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Original poster

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

999 replies

GoldenLabbie · 31/12/2020 14:55

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?

OP posts:
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8
PicsInRed · 31/12/2020 22:01

The fact of the matter is that success around the world was largely a product of border closure - which enabled internal lockdown to do its job without constant reimportation.

We should have done that and we still should, but we probably won't, which is stupid and we'll suffer for that.

And here come the ski trips.

XingMing · 31/12/2020 22:03

It probably happens in NZ too. Having been there for several months, I know nobody there lives forever either, even with JA running the show.

TicTacTwo · 31/12/2020 22:06

Unfortunately we depend on lorries from the EU bringing us food and medicine so we couldn't just shut the borders- how many drivers would agree to quarantine upon arrival ?
I think Australians and New Zealanders deserve to celebrate after the harsh lockdowns they had

Isolatedizzy · 31/12/2020 22:10

You just have to look at the news over the past weeks British skiers leaving Verbier when they have been told to isolate, the backpackers facing deportation from Australia for partying on the beach!
We think we're special, we think rules apply to everyone else but not us!
God knows how we have come to the conclusion we are so fucking special but I would love to be in New Zealand celebrating New Year with my friends!
I haven't been out with my whole group of friends since the 15 March and my god I miss them!

nolongersurprised · 31/12/2020 22:13

The fact of the matter is that success around the world was largely a product of border closure - which enabled internal lockdown to do its job without constant reimportation.

I have never seen the point of internal lockdowns without some kind of border restrictions.

Australian news is focused on the new outbreak in NSW; in total there were 24 nee cases in the country yesterday. The U.K. had nearly 56 000.

I’m not an economist but from the news etc Australia’s biggest financial hit was when the local economy was affected by lock down with shops shut. Things seem to have picked up since. We had to stay within our state for holidays for a while but everything was very booked up.

PicsInRed · 31/12/2020 22:19

@TicTacTwo

Unfortunately we depend on lorries from the EU bringing us food and medicine so we couldn't just shut the borders- how many drivers would agree to quarantine upon arrival ? I think Australians and New Zealanders deserve to celebrate after the harsh lockdowns they had
That's why you shut to casual travel only.

How much damage was done by ski trips in Feb and March, then Spain and the med in Summer? Truckies on a quick freight turnaround don't have the level of community interaction that returning holiday makers do and it's a matter of greatly reducing importation of virus to workplaces, schools, grandparents ...and hospitals.

The question is: do we have the will to curtail Euro hols for a short time in order to save lives? If we aren't willing to postpone hols to save lives, why even bother with lockdown? We're either about saving the lives, or we're not. In which case, open it all up and move forward, no more of this ineffective, but economically disastrous, half arsed nonsense.

SkinnyMinnieee · 31/12/2020 22:24

Unfortunately we depend on lorries from the EU bringing us food and medicine so we couldn't just shut the borders- how many drivers would agree to quarantine upon arrival ?

Drivers sitting in their cabs alone for almost their entire shift aren't the issue. It's people like my colleague who has managed to get two lads holidays on this year (Portugal and Spain) and didn't isolate upon his return.

chomalungma · 31/12/2020 22:25

Let's just remember the good old days of Eat out to help out....

SkinnyMinnieee · 31/12/2020 22:27

My cleavage claimed to be staying in but was spotted twice by a colleague in the gym.

SkinnyMinnieee · 31/12/2020 22:27

Colleague not bloody cleavage!

EileenGC · 31/12/2020 22:28

Truckies on a quick freight turnaround don't have the level of community interaction that returning holiday makers do and it's a matter of greatly reducing importation of virus to workplaces, schools, grandparents ...and hospitals.

No returning holiday maker should have any level of community interaction at all. Unless you're coming from a practically Covid-free country. That's why Covid spreads, because people want holidays AND normal community interaction when they come back.

chomalungma · 31/12/2020 22:28

@SkinnyMinnieee

My cleavage claimed to be staying in but was spotted twice by a colleague in the gym.
Grin
FourTeaFallOut · 31/12/2020 22:30

@SkinnyMinnieee

My cleavage claimed to be staying in but was spotted twice by a colleague in the gym.
GrinGrin
Rainbowqueeen · 31/12/2020 22:32

New Zealand and australia haven’t had a total lockdown though like some people on this thread seem to think. There are exemptions which you can apply for and allowing goods eg food products into the country is one. Granted it would be harder to organise in the uk but I think it is doable. But there’s no evidence that this has even been thought about.
I think a better comparison to the uk is somewhere like Thailand or China. If they could do it, why not here?

TheOneLeggedJockey · 31/12/2020 22:45

Some people don’t seem to really understand how this virus works.

Yes, New Zealand has some key advantages, which we rightly took advantage of - geography and population density being the key ones. Why wouldn’t we take advantage of those things - it would be stupid not to.

But believe me, without the measures we swiftly took, the virus would have swept through our nation and killed (tens of?) thousands of us.

The Bluff wedding cluster, supposedly brought in by an air steward. It swept through the attendees in a matter of a several hours’ gathering, and killed the groom’s father.

We went into lockdown in autumn, when the northern hemisphere was going into Spring.

We were, and are, just as susceptible to the virus as any other nation in the world. It had reached our shores, and it was killing people.

We reacted.

No-one can take that away from us, and yes, now we’re living normal lives, aside from the borders being closed.

If Boris or Trump had been in charge here, things would be very, very different right now.

PicsInRed · 31/12/2020 23:14

@EileenGC

Truckies on a quick freight turnaround don't have the level of community interaction that returning holiday makers do and it's a matter of greatly reducing importation of virus to workplaces, schools, grandparents ...and hospitals.

No returning holiday maker should have any level of community interaction at all. Unless you're coming from a practically Covid-free country. That's why Covid spreads, because people want holidays AND normal community interaction when they come back.

"Should" is not what is happening. What is happening is trips to Europe then going out into the community and spreading covid all over the place. So we need to stop the hols, full stop, because some arseholes have spoiled it for everyone and they always will.
PicsInRed · 31/12/2020 23:17

If Boris or Trump had been in charge here, things would be very, very different right now.

Or NZ's own John Key. There's zero chance he would have fronted out China and closed the border. Zero. 😉

TheOneLeggedJockey · 31/12/2020 23:25

@PicsInRed

If Boris or Trump had been in charge here, things would be very, very different right now.

Or NZ's own John Key. There's zero chance he would have fronted out China and closed the border. Zero. 😉

Or Judith Collins, for that matter. ShockGrin
Wannabangbang · 31/12/2020 23:29

Yup he's had our borders open the whole time. Can't believe Americans can fly in & out either their numbers are even more catastrophic and the usa allowing Brits to fly there knowing we have a variant. Trump and Boris both a disaster

PicsInRed · 31/12/2020 23:31

Or Judith Collins, for that matter.

Her economic platform did seem to largely hinge on instantly opening the border to a global pandemic. Talk about failing to read the room, Judith. 😂

EileenGC · 31/12/2020 23:35

"Should" is not what is happening. What is happening is trips to Europe then going out into the community and spreading covid all over the place. So we need to stop the hols, full stop, because some arseholes have spoiled it for everyone and they always will.

Or the government could stop laundering taxpayer money and taking the piss out of everyone, and perhaps put a proper system in place that ensures people actually comply with quarantine? Those arseholes you refer to should be issued with a fine and let's see how long it takes for the rest to comply.

Mor12 · 31/12/2020 23:39

I doubt under EU law we could have got away with completely closing our borders for a year or more when we have over 2m EU nationals living and working here.

Mypathtriedtokillme · 31/12/2020 23:52

Well I for one (from Aus) was shocked and horrified that in the UK you could come straight home from Italy in March/April and didn’t have to quarantine (with checks and fines for non compliance) for any period of time and could send your kids straight to school as long as they didn’t have symptoms.
Or that if one of your kids were sent home after covid exposure in there “bubble” that you could still send their siblings to school rather than the whole family having to isolate as a close/casual contact.

Here i can’t send my 6 year old to school with a runny nose without her having supplied proof of a covid test negative result (which having a runny nose is enough of a reason to test.)

Honestly I think NZ and Australians as a whole are a lot more compliant, more Community 1st with less individualism than the UK.

thinkingaboutLangCleg · 31/12/2020 23:52

It wasn't hindsight, people were jumping up and down screaming at them to act at the time. Back in January and February.

I know, I remember and I couldn't understand at the time why the government was doing nothing. The shambolic results were as predicted.

Even less do I understand why people are still excusing our government, when you only have to look at other comparable countries and see how much better they have done.

PicsInRed · 31/12/2020 23:57

@EileenGC

"Should" is not what is happening. What is happening is trips to Europe then going out into the community and spreading covid all over the place. So we need to stop the hols, full stop, because some arseholes have spoiled it for everyone and they always will.

Or the government could stop laundering taxpayer money and taking the piss out of everyone, and perhaps put a proper system in place that ensures people actually comply with quarantine? Those arseholes you refer to should be issued with a fine and let's see how long it takes for the rest to comply.

There isn't such a system - this is why countries like NZ, Oz and China decided to have formal quarantine centres...and NZ had to have the army take over quarantine due to an abundance of cheeky fuckers doing a runner for a browse of the shops. Voluntary systems based on goodwill don't work for a pandemic and we either do lockdown properly or give it up altogether. Repeated lockdown whilst Heathrow goes full speed is futile and ludicrous.