Covid 19: “Nip It, Sweetie!"

Advocacy organisation New Zealanders for Health Research (NZHR) has released the second of two open letters to New Zealanders.

NZHR Chief Executive Chris Higgins said that the first letter, “zip it, sweetie!”, pushed the message that there should be a stop to non-expert negative opinions threatening to undermine public confidence in the science which was informing the New Zealand government’s response to the Covid 19 pandemic.

Mr Higgins said that NZHR’s message is now “nip it, sweetie!”

“We’ve produced graphs from Ministry of Health web page data from day one of Covid 19 being in New Zealand to the end of Easter Monday. The figures are giving us good reason to be optimistic that with further concerted effort we can nip Covid 19 in the bud” said Mr Higgins.

“If the number of active cases, or daily prevalence figures, continue to trend down at the same rate that they have been doing since the high point of 748 cases on April 5th, they will be close to zero by the end of April. If they stay that way kiwis will have nipped Covid 19 in the bud”.

“However, the two “ifs” are huge” said Mr Higgins. “Our message therefore to all kiwis is: Hang in there. Don’t be complacent. Trust the science. Don’t undermine the trust in science. Stay in our bubbles. Save lives.”

For further information contact NZHR chief executive Chris Higgins on 027 2928433 or ceo@nz4healthresearch.org.nz.

NZHR advocates for increased investment in health research. It is an alliance chaired by Graham Malaghan, of the Wellington-based Malaghan Institute of Medical Research and supported by universities, clinical research organisations, and organisations representing both the philanthropic and pharmaceutical industry sectors. For more information visit here.

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