5 key takeaways from the Covid Royal Commission of Inquiry

Thursday, 28 November 2024

The first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry was presented to government and it found the mandates affected trust and social cohesion in ways that may make future pandemic responses more difficult.

Across 700 pages, the first Royal Commission of Inquiry report into the Covid-19 response has raised concerns about the social cohesion of New Zealand.

The previous Labour Government commissioned a Royal Commission to assess what worked, and what didn’t work, during the pandemic response. The core task of that commission was to outline how the country should prepare for a future pandemic.

It found that the spread of misinformation during the pandemic, and the Government’s use of compulsion to control it, means the country would struggle to achieve the social buy-in required to manage a similar national emergency.

The report said New Zealand’s Covid-19 response did save thousands of lives.

But there were challenges. These are some the key points from Phase 1 of the Royal Commission Inquiry into the Covid-19 Response:

1. Targeted mandates were appropriate, but widespread orders caused public distrust

“The use of compulsion was one of the most controversial aspects of the Covid-19 response,” the commission said.

Much of the New Zealand pandemic response relied on compulsion. Those forceful measures included: restrictions on public gatherings, lockdowns, quarantine and isolation, mandatory testing, contact tracing, masking, and vaccination requirements.

The Royal Commission found many of those mandates worked and were justified. But there were also big issues and serious consequences that arose from the use of compulsion.

“Vaccine requirements were a major source of tension and social division,” it said.

For those who did not want to be vaccinated, the commission said vaccine requirements fuelled distrust in the Government and led to social stigma, including job losses. It strained relationships with friends and families, the commission said, particularly within Māori and Pasifika communities.

Auckland’s motorways emptied during level 4.

“The Covid-19 pandemic was associated with declining levels of public trust in government, particularly in some communities. Many of our public submitters expressed concern about the ongoing effects of the pandemic period on social cohesion, trust and collective identity in Aotearoa,” it said.

But it said many of the mandates were justified and were used successfully to protect public health.

Masking, contact tracing and testing requirements were “important components” of the pandemic response, the commission said. On those matters, it concluded: “We consider it appropriate that these measures were compulsory for periods.”

Targeted vaccine mandates were also important, it said.

For the health workforce, it said the vaccine requirement was 'reasonable'. And during the Delta wave, it said the use of Vaccine Passes were important due to the 'high risk of viral transmission'.

The social division of the pandemic led a riot at Parliament.

But as the spread of Covid-19 progressed, it found the Government was often slow to respond. For instance, by the time the Omicron variant was spreading in the community it said many of the restrictions were no longer having substantial impacts.

2. Heightened levels of distrust and the spread of misinformation pose a threat to the country

A central theme of the commission report focused on public trust and division.

It noted that the success of the pandemic largely came down to public support and buy-in, especially during the early stages.

'Lockdowns, at least initially, were supported by high levels of trust and social cohesion, strong support from communities, social and economic supports, and clear communication,' the commission said.

But by the end of the pandemic response, things had changed.

If a similar pandemic was to occur now, the commission predicted the public would have less trust in the Government and less willingness to comply.

The commission received more than 20,000 public submissions, analysed documents and held interviews with key decision makers of the time.

The ‘podium of truth’ was noted in the Royal Commission report.

“Many stakeholders have commented that the breakdown of social cohesion that occurred during this pandemic, particularly the rapid spread of misinformation and disinformation, loss of social licence for the long lockdowns in Auckland, and fractures that developed within and between communities over the mandates, will shape how the population is likely to respond … in any future pandemics,” it said.

That loss of trust and social cohesion had harmed public health efforts which followed Covid-19. It said immunisation rates had dropped in some communities since the Covid-19 pandemic.

3. There should be clearer checks to avoid ‘podium of truth’ concerns

The Royal Commission highlighted ideas to grow public trust, and avoid the “podium of truth” issue that emerged from the 1pm press conferences.

It said many of the public submissions it received raised concerns about that particular quote from former prime minister Jacinda Ardern.

At the time, she was attempting to respond to fears spreading on social media about unaccounted and unpublicised Covid-19 infections. She said:

Police on the border of Auckland, while the region was kept in its own stricter lockdown.

“You can trust us as a source of that information. You can also trust the director-general of health and the Ministry of Health for their information… dismiss anything else. We will continue to be your single source of truth.'

That quote was seized by critics who questioned the power ministers and senior officials were wielding.

To allay concerns about transparency, and proper checks and balances on the Government, the royal commission pointed to a suggestion from the Ombudsman. It said there should be formal mechanisms for oversight bodies to publicly check the Government’s use of emergency powers while those powers are being used.

4. There was no clear understanding of what was ‘essential’

Officials tasked with making the rules about what businesses and workers could continue working through the pandemic did have a thorough understanding of how supply chains worked, the commission said.

It gave the example of a decision to close a mill which was the only supplier of chlorineix for drinking water.

Iwi organised their own pandemic responses, such as this Ngaruahine Iwi Health Services Covid-19 testing station.

There appeared to be “a general lack of understanding of key supply chain issues before the pandemic, especially within the public sector”, the commission said.

It said officials needed to keep updated plans to respond to emergencies in the future, including plans to maintain essential supply chains.

The essential worker categories often appeared arbitrary.

“Notable criticisms of the essential services scheme include that it struggled to keep up with the (often changing) needs of business and the community, and was sometimes applied in what appeared to some to be an arbitrary fashion (for example, supermarkets could open but butchers could not),” the commission said.

5. Social cohesion issues harmed many Māori and Pasifika communities, but local leadership did work

Division caused by vaccine mandates had a particularly profound impact on Māori and Pasifika communities, the commission said. This led to flow on effects, with childhood immunisation rates dropping post-pandemic.

While Māori and Pasifika faced greater challenges responding to the pandemic, the commission said community leaders in those communities played an important role in the pandemic response.

“Existing hubs such as marae and places of worship meant support could be tailored to individual needs. Community organisations, both formal and informal, were also well placed to meet unseen needs such as for fellowship and connection,” the commission said.

Through work police, Māori communities were able to take encourage compliance with the Covid restrictions through information - rather than law enforcement - campaigns.