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Original poster

That New Zealand's strategy has failed

999 replies

JudesBiggestFan · 22/08/2021 23:21

And they will have to start the long and painful process of learning to live with Covid? I spoke to my friend in NZ earlier and he was in shock at being back in lockdown. He said they really felt they'd defeated the virus and this has just come out of nowhere. I feel for him but an airborne virus...it can't be stopped. And the cost of trying is too high. Or do they still have a chance of beating the virus?

OP posts:
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5
Fordian · 23/08/2021 12:18

I saw the title of this thread and reached for the popcorn, figuratively speaking.

I knew it would rapidly descend the way it has! The 'Australia' threads re Covid went the same way.

This 'league table' bun fight is infantile.

disco123 · 23/08/2021 12:19

Where is there a nasty thread about the UK?

Quartz2208 · 23/08/2021 12:22

Just been deleted disco123 after it was posted by a new user who they deregged calling us Plague island

54321nought · 23/08/2021 12:22

It was there ten minutes ago. It has been there 12 hours. Thanks for reporting it. I'll remember that.

you will remember what? not to think about the UK as the centre of the world? that would be progress!

AnyOldPrion · 23/08/2021 12:23

@Bryonyshcmyony

Then that's probably enough for it then isn't it? If it can be transmitted easily as that's all it needs. It doesn't want to kill its host.
It’s a virus. It doesn’t “want” anything. It reproduces and as long as its host can live long enough to infect others, it has a successful pathway. Ebola was only contained because it wasn’t airborne.
AngryWhompingWillow · 23/08/2021 12:29

@54321nought

It was there ten minutes ago. It has been there 12 hours. Thanks for reporting it. I'll remember that.

you will remember what? not to think about the UK as the centre of the world? that would be progress!

I will remember YOU - and you maliciously reporting my post which had nothing wrong with it. I was just stating facts which you didn't like, so you spitefully and maliciously reported my post.

It was there for 12 hours with no problems at all.

And then a few minutes after I posted on here this morning, my post from 12 hours ago, was deleted... 3 minutes after that, you gleefully told me it had been deleted. It's so obvious it was you who reported it. At least own it.

JeanneDoe · 23/08/2021 12:40

I stopped respecting NZ and Jacinda A. when they sent a male bodied person to participate in womens wrestling in the Olympics. #nothankyou.

Not just NZ's Covid strategy that has failed.

FourTeaFallOut · 23/08/2021 12:42

@JeanneDoe

I stopped respecting NZ and Jacinda A. when they sent a male bodied person to participate in womens wrestling in the Olympics. #nothankyou.

Not just NZ's Covid strategy that has failed.

Oh give over. I'm as gender critical as the next mnetter but that is an epic derail.
lannistunut · 23/08/2021 12:45

maliciously reporting my post which had nothing wrong with it At risk of getting in the middle of a private row, MNHQ would not have deleted it if there was nothing wrong with it.

FourTeaFallOut · 23/08/2021 12:46

MN of late would delete a post that said the sky is blue if someone moaned about it.

Snoozer11 · 23/08/2021 12:49

Even the fully vaccinated can be infected with covid, so they'll be doing this forever.

I get tired of the comparisons to NZ.

NZ has a total population of less than half of London, spread throughout a land mass which is slightly larger than that of Britain.

2bazookas · 23/08/2021 13:00

While they were locked down tight and safe, was the golden time to vaccinate everybody.

They didn't, and now they've got the worst possible scenario; rampant Delta + inadequate vaccination levels.

They blew it.

2bazookas · 23/08/2021 13:02

NZ has a total population of less than half of London, spread throughout a land mass which is slightly larger than that of Britain.

But with great access and communications to all areas. So they could very well have vaccinated the whole population.

Fordian · 23/08/2021 13:04

@DottyHarmer

I’m not one for schadenfreude about anything, especially not covid.

Nevertheless, I would be interested if any of the NZ posters on here getting very hot under the collar were previously boasting about NZ’s success and “laughing” at the UK at the point we were wading through the worst of it.

If so, they are hypocrites.

Yes, I think there will inevitably be some schadenfreud going on.

There was definitely crowing from Australia and New Zealand over the UK situation on MN.

And I'm (half) Australian. We can be quite 'chippy' if Australia is criticised, so we're possibly seeing a similar thing regarding NZ.

I genuinely hope that Australasia can get through this with minimal deaths, but I also hope there is a little recognition of those that were forced to 'lead the way' in vaccination development, 'guinea pigging' with them, effective therapies and treatments developed in the white hot heat of overcrowded Covid wards.

HotPinkTeaSet · 23/08/2021 13:15

@JeanneDoe

I stopped respecting NZ and Jacinda A. when they sent a male bodied person to participate in womens wrestling in the Olympics. #nothankyou.

Not just NZ's Covid strategy that has failed.

Did the NZ government pick their Olympic team? Not that it’s got anything to do with the thread, obviously.
Skysblue · 23/08/2021 13:17

The policy of keeping it out was good - saved many many lives, unlike the 10000s of unnecessary deaths in UK. BUT there was never any chance of keeping it out forever, they should have used that time to vaccinate. I don’t quite understand what happened there.

Even without vaccines tho, it was stil worth them delaying the virus for a year+. There are drugs to treat it now that doctors didn’t know about when this began.

NeverTalkToStrangers · 23/08/2021 13:34

New Zealand has a highly urbanised population. That’s not what’s kept its Covid (or vaccination) levels low.
data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS?locations=NZ&name_desc=true

It doesn’t have the entire Schengen region within swimming distance though. The UK could have done much better than we did, but they could never have done what New Zealand did because we were seeded with infected half-term skiers from every middle class area in the country before we even knew what to look for.

Hemingwaycat · 23/08/2021 13:39

Shame they haven’t vaccinated more of the population because other than that, I think they’ve had the right idea from the off. I don’t think their stats are a massive failure at all. 5 mil population, only 3k cases and 26 deaths. Puts us to shame, we still have more cases than that per day now.

TractorAndHeadphones · 23/08/2021 14:43

YANU they’ve done well to last! Jesus the sour grapes…

LimeRedBanana · 23/08/2021 15:03

@2bazookas

While they were locked down tight and safe, was the golden time to vaccinate everybody.

They didn't, and now they've got the worst possible scenario; rampant Delta + inadequate vaccination levels.

They blew it.

‘Rampant Delta’….?

There are 107 cases in the community.

And we are not even one week into lockdown.

Everyone should just calm down a bit. We are.

FourTeaFallOut · 23/08/2021 15:08

There are 107 cases in the community

There was one a week ago. I've got my fingers crossed that NZ can get ahead of it and demonstrate that a fatalistic approach to cases is unnecessary. But it has already exceeded the upper limit of the predicted fall out of the initial case which was assumed to have a 50-100 limit. But it's still rising, even in lockdown - and the rhetoric is beginning to shift to prime the population for a longer lockdown.

LimeRedBanana · 23/08/2021 15:10

Let’s wait and see how things pan out, shall we?

It is a stretch to 107 cases in the community as ‘rampant’.

LimeRedBanana · 23/08/2021 15:10

A stretch to describe …

FourTeaFallOut · 23/08/2021 15:13

The virus is rampant, as in it has a far higher r0 than the earlier strains. I don't think anyone thinks 100 cases is rampant.

LimeRedBanana · 23/08/2021 15:24

Well, given our low population density and geographical position - and the fact that we all socially distance ‘by default’ Wink - I’m not really sure why everyone is catastrophising.

It’s been repeatedly pointed out how easy it is for us to control the virus, due to these factors.

If we’ve got it so easy due to all these unique factors to our advantage, we’ll be fine, surely.

I am being sarcastic, in case it’s not obvious. We’ve always known exactly how quickly and easily the virus could have swept through, which is why the ‘go hard and go early approach’ has widespread support.

As I say, we’re not even a week into lockdown. No need to panic/catastrophise just yet.

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