Dr Siouxsie Wiles calls for NZ restaurants to lower music volume to help limit spread of Covid-19

May 19, 2020

The Auckland microbiologist gave her tips for Kiwis to limit spread of the virus at Alert Level 2.

Auckland microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles is urging restaurants to lower the volume of music to help limit the spread of Covid-19.

Dr Wiles gave her tips for Kiwis to keep safe at Alert Level 2 this morning on TVNZ1's Breakfast.

"One of the things that I think is really important is to avoid places where you need to be shouting to be heard because some of the research is showing that actually those places where singing and shouting are places where we can end up spreading the virus much further," she said.

"Even though there's a very unlikely chance of that happening in New Zealand, I would ask all businesses that play music and things like that, 'Can you turn that down so that people can hear each other?'"

Dr Wiles also advised Kiwis to leave any restaurants or businesses not following the rules of Alert Level 2, to keep up with basic hygiene like washing hands and social distancing, and to keep notes of where they have been.

She also recommended people make sure their address and other details are up to date with their doctors and the Ministry of Health.

The Auckland microbiologist says it's important to understand where the coronavirus came from and how it was managed for any future outbreaks.

Dr Wiles spoke to Breakfast today as the annual meeting of the United Nations' World Health Assembly was under way with the focus on the Covid-19 pandemic - something that the majority of the agency's members, including New Zealand, are calling for an independent inquiry into.

She said countries should be working together rather than blaming one another and to use the inquiry to learn about the virus.

"It is going to be focused on trying to do a scientific investigation of where the virus emerged and there is already lots of study being done looking at viruses from bats and other animals, so is there something around the host? It's going to be hard to pinpoint exactly how it got into humans because obviously this is a bit like looking at a crime scene many, many months after the crime."

Dr Wiles said the inquiry will look into what information was known and when and what other countries did with the information.

"Everybody had the same information going forward and yet different countries responded in different ways, so what can we learn about how different countries responded?

"A really important focus is going to be on that sort of joint discussion on how we can move things forward so if there are vaccines and treatments that are safe, you know, how can we ensure that they get to everybody?"

SHARE ME

More Stories