NZ back into lockdown.

[Malin52]

1 case in the community. All of NZ back into lockdown Level 4 because no link to border found.

Hard and fast.

@Mandalay246

New Zealand has only 185 fully vaccinated.

I would love to know where you are getting your information from. There are more than 185 vaccinated in the small town I live in.

That was a typo. 18% not 185 :-)

@NannyAndJohn

Do you think that Covid can be transmitted over a 21 mile distance, *@TheGenealogist*?

Of course we could have done what NZ did. But Johnson was happy to, in his own words, let the bodies pile up.

No, but you can get here in a dinghy if you absolutely have to. You can get a train in the comfort of your own vehicle. Not like you can do that in NZ really is it.

@NannyAndJohn

Do you think that Covid can be transmitted over a 21 mile distance, *@TheGenealogist*?

Of course we could have done what NZ did. But Johnson was happy to, in his own words, let the bodies pile up.

Why am I even bothering to reply to the Dementor in Chief but....

How much freight passes in and out of Dover every day? How many flights use Heathrow as a hub? How many UK jobs depend on transport or links to other countries compared with NZ jobs? What other countries in Western Euroepe have sealed themselves off in a perfect, sterile bubble?

In fact Nanny, NZ sounds like it would suit you perfectly. You could bang on all day about zero-Covid with people who have similar ideas. You could shriek in horror about ONE CASE and resume planning your Zoom family gatherings.

But the biggest benefit of all is that you'd be 12,000 miles away from the rest of us.

I wonder if the confirmed case there is delta? Does anyone know?

@Turangawaewae

Every case in the community or on our borders is PCR tested so the exact genetic code can be analysed. If this new case matches someone in Managed Isolation then we know where it came from. We also do waste water screening which is a surveillance tool to check for community cases.

This is properly awesome. Seeing as other countries weren’t allowed to travel, having everything and schools open and normal and concerts and sport is actually something we would have wanted in the U.K. the last year. Not ineffective lockdowns but allowing MPs to travel to India and then straight back to spread it round Westminster. Lock down immediately is what is needed, not the U.K. giving people a weeks notice to go crazy before a lockdown etc

@NannyAndJohn

Do you think that Covid can be transmitted over a 21 mile distance, *@TheGenealogist*?

Of course we could have done what NZ did. But Johnson was happy to, in his own words, let the bodies pile up.

The 21 miles is relevant because hundreds of vans cross the channel daily to bring our essential supplies. NZ are more independent - they have to be because they're too far from other countries to depend on them for their essentials. NZ freight is mostly containerised on container ships.

The UK couldn't make itself self-reliant in such a short time and don't have the port facilities for the thousands of extra containers it would need to handle if our essential supplies couldn't be driven across the channel.

You're trying to compare apples and a brick!

I am really dismayed to see how many people still support lockdowns as 'normal' and the default go-to.

I think it’s time NZ and Australia moved beyond quantifying success purely based death statistics. Most of the people that have succumbed to covid were elderly (median age of a covid death is 83 here in the UK) and did not have many quality life years left. Every life is indeed precious, but that loss must be weighed against other losses: the mental health toll of perpetual lockdown, the separation of families (in Australia between states now, not just family members abandoned overseas), the economic damage — long and short term, the inherent dangers of allowing the state intrude into the private realm for a sustained period, and so on.

@QueenofKattegat I am really dismayed to see how many people still support lockdowns as 'normal' and the default go-to. well it’s not normal, but you would rather the nhs was overwhelmed and hundreds of thousands of people died so the healthy can have business as usual?

the mental health toll of perpetual lockdown

I really do wish people would not lump everyone in together. NZ, and some parts of Australia, have NOT been in "perpetual lockdown"

@Mandalay246

the mental health toll of perpetual lockdown

I really do wish people would not lump everyone in together. NZ, and some parts of Australia, have NOT been in "perpetual lockdown"

No, but the threat is there, isn't it? Those of you in NZ are in limbo, knowing that you can be locked down with very little notice because of one case. Not everyone finds living with that uncertainty easy.

And you might not be locked down but you are locked in; unable to leave. NZ is an amazing place and I can think of worse countries to be confined to, but again, it's not much of a stretch to realise that people are desperately missing their family and have been banned from travel for 18 months already.

Do you have LFT?

This thread reeks of envy at NZ’s position.
I’m not in NZ but they are doing what is best for them.
It is not other countries business.
As for the disgusting comment about the deaths of the elderly population being necessary for the good of others, it is sickening.

@Dancingonmoonlight

This thread reeks of envy at NZ’s position. I’m not in NZ but they are doing what is best for them. It is not other countries business. As for the disgusting comment about the deaths of the elderly population being necessary for the good of others, it is sickening.

As for the disgusting comment about the deaths of the elderly population being necessary for the good of others, it is sickening.

That is not at all what I said. No death is “necessary”. But when quantifying loss and assessing the best way forward I think it’s important, 18 months into this thing, to look at the full range of suffering that’s occurring.

What’s the long term goal in NZ & Aus? Vaccines are very much stopping serious illness but they aren’t stopping cases very much. A little but not as much as perhaps thought with the Delta variant. What happens then in Aus & NZ? They reach a vaccination level you are comfortable with, will they still persue zero covid? It seems impossible. And therefore cases will increase & so will deaths. Vaccines are not 100%..

I think in the U.K. we are very much in the learn to live with it stage. I don’t really know anyone who is scared anymore. Life is going on reasonably normally. I wonder what that’ll be like in NZ? When cases increase & deaths occur, will people be more concerned? Will they want to lockdown again? Shut the borders? It doesn’t seem very sustainable long term!

I think it must have been fab to live in NZ during the pandemic, deffo envious! I had a good friend move back home to the U.K. a couple months ago after 8 years in NZ with her NZ born husband & I thought she was bonkers 😂 But just pondering what the long term plan is gona be for countries perusing zero covid.. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Is very interesting. I can't claim to have sufficient expertise on Covid to know whether the NZ approach will be effective in the long term or not. But then I think very few people know the answer to that question. Even the scientists can't seem to predict outcomes with much certainty.

Once the population is vaccinated and the borders open, it really will show how 'effective' the vaccine is. As virtually no one in NZ has any natural immunity. So it will effectively be the Delta variant (or whatever the latest dominant strain is) versus vaccine.

The local hospitals and medics will not have experience in managing covid cases. I imagine they will need to invest in training before the borders are opened.

It wasn’t death that motivated me, it was getting out of lockdown.

Yes agree that too!

Of course we could have done what NZ did. But Johnson was happy to, in his own words, let the bodies pile up.

Oh don't be so daft, can't believe people still trot this crap out after 18 months. They did it because they're in a completely different situation to us geographically, economically, population size etc. You are just being obtuse as usual NannyAndJohn

I agree with PP that if the NZ population are happy then that's great, but it seems bonkers that they haven't used the luxury of being Covid free to vaccinate their entire, very small, population

The way that Jacinda Ardern was talking in her announcement, it makes it still sound like Covid is this terrifying thing that everyone will immediately drop dead from on contact - 'it transmits just from walking past someone.... Don't talk to your neighbours!'

Sounds like MN circa March 2020

NZ has an awfully long way to go with regards to Living With Covid, it seems...

@Jackgrealishscurtains

The way that Jacinda Ardern was talking in her announcement, it makes it still sound like Covid is this terrifying thing that everyone will immediately drop dead from on contact - 'it transmits just from walking past someone.... Don't talk to your neighbours!'

Sounds like MN circa March 2020

NZ has an awfully long way to go with regards to Living With Covid, it seems...

Let’s pray NZ never gets to the level of insanity that was MN in March 2020. They’ve still got quite a way to go

Hilarious to see some people react to NZ's lockdown as if it's something crazy in comparison to what we've all endured here.

A country which has been largely free of serious restrictions throughout the pandemic, having their response called "crazy" or a "nightmare" by people who've experienced severe lockdowns, months of restrictions, and 130k dead.

I know which response I'd have personally experienced if I were given the choice.

@OnTheBrink1

I wonder if the confirmed case there is delta? Does anyone know?

Very likely given that delta is now the dominant one in most of the world. Have relatives out there and am concerned. When the delta variant was detected here in the UK, most vulnerable family members were fully vaccinated. That's not true for family members in NZ. Surely it could spread widely and quickly in a population such as NZ with such low immunity due to previous infection / vaccination and where no social distancing measures are in place.

I’d do the same in NZ’s position at the moment but my god they need to get the vax rolled out & then look at opening up.

@QueenofKattegat

I am really dismayed to see how many people still support lockdowns as 'normal' and the default go-to.

It's because loads of people like this isolated, restricted, rule bound and low energy way of living. There's been a lot of gratuitous enjoyment of lockdown life and it also gives sanctimonious types the opportunity to virtue signal. People love it and are terrified of a return to "normal".