New Zealand

[ConcernedAuntie]

Sorry if I have missed any updates but was it ever discovered how the infections in New Zealand started to rise again after so many days without a confirmed case?

And we now have a vaccine so it no longer causes pandemics

The vaccine is changed every year to take into account of flu virus mutation. If someone did somehow have a vial of Spanish flu that had sat in a freezer, and suddenly released it, the current vaccines probably wouldn’t be much good... Even in a good year, flu vaccinations are often not more than 50% effective because they are trying to hit a fast mutating target. In 2017-18 it was more like 15%.

Covid-19 has a different biochemistry meaning it isn’t thought to be able to mutate as quickly.

@ConcernedAuntie

Many thanks for info. It seems that I haven't missed a big announcement saying the definite source of the infection had been traced.

I used to live there & still have lots of family & friends there.

My friend, who is. Generally very good at keeping up with what's happening has told me that the outbreak with the family where the Dad was thought to be the Original contact & main spreader, was actually the daughter who was working in Duty Free at Auckland Airport. Passenger on his way to quarantine. (Returningbresidents only allowed in still, with a few exemptions)

Bloody Duty Free shouldn't be open.

Whilst we have a vaccine for the flu it still kills millions of people worldwide every year though

@TheDailyCarbuncle

At some point New Zealand will have to loosen these tight controls. They are horrendously expensive and incredibly damaging to the economy, besides which it's just not practical to carry on quarantining for months, possibly years on end.

Exactly. No country should be hanging on to the idea of a safe, readily available vaccine as it's way out of economically devastating restrictions. The vaccine might not come.

@roses2

Whilst we have a vaccine for the flu it still kills millions of people worldwide every year though

Illnesses do. It's an unavoidable fact of living.

Exactly. No country should be hanging on to the idea of a safe, readily available vaccine as it's way out of economically devastating restrictions. The vaccine might not come.

True, but it’s not the time to make that call just yet, especially for NZ. If all the vaccine trails fall flat and we’re left with little prospect of one being developed in the near figure come spring of next year then they and we, will all have to re-evaluate.

future not figure

NZ isn’t suffering as much economically as we are. It can wait until early next year to reassess.

Thanks for that info, MJMG2015

I live in NZ. At this point in time they haven’t reported anything conclusive about the index case for the Auckland Cluster.

What they do know is that the genome for this cluster is not one present in other cases previously caught at the border.

One of the working theories was that it came in via the cool store, but they haven’t been able to prove that theory.

There’s been no reporting that I’ve seen about importing the virus via illegal sea crossings between NZ and Australia (the Tasman Sea is pretty wild at this time of year), or via someone working in duty free at the airport.

For the later case you’d have to assume that the person gave two false negative tests at Day 3 and Day 12 of managed isolation, otherwise they would have been able to trace it. Alternatively, it would have needed to be a transit passenger and not subject to our managed isolation scheme.

The case of the hotel maintenance worker is different again. The virus genomes are different and have been linked to an elevator ride at the hotel. This is despite cleaning and PPE and distancing, so it gives a good indication of how sneaky this virus can be.

There is a full breakdown of data on our Ministry of Health website.

My friend, who is. Generally very good at keeping up with what's happening has told me that the outbreak with the family where the Dad was thought to be the Original contact & main spreader, was actually the daughter who was working in Duty Free at Auckland Airport. Passenger on his way to quarantine. (Returningbresidents only allowed in still, with a few exemptions)

Nothing but rumour and conjecture. There have been no reports about this despite what your friend says. @Fantail great post.

I'm in NZ. How the virus made its way back into the community isn't known. I understand that the fruit / veges theory has been disproved. The probability is that the virus made it through the border controls.

As far as the economic cost goes: the purpose of our very hard lockdown earlier this year wasn't - like elsewhere - to flatten the curve but entirely eliminate the virus. It was successful, and that was the reason for the more recent local lockdown in Auckland. It looks as if it has been successful again. This means that our economy has been able to function in a normal way in the meantime, unlike in other countries.

Excellent post @Fantail.

To those of you concerned about NZ's economy - seriously, I would worry more about your own. The NZ economy was in a better position than many other countries at the beginning of this, and we are doing better than many others at present.

I thought there was an airport worker in an NZ airport who was the main source of the recent cases? I heard so not saying this is correct

I'm in NZ. They do not know the source of the recent cluster. Genomic sequencing has not shown any obvious links. It was not the 2 women from the UK who attended a funeral. They have ruled out surface transmission at the Americold store. It has not been linked to an airport worker. I have heard no suggestion that it's from illegal smuggling. It's a mystery.