Covid-19 is not over for disabled people

By Chris Ford*

Opinion - Last week the government swept away all but the last remaining vestiges of the Covid-19 protection systems that had been in place since the pandemic began in early 2020.

While welcomed by many, one community has voiced its concerns, dismay and anxiety over this move - the disabled community.

That's because Covid-19 is not over for disabled people (as it is not for everyone - in reality).

While I have read in recent days that World Health Organisation Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said that the pandemic phase of the disease is (hopefully) almost at an end, it does not mean the disease has gone away - or will ever retreat completely.

I know this as, according to the science, Covid-19 will become endemic, thereby embedding itself within the population.

This will mean that Covid-19 and its variants will continue to wreak havoc every now and again.

Simply, we don't know how Covid-19 will evolve exactly, but the one thing we can be certain of is that it will.

While vaccinations and medication will keep infection rates managed within populations, it will - like the virus which generated the 'Spanish Flu' of 1919 - always be with us.

And that is why we all need to continue to be vigilant.

One of the most hypervigilant communities will be the disability community and also those who live with long-term health conditions, including people who are immunocompromised.

To illustrate this point, I read some mortality data recently from the United States which extrapolated how - for example, for disabled people living with impairments including cerebral palsy (which I live with), multiple sclerosis and learning disabilities - Covid-19 was the primary cause of death in 2019-2020, whereas it was only the third highest cause of death for non-disabled Americans.

These figures should have been available before last week, when our government took the decision to scrap all but what it deemed as the most necessary requirements to retain.

Regretfully, the Labour government, facing many pressing political pressures due to the cost-of-living crisis that have been impacting on its popularity, chose to repeal the last remaining restrictions around mandatory mask use in public places including shops and public transport, as well as all remaining vaccination mandates.

I fear that all this has been done to simply keep Labour's support up amongst non-disabled voters without considering any of the implications for disabled people whose voice is often politically marginalised, even at the best of times.

Moreover, given the lower socioeconomic status of much of the disability community, it would be fair to say that many disabled people and people with health conditions traditionally vote Labour at general elections.

I wonder how many disabled people would be feeling so inclined to vote for them at the moment? Time will tell.

Furthermore, I couldn't help but think that political considerations were top of mind for the struggling government in its decision, especially given that the official email from Whaikaha the Ministry of Disabled People requesting feedback from disability community organisations gave only 24 hours for this to occur.

Critically, the new ministry - that is supposed to act as the voice of disabled people - also failed to send it to all Disabled Persons Organisations (DPOs) - organisations run by and for disabled people.

I know this because I work for a DPO, the Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA) New Zealand, whose chief executive (my boss) Prudence Walker told the Otago Daily Times earlier this month that this omission "... was a critical oversight".

And a 'critical oversight' it has really turned out to be, with masking up only now required in health care settings including hospitals, doctor's surgeries and pharmacies as well as rest homes.

While access to essential Covid-19 antivirals for people who fall ill with the virus has been expanded, these requirements still do not cover all disabled people like myself when they actually should.

In fact, I checked with my GP about this at my last medical check-up in mid-August, and as we went through the criteria list together, it was found that I would not immediately qualify for any antivirals if I fell ill with Covid-19, even though I'm over 50 and meet most of the other requirements.

All of these actions have caused simmering concern within the disability community, and even outright anger from some within it, including from my good friend and prominent fellow advocate Dr Huhana Hickey.

Other prominent medical and scientific professionals who have been really great allies of disabled and marginalised people during the pandemic, including one of my great Kiwi heroes Dr Siouxsie Wiles, spoke out in saying that it was too early to do away with masking up, as Covid-19 could still throw up some nasty new variants, especially as the Northern Hemisphere goes into what will be a very difficult winter, meaning that any new, potentially nastier variants might make their way southwards, even while we experience summer.

While I acknowledge the government has given itself some wriggle room to dial up masking and other requirements should the need arise, it still is not enough.

Doing away with the traffic light settings altogether means some new and otherwise untested system will have to come from the Ministry of Health if new variants eventuate.

Therefore, how much non-disabled people would be prepared to tolerate (and comply with) a new round of masking up would be interesting, to say the least, particularly if it comes after a prolonged period of not having to do so.

Personally, I would have preferred the mandates to stay for places including supermarkets, airports, public transport and all public buildings, and for people visiting supported residential and other services for disabled people, and with a review to be completed in December in close partnership with disabled people and their organisations and with older people and their organisations (ie, Grey Power).

Any mandates should only have been altered or removed with the full involvement and agreement of representatives from the most impacted communities.

Regretfully, though, I recognise that the Covid-19 rule relaxation ship has now sailed. Whether I like it or not, that ship will have to sail with disabled people like me within it.

At a personal level, I will still wear a mask if I am in places where I deem myself to be at risk, and this will include, for example, at large-scale indoor events.

Otherwise, political considerations and the supposed lessening of infections should not be the only considerations which inform all future decision-making around Covid-19.

I believe that we should be wary, for at least the next six months, as I believe it will take that length of time to determine whether Covid-19 will remain in abeyance or flare up again.

That's why I believe that all remaining Covid-19 restrictions should only have been removed beginning next year and as part of a gradual transition, and not just an overnight one.

By this time next year, I believe that we might be over the worst (fingers crossed).

But, in the meantime, if Covid-19 turns unexpectedly bad again (and it could do that very quickly) then the government, opposition parties and various business groups that originally called for the immediate removal of restrictions should be held responsible - if politics triumphs over science, reason and the human rights of our most at-risk communities.

* Chris Ford is a Dunedin-based freelance writer and disability advocate. He currently works for Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA) New Zealand and as a research assistant for two universities. However, the views expressed in this article are wholly his own.