government achieved a mortality rate much lower than most other countries — although , of course, that will come as no consolation to the bereaved.
It may also not comfort the aggrieved over the stringent border and vaccination measures which played such a large part at managing mortality and ensured that, generally, New Zealand’s hospitals were not overwhelmed in similar manner to those in Italy, India and Britain, among others.
There is a touch of what Americans like to call "Monday morning quarterbacking" about this section of the report. The commissioners know now that travel restrictions, both internal and external, might possibly have been able to have been lifted earlier, but that is with the benefit of hindsight.
For every business owner unable to do business or distraught relative trapped overseas or in MIQ, there was an elderly person hoping that Covid would not invade their rest-home or a person with a compromised immune system hoping to stay away from the coronavirus for as long as possible.
There is also perhaps an element of the commissioners looking over their shoulders; this, above all sections of the report, is the most couched because it is the most potentially controversial.
But people wanting to refight the battles of yesteryear would be better employing their time considering the measured and sensible recommendations of the commissioners here.
They call for comprehensive, transparent and clearly explained pandemic preparation plans, publicly available documentation which sets out thresholds and circumstances in which pandemic prevention measures such as lockdowns and travel restrictions will begin to apply.
Much of the success of the initial pandemic response was because the vast majority of Kiwis responded to the government’s call to protect others in the face of an unpredictable viral foe; as people became familiar with Covid, that bred contempt in some.
Whether the commission’s recommendations can allay that is unknowable, as are its hopes that better public information can counter the malicious private spread of disinformation, but it can only be hoped that it can.
Overall, the commissioners have called for comprehensive pandemic planning to be a fixture for the entire public sector and for it to be duly considered by the private sector.
As we have learned, such measures do not come cheaply, so there will be a natural tension between the additional expense of such planning, but as we have also come to know there is no virtue in making up a pandemic response as the country goes along.
The commission’s summary contains the key to its report, and it is a sentiment which surely few could dispute: that the next pandemic will different, and so too must be New Zealand’s response to it.
