2 new Covid cases in New Zealand

[nowahousewife]

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-73050497.html#

Fingers crossed it's nipped in the bud but does show how difficult it is to keep anywhere free of this disease. If a small country that has pretty much shut itself off from the rest of the world can't stop Covid, what does that tell us?

I agree with AlternativePerspective and couldn't believe how much the media were congratulating NZ on what a great job they'd done by completely locking down to get rid of the virus.

NZ relies hugely on exports and tourism for its economy. Without tourism the country will face massive economic problems.

They aren’t planning to shut themselves off forever - the opening up of borders is intended to be, at first, in bubbles with low-risk countries, Australia being the first and most important candidate, at a time to be decided.

Obviously isolation protocols need to be rewritten so that travellers can’t just say they are feeling OK when being let out & about, as these two apparently did.

I also think that it will be at least another year or two before there can be proper evaluation of which countries handled the crisis best.

I’d prefer the U.K. approach for us than closed off and economic decline until vaccine.

If the vaccine only mitigates then I’d loathe to start from scratch, far better to move on through without high deaths.

Whether NZ can open up travel agreements to help them survive, possibly. We are in a different place geographically and I’d like to see travel break down.

I can’t comment on the Covid 19 cases but I’m sure that house has been in a film and it’s annoying me now that I can’t remember it! It probably wasn’t that good a film.

@BoneAppleTeaa it's from silent witness Christmas massacre I think. I also recognised it so I googled and there is a daily mail article describing it as a 25 million pound mansion!

Glad to have brought some of you pleasure with my house link, def no prob social distancing there!

I am in regular contact with friends and family in NZ (was actually there when they announced shutting the border) and listening to them is v different from what we read in the media here. They have mixed views but certainly do not consider their PM to be the wonderful leader that is portrayed here.

Most of them are far more worried about the economic implications than the virus and are feeling she has handled it well but appears to have no plan for moving forward/opening up.

Although obviously having low numbers is good in itself if vaccine mitigates.

The proportion of the British population who’ve been infected with COVID is tiny and nowhere near enough to stop it spreading here. So I’m not sure I agree with that argument.

It sounds like NZ have got a lid on this from that article. It doesn’t sound like it’s likely to cause any significant outbreak.

How many other countries opening up their borders are going to be watching this story though?

@LipstickTaserrr you’re right, thank you!!

They will be testing, but as the incubation period can extend to two weeks, quarantine for 14 days will still be needed.

If these travellers (who wished to attend a deathbed, so couldn’t wait IYSWIM) had tested negative after partial quarantine and been allowed to make that limited compassionate visit, it’s wholly in keeping with a quarantine and test on exit strategy. But the incubating virus cannot be stopped without full 14 day quarantine.

So yes, NZ will have to be remarkably vigilant and have ‘no exceptions’ quarantine. That is a policy with both economic and social consequences, and I guess only palatable in remote places which have sea borders and are reasonably self sufficient.

Herd immunity, whether by vaccine or disease, is the only possible way of making it liveable-with for more connected parts of the world. And until we know more about how immunity to this virus actually works and for how long it can be relied on, we cannot know if that end state will ever be achievable

No one here in NZ is panicking about these two cases. The message since lockdown was lifted and we dropped down to Level 1 has been that there will continue to be cases appearing, but that we are now in a position to identify and manage those cases effectively. There is some annoyance that people were allowed to leave quarantine without being tested, though.

The general sense I get is that we are mostly in favour of the approach that was taken (I.e. going into lockdown early and hard), and pleased to be back to near-normal again, but that what now happens with the economy is going to be tricky. Domestic and Trans-Tasman tourism is being enthusiastically promoted.

@Rebelwithallthecause

The house is amazing and no problem being able to socially distance inside

Even the wine and cars are socially distancing

But someone needs to tell the designer that there are colours other than white, grey and teal.

Just opened house link, blimey that is some space. Ha at SD cars etc

You could disappear from family members nicely for a day

@Angelonia

The UK has the highest number of cases compared to population in the world - that's not correct. According to worldometer the UK is 25th (for cases per 1m population).

You aren't going to get anyone to listen, Angelonia.

Those that have been shouting "We are the worst" for weeks haven't listened to any other information or perspectives. I am not sure what it will take to relieve them of some of that fear, indignation and misinformation, but it will take a while, maybe a couple of years, when there is a global in depths review!

Alternative perspective, the vaccine hasn’t gone quiet.
My stepdaughter, her husband and lots of their colleagues are having the vaccine. They are front line doctors in Brazil.
I think they are brave to volunteer , but it gives me hope that we are getting there.

@LipstickTaserrr

I can’t comment on the Covid 19 cases but I’m sure that house has been in a film and it’s annoying me now that I can’t remember it! It probably wasn’t that good a film.

@BoneAppleTeaa it's from silent witness Christmas massacre I think. I also recognised it so I googled and there is a daily mail article describing it as a 25 million pound mansion!

Yes! I knew it was a TV programme where lots of people were killed. Some were shot on that front drive outside the hous 😂

NZ can't keep themselves shut off forever, ridiculous approach

Oxford have given their vaccine a 50/50 chance of success, if successful they will be ready to go before the end of the year, NZ might only have to wait this long. There are about 100 other vaccine trials around the world. I'm quite optimistic we will have a good enough vaccine soon. NZ eradication approach has given them breathing space. I dearly wish China had taken the same path. NZ is able to completely open up its domestic economy and domestic tourism particularly as nobody will be going abroad, this will be some compensation. For the time being international tourism is pretty much dead anyway so much better NZ path than ours were we have the worst of all worlds, massive economic damage AND massive death rate. Long term, if no treatment or vaccines NZ may have to change track but by that time (even just a few months) much more will be known about the virus, different approaches countries have taken can be studied and NZ will have time to think instead of firefighting in a panic.

The world as a whole should be permanently on high guard for new viruses and ready to thrown everything at them right at the start. This should never be allowed to happen again. I am beyond angry with our politicians (not just here) that let this virus out and put pandemic plans in the bin. I don't understand how the public can be so forgiving or even say they've done a good job (!!!) we deserve better and should be demanding better.

@LarkDescending

They haven’t said they were British citizens, but they travelled from Britiain to visit a dying parent in NZ.

It is irrelevant whether they are British citizens or not. The fact is they obviously live in the uk (somewhere that isn't in control of the situation) and carried the virus to an area which had stamped out the infection before it took off.

I suspect anyone living and working in britain will find themselves not welcome in a lot of places soon.

They must have changed planes somewhere so could have caught it anywhere, really. I think the fact they were from the UK is a red herring.

alternative

You would need a much higher proportion of the country to have been exposed to be safer in future situations. According to the scientists. Plus that way you would also have thousands of people dying unnecessarily.

Approx 58% of NZ’s tourism is domestic. Of the other 42%, roughly half is Australia, followed by China & the USA, then small amounts from other countries.
If NZ opens to Australia (as is being planned) and then other low case countries like China / Asia, then thats the majority of their tourism sorted. What’s more, logically you would then expect domestic and possibly trans Tasman tourism to Increase. Yes that’s still a large economic hit to tourism, but given that NZ is now back to normal with no social distancing measures required, the rest of their economy is at a major advantage compared to countries like the UK where the ‘fear’ and social distancing measures will keep the country’s economy limping along for many more months.
Personally I think NZ will come out of this more unscathed than many other countries will. Their test and tracing is also very well organised.
Just my opinion...

@LarkDescending

They haven’t said they were British citizens, but they travelled from Britiain to visit a dying parent in NZ.

Sounds like they are new zealanders living in uk returning home as parent dying. Might be wrong but that's the way it reads to me. I have made this point on another thread but i think the NZ gov have made a very difficult situation for themselves. If 2 cases can make the international news they are now in an imposdible situation where they have no choice but to keep NZ free covid free forever as for the public - and the world watching- one case is now one case too many. They cannot produce a vaccine and even if they could they cannot test it. They are now stuck relying on other countries to produce a vaccine and sell it to them and they will not be a priority on any international vaccine list as they are not at risk of the virus and are a developed country. The Oxford vaccine will go to the uk/ europe first. They can open up to australia but will have to keep isolated from America and europe for a long time ( maybe they will be able to let in/ travel to those vaccinated countries in time) Anyway, i am wondering if the view on the go hard go early countries as being successful will change over time.

Having said that if i lived in NZ and did not work in tourism and had a secure income was happy to stay in the country for the next year or so i would be happy

@AlternativePerspective unfortunately I think you’re wrong. I worked (finished last week) in a large hospital. We’ve all undertaken the antibody testing and unless people have had covid- 19 they are testing negative for the antibodies. It puts paid to the herd immunity argument. I think there is huge second wave coming.

Everyone I know in NZ is very supportive of their PM.
It was interesting reading the processes in place in NZ for the people from the UK. It's so robust compared to here. And since these two cases, NZ has already changed their processes so that no-one will be given permission to travel from quarantine for compassionate reasons without having a Covid test first.
So, although this has been a blip, and partly caused by the person from the UK ignoring symptoms because they thought they were caused by an underlying condition, NZ has already changed its processes so it won't happen again.

I’m in NZ - no one is panicking over the two new cases. It’s generally accepted that cases will crop up from time to time, and the govt will throw everything they have at contact tracing/isolating etc.

Long term - who knows. Lots of infrastructure projects and retraining opportunities to curb the job losses.

I for one would love to see the end of mass tourism here, it’s been horrible seeing beauty spots increasingly littered with toilet paper and rubbish.