Ngā Pānui | News & Updates
Andrew's Expert Witness Comments in the Waitangi Tribunal Report on the COVID-19 response
Andrew appeared as an expert witness at the Waitangi Tribunal enquiry into the government's COVID-19 response, and his comments featured multiple times in the final report.
Covid-19 modellers uncertain when to expect move to stage 2 of Omicron outbreak strategy
In January, Andrew was interviewed by Nathan Morton at stuff.co.nz on COVID-19 case numbers and testing:
When we will reach 1000 cases, according to modeller Andrew Sporle at iNZight Analytics, is too early to tell.
Sporle believes the back-to-back long weekends will create a lag in testing, which means a likely delay in finding out just how many actually have the Omicron variant.
“It gets a little tricky as we need to reach 1000 cases, not number of infections, and for cases you need a test. For some people, they're lucky to have mild symptoms and aren’t sick enough to think “Oh, I’ll go get a test now,”.
'We outperformed the model' - Why the Covid-19 predictions for Māori haven't come to pass
In January, Andrew was interviewed by Stuff's Maxine Jacobs on the limitations of COVID-19 modelling and the progression of the pandemic for Māori:
He has predicted the worst, hoped for the best, and was pleasantly surprised at how Aotearoa has flattened both curves of the Alpha and Delta variants.
“We have outperformed the model.”
One hundred days of harsh lessons for Māori as calls for help go largely unanswered
In November 2021, Andrew was interviewed for Stuff on COVID-19 modelling and Māori vaccination rates:
Auckland University senior researcher Andrew Sporle has been creating models of how the outbreak will impact Māori communities since 2020.
Based on his calculations it will take Māori at least four weeks to get up to 90 per cent first doses – based on the Ministry of Health’s Health Service User population estimates which undercounts Māori – if the current vaccination rates continue, which he says is highly unlikely.
It will be well beyond Christmas before they get to 90 per cent fully vaccinated, and well after that before 90 per cent of the population, based on Stats New Zealand figures – is actually reached.
