To be shocked at how normal everything looks in New Zealand?

[GoldenLabbie]

Huge crowds seeing the New Year. No masks, no social distancing. You wouldn’t know that the rest of the world is in the grip of a pandemic looking at those scenes. How did we manage to get it so wrong but they got it so right? When you look at that you realise how the rest have screwed up so badly don’t you? I wonder what they make of all?

Loving your posts @mbosnz

Oh and no visors allowed, only masks (on the advice of experts).

Our PM in Australia is no better than BJ. But most of the state premiers seemed to make science backed (not necessarily popular) decisions.

Many Australians had an a unimaginably hard year (bushfires burning their homes in early 2020). But like the NZers, they stuck it out and the low/no Covid is a testament to their personal sacrifices and the govt limits on people entering/leaving our islands.

@EpilatingMeSoftly

Oh and no visors allowed, only masks (on the advice of experts).

Our PM in Australia is no better than BJ. But most of the state premiers seemed to make science backed (not necessarily popular) decisions.

Many Australians had an a unimaginably hard year (bushfires burning their homes in early 2020). But like the NZers, they stuck it out and the low/no Covid is a testament to their personal sacrifices and the govt limits on people entering/leaving our islands.

Honestly our personal sacrifices have been huge. It’s not that.

@EssentialHummus

That’s what competent governance looks like.

Yep.

Pmsl

Of course they can do it - no-one can get in or out.

People can get in with valid reason but 2 weeks quarantine is required and done properly in a hotel

The Isle of Man is also living a normal life but has closed boarders

We’ve chosen not to close boarders, not to do tracking tracing, not really do anything whole heartedly and fucked up what we do do

@lljkk

Taiwan is nervous.

They've made the right call with limited NY celebrations. If the new variant is effectively lockdown resistant, and if new variant spreads from NY mixing, how would zero covid countries re-eliminate it without closing absolutely everything, including supermarkets?

Isle of Man?

They could have closed borders to everything except urgent freight travel (food and medicines), and set up quarantine & testing centres in port-side hotels if absolutely necessary

They could have let the NHS run the test and trace, rather than given it to their mates to create from scratch. They could have ordered PPE from all the internal companies offering to make it, instead of giving orders to their mates

They could have talked to other countries with this experience for help in how to tackle it successfully, what precautions to take with imports/exports etc

^^This.

I still find the excuses and sense of entitlement coupled with a 'better than' attitude of won't ask or listen or model other countries, quite astonishing.

Hard ears. Is it worth it, really?

@GrumpyHoonMain Yes. For the best because NZ is also, overall, not a wealthy country or highly education - a lot of people probably wouldn’t have been followed a strict lockdown.

It's highly EDUCATED for a start.

A lot of people have been FOLLOWING a strict lockdown.

Just thought I'd help you out there on your English. With love from someone educated to post graduate level in New Zealand. Not too sure how my father managed a PhD in New Zealand with the lack of education

@MarshaBradyo

It’s easy to say in hindsight they did the wrong thing, thinking that you alone would have done differently.

In January the picture was very different even for the organisation everyone was following.

Nope, we were in work, late feb, all saying surely he has to act now?

I bought 5 litres of hand gel from a wholesaler for £16, mid feb, even then it was impossible to buy the stuff, so obv plenty were predicting problems ahead.
And before i get slated, i gave away most of it to elderly neighbours and friends who needed it more than me but couldn't get any.

Same in the summer, incredulity that bojo had the eat out to help out scheme.

@DeeCeeCherry

They could have closed borders to everything except urgent freight travel (food and medicines), and set up quarantine & testing centres in port-side hotels if absolutely necessary

They could have let the NHS run the test and trace, rather than given it to their mates to create from scratch. They could have ordered PPE from all the internal companies offering to make it, instead of giving orders to their mates

They could have talked to other countries with this experience for help in how to tackle it successfully, what precautions to take with imports/exports etc

^^This.

I still find the excuses and sense of entitlement coupled with a 'better than' attitude of won't ask or listen or model other countries, quite astonishing.

Hard ears. Is it worth it, really?

Could we?

I’d like to see modelling and insight on it. I’m not sure but I’d take a good article or post even on it from someone who has facts ready.

And I'm aghast that the UK still hasn't closed our borders to casual travel. If we still haven't done so on 1st January, I'll be quite angry - there's no longer any excuse not to do so and not to apply quarantine once freedom movement no longer applies.

@GetOffYourHighHorse

'It’s astounding to me though the amount of people out there who have got their backs up because of where we are now. Funny how jealousy can make some people act that way'

Oh dear. I'm not 'jealous' it is just factually incorrect to say NZ has got anything right because they 'went hard'. Granted compliance seems to be a big factor however for the trillionth time an isolated location with a relatively tiny population is far more relevant than 'going hard'. As I say I'm pleased NZ had it easy but the smuggery and self congratulating is a bit silly.

I'm sorry, but have you read what you said? Compliance is a big factor because of an isolated location with a relatively tiny population? What prsumption.

NZ 'had it easy', but the 'smuggery and self congratulating is a bit silly'?

And you want to talk about xenophobia? LOL.

Jas I remember the weekend when Brighton guy arrived. We would have had asymptomatic cases before then. I wonder how many cases we had by then?

That was Feb 8th. We were so far away from doing a NZ lock down psychologically. The WHO was still guiding everyone not to close borders still.

NZ has a higher avg wage per capita than the UK .....

@PicsInRed

And I'm aghast that the UK still hasn't closed our borders to casual travel. If we still haven't done so on 1st January, I'll be quite angry - there's no longer any excuse not to do so and not to apply quarantine once freedom movement no longer applies.

Why couldn't the UK apply quarantine and make sure people isolated properly before 1st of January?

Most EU countries have quarantine/testing regulations and they actually check you comply with them. Freedom of movement isn't an excuse for not implementing a system that ensures returning travellers isolate when required.

@WhatIsGinLiqueurAnyway

Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea all have high population densities, all are highly interconnected for trade and tourism with the rest of Asia. In many ways very comparable to the UK. All have managed this much better than us. Japan has managed even though their legal system doesn't allow them to implement lockdown.

What I want to know is, why haven't we learned from them? Why haven't we just realised that they know what they're doing, and taken on board their methods? Is it a kind of racism? I keep hearing that 'oh well they're different from us'. How, exactly? They're all liberal democracies, same as us.

In many of those countries it already was a cultural norm for people to wear masks whenever they had so much as a minor sniffle. They already had the right mindset. In Britain, no matter who we had as a Prime Minister you'd still have people wandering around with their masks under their chin.

@grassisjeweled

The UK is an island.

An ISLAND. Like NZ.

Ideal place to shut the borders.

Gold star you've spotted the one thing the same. There are a million things very different about the UK and NZ.

It could be quite an eye opener for some Britons to know that History is not just written from their point of view. . .

Here's a thought .....how easy do you think it is the control the movements of 66 million people against a highly infectious virus? Do people honestly think we could have ever eradicated it. I think that thought is bollocks

presumption.

Feb 8th, perhaps but it was in europe and spreading fast, we did nothing, i mean nothing at all for another 6 weeks!!!

That is gross negligence.

I ve some friends in Alta Badia, they said the UK must lock down now... that was early march, before my birthday, so around the 10th, checked msg, it was 12th, took BJ another 2 weeks.

Auckland, for example, is very built up and densely populated and they still managed to get the instances of community transmission under control there.

And has a high population of Maori and people of Pacific Island ethnicity, who have higher rates of overweight/obesity and type 2 diabetes. The virus would have wrecked havoc there.

Their track and trace and public health response was awesome as well. Jacinda said the alternative was thousands of dead NZers and she wasn’t prepared to accept that.

The Quarantining in Australia and NZ of returning travellers is pretty brutal but it works

'NZ 'had it easy', but the 'smuggery and self congratulating is a bit silly' And you want to talk about xenophobia? LOL'

Erm that's not xenophobic it is here evident in the 'didn't we do well!' as if it's a talent show, whereas your 'Empirical exceptionalists' and referring to 'some pillock of a British commander' does have a xenophobic whiff about it.

'But like the NZers, they stuck it out and the low/no Covid is a testament to their personal sacrifices and the govt limits on people entering/leaving our islands.'

It's a testament to the isolated location, weather (everyone outside in the sun?), population density and population size.