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?

@lioncitygirl yes and they were more prepared as and also never had the huge numbers , it was widely in europe before we even knew it and who were advising not to close borders

Also figures never went up after help Out to eat out why do people say this , they went up when we hit winter and schools opened
Its has been devastating across most of europe , look at figures
We still don't know all about this virus and why some are more susceptible than others
Germany had this quite under control now have a look whats happened
People state other countries without looking as to why

The fact people make a comparison of nz to uk is quite worrying really , seeing as you couldn't have 2 more different countries in terms of population , size etc

Also figures never went up after help Out to eat out why do people say this

Did they go down?
Did we have the virus under control?

It was summer. Rather than try to ensure we had it under control and had an effective track and trace system in place, we instead focused on the service economy and encouraged people to go to restaurants and pubs, meet inside and get cheap meals.

In retrospect, does that seem like a good thing to have done?

Or should we have ensured that the levels were as low as possible and got a very effective track and trace system up and running?

More people were compliant in the first lockdown and I agree we should have shut the borders then, and for the duration of that lockdown. We are an island and could have been in the position New Zealand are in now. Three lockdowns later people are thinking what's the point, nothing has changed. I personally follow the rules but can see why some people don't.

@TheOneLeggedJockey

You seem very bitter *@GetOffYourHighHorse*

If it’s any consolation, Boris would have done just as shambolic a job, if he’d been in charge in NZ.

Not bitter at all @TheOneLeggedJockey, just a bit exasperated by the jacinda is a legend excitement.

The UK has similar per capita infection rates and similar per capita death rates to France, Spain and Italy. Please see the handy link below. So perhaps everywhere has done it wrong and Jacinda is a legend afterall yay. I don't think so.

www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Not bitter at all @TheOneLeggedJockey, just a bit exasperated by the jacinda is a legend excitement

25 deaths in New Zealand is pretty impressive compared to the a lot of other places.

Their government showed leadership and has respect, I'm happy for them

@NKfffffffff3276db0X11e9915487a

Their government showed leadership and has respect, I'm happy for them

This

You're quoting yourself there @NKfffffffff3276db0X11e9915487a

I'm not sure if the UK could have eliminated covid. But I am sure they could have done a hell of a lot better than they have.

In NZ, I don't think our initial aim was elimination - certainly comms at the time were around flattening the curve (Thanks Siouxsie) to allow our health services to cope. We didn't go into lockdown to eliminate covid or ensure our freedoms, rather to protect the vulnerable people around us. While we don't have the same amount of international travel as the UK, we still used to have 1 million people passing through the international terminal at Auckland Airport every month. If 1% of those brought in Covid, we could not have contained the virus.

We were very lucky we had Jacinda rather than one of the right wing leaders. Her leaderships itself is a product of Proportional Representation as we had a coalition government at the time. I shudder to think what Key, Collins or Bridges would have done.

A joke for the poster who called Oz 'the arse end of nowhere':

God was spotted on South Island in March. A kiwi asked him what he was doing there. "Working from home" was the reply.

I'm quite happy in my #NZhellhole.

@chomalungma it helped keep many a buisness going and we were not going to eradicate
Like it not the economy had to also be considered, many a hospitality person I have spoke to said without eat out scheme they wouldn't be able to continue now , so I don't actually think it was that bad a scheme and pubs / restaurants where people are eating don't seem to if been the big spreaders

@donewithitalltodayandxmas

Also figures never went up after help Out to eat out why do people say this , they went up when we hit winter and schools opened Its has been devastating across most of europe , look at figures We still don't know all about this virus and why some are more susceptible than others Germany had this quite under control now have a look whats happened People state other countries without looking as to why The fact people make a comparison of nz to uk is quite worrying really , seeing as you couldn't have 2 more different countries in terms of population , size etc

Figures started to rise in August, the EOTHO month.

@GetOffYourHighHorse
@UsedUpUsername

Unfortunately the UK is in the top 10 highest Covid death rates in the world and has been for some time. You don't even need to compare it with NZ or Oz ( 25 deaths / 4.5 million & 909 deaths / 25 million) to see that the UK, compared with other European countries, has consistently had a higher death rate (& markedly slower / more lax approach).

@chomolungma the eat out to help out had nothing to do with lack of track and trace the hospitality industry don't run this , there was no reason why both couldn't be done. The virus isn't under control across the whole of europe, would you propose we shut all down for a year and have no economy at all , I mean the nhs is funded with taxes so it has to be taken into context
Its always been about protecting the nhs

@YankeeinKingArthursCourt so what about italy and spain and belgium

@YankeeinKingArthursCourt you need to be looking at per capita not just deaths ,as a country ,
with 5 million people ,if 10% are affected won't have same numbers as a country if 50000 with 5% affected.

@Kazzyhoward show me the graphs where they went up in august and it was confirmed caught in pubs / restaurants ?
Every place I have ate in has had better restrictions in place than most of the supermarkets and shops ?

the eat out to help out had nothing to do with lack of track and trace the hospitality industry don't run this , there was no reason why both couldn't be done

Instead of focusing our efforts on Test, track and trace, we talked about Eat out to help out and holidays abroad.

@Kazzyhoward we also need to remember when it comes to cases that testing got better month on month , currently we are doing many more tests than other eu countries

@chomalungma we didn't , me and you can't do track and trace
The economy minster is also nit responsible for track and trace , his job is the economy so thats what he did.
How do you think he can pay furlough without raising money in as well.
There was no reason we couldn't have both its entirely seperate

@UsedUpUsername - not sure these stats would agree with you

www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

I’m at the beach today. There’s a big crowd here. Families and friends together. We all greet each other with a happy new year + an acknowledgment of how lucky we are. Everyone but the most ardent Collins supporters acknowledge that it was our leadership (and that’s not just JA) that has us in the position we’re in.

We all feel fortunate, we’re all very thankful. None of us take it for granted. We know what we did in lockdown was different from other counties.

My brother and his partner move back here for good in April. He’s been in the UK for nearly 20 years, but there’s nothing holding him there, and the pull back here is great.

I am glad there is now a vaccine and hope we can all start to put this behind us. DH hopes to see his elderly parents, who are on the other side of the world, again.

@Brissiegirl yes they do back her up if you look up the per capita
You can't compare a country just on deaths ,as a country with 50000 million with 5% of deaths say and a country with 5 million with 10% . The larger country will have higher deaths in total ( more people) but not per capita ( population )

@TheOneLeggedJockey can you not see that due to your size of population , country and location made it easier to do what you did as well though ? Yes your leadership was good as she could if said business as usual but not really comparable to europe in any way

@donewithitalltodayandxmas

Yes, the UK Covid death rates PER CAPITA are # 10 in the world currently and have been for quite some time. We're higher than Spain, France and Germany too . Looking at Worldometer & Statista sites.

So why do you think this is the case?