Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins today launched a campaign to reinforce the messages Kiwis have been hearing all year about staying safe from the Covid-19 virus.
Citing the unfolding of post-Thanksgiving fallout in the USA where Americans travelled and mixed with a number of people driving a spike in virus cases, Hipkins says he doesn't want to see the same thing happen here.
“We’ve seen what happened during the northern hemisphere summer and in the USA during Thanksgiving, where people travelled widely and without taking precautions, driving a huge spike in cases. We don’t want that to happen here,” Hipkins said in a statement.
“We want to get the Kiwi summer off on the right foot. Christmas and the holiday season is a time of the year when people come together socially more often; there are more large-scale events; and people move around the country in bigger numbers.
The Covid-19 Response Minister outlines the four basic messages from the Government’s latest campaign to keep Covid-19 at bay.
“That’s why our focus to ‘Make Summer Unstoppable’ is all about reminding and motivating everyone to keep doing the easy, everyday actions which will keep us free of Covid-19.”
Hipkins says New Zealand is in a “really fortunate position” but says it can be “too easy to relax” when things are going really, really well.
“We all need reminders from time to time that actually, we all make our own luck here and if we all keep doing the right thing then actually we are less likely to end up with another Covid-19 out break.”
“We know in New Zealand that Kiwis are very, very mobile, we will be all over the country and therefore, if anyone’s carrying Covid-19 with them, the risk of spread is much, much greater if we can’t stop it really quickly. And that’s where things like contact-tracing really make a difference,” Hipkins says.
The campaign was launched nationwide today during day three of the Blackcaps test match against the West Indies at Wellington’s Basin Reserve with TV ads premiering on the big screens at the Basin.
“After the year we’ve had, we all need a classic summer break we can enjoy,” Chris Hipkins said.
“Whether it’s days at the cricket, at the beach or at the backyard barbie with whānau and friends, we all want to be able to enjoy this summer without the interruption of Covid-19.
"We’ve all got a part to play to bring on an unstoppable summer. Everyone can make a difference by continuing with the basic health steps that’ve allowed us to hold back the virus so far.
“The ‘Make Summer Unstoppable’ campaign reinforces the basics: asking Kiwis to wash or sanitise hands, scan QR codes, turn on Bluetooth on the COVID Tracer app, stay home if you’re feeling even a little unwell – even if that means missing the cricket, and getting advice on whether to take a test.
“We’re also asking businesses and venues to actively encourage their customers to scan QR codes.
“This isn’t a new message – it’s what we’ve been saying all year -- but summer travel creates additional challenges, so we all need to be extra vigilant. As the Blackcaps consistently show us, it’s teamwork which gets you through, so it’s great to be able to screen these campaign ads publicly for the first time at the sort of big event so many Kiwis will want to be a part of,” Hipkins said.
Hipkins says the Government has been “working through all the different resurgence scenarios” if Covid-19 were to reappear in the community.
“Obviously our number one goal is to make sure that we can stamp out any incursion as quickly as possible, without the need to escalate alert levels.”
He said more information would be released in the coming weeks so that people “will know what we have been doing behind the scenes to prepare”.
Hipkins says the cost of the ads were “a fraction of the cost of an outbreak” at about $2.5 million.
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