Kerre McIvor: Should the pandemic really be front of the Prime Minister's mind?

The Prime Minister has reiterated that the protesters have had their say and it's time to go home and again stressed she would not be meeting them because she says the pandemic is still top of mind. 
The Council of Medical Colleges Chair John Bonning is calling for the isolation period to be reduced from the current 10 days for household contacts to just three days. 
He says combined with high vaccination rates, Omicron was causing much less serious illness among vaccinated people and that meant some changes could be made. He said he was very clear that many public health measures needed to stay and the changes should be step by step. 
But he said there was some sensible middle ground that could help to keep the country moving and prevent workplace’s having a quarter of their staff at home isolating, which is just brutal for business, is brutal for supply chains. 
You've got people who know what they're talking about, saying for most people, it will be a mild to moderate illness. So, time to end the mandates? Yes - put a time frame on it because we can now. 
Prime Minister Ardern told the Breakfast show this morning that her job is to think about the elderly, the immuno-compromised and other vulnerable Kiwis who will be hugely affected by an ongoing Omicron outbreak. 
That's her job, and that's her front of mind. Is that really her job now and should that be front of mind? Do we not all have the information we need to look after ourselves? 
Surely, with the best medical advice indicating that this variant is of the cold and flu variety and severity, can she not get on with looking at some of the many, many other issues that we have in New Zealand rather than micromanaging their health care of a small number of New Zealanders?

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