carcajou

Premier Mark McGowan reports no new cases in Western Australia for the second day in a row, but warns that he expects a "spike" in cases this week as four planeloads of returning Australians - from Malaysia, India, South Africa, and France - arrive and are quarantined in Perth for 14 days.

Beoz

At least they will be locked up and accounted for.

Beoz

The publicity stunt is back pitching to the BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-52436658

Apparently she has eliminated the virus, but still has new cases each day. Doesn't sound eliminated to me.

No need to get in the way of a good story though.

carcajou

I saw that too in the Guardian - Ardern announces NZ has "eliminated" COVID-19. Which confused me - they don't have any more active cases?

Then when I read the article, "eliminated" got watered all the way down to "no significant amounts of community transmission."

GarryP

Total for today was 8 new cases

3 QLD
2 NSW
2 TAS
1 VIC

With no new cases for SA for the 5th day running. after multiple previous days where there are been zero, one or two from known clusters, There's basically no debate about it now, they need to scrap most of the limits and open up for commerce again. More people will be committing suicide than catching covid19.

Beoz

They had one new case today. Aderns publicity spin in overdrive again.

carcajou

The Australian reports that Premier Mark McGowan is enjoying a stunning 89% approval rating in Western Australia, with 94% approving of his handling of the COVID-19 crisis.

All of the premiers are polling well, but McGowan stands out. The lowest-polling premier is Annastacia Palaszczuk in Queensland, at 55% approval.

The rundown:

McGowan (WA) 89/6
Gutwein (Tas) 84/11
Andrews (Vic) 75/17
Berejiklian (NSW) 69/23
Marshall (SA) 68/21
Palaszczuk (Qld) 55/35

Beoz

Even Trump is polling well.

Over here, we have this nightmare of an opposition leader called Jodie Mackay. She is a horrible piece of work. She is continually sniping in the background. I guess that's her job but there is a time and a place. To be fair on Albo, he's stayed mostly quiet. He jumped in bed with the unions for a bit when Virgin went under but soon went back under his rock when it became clear the Virgin owners have loads of money and a new airline would arise anyway to fill the void.

Beoz

Wow. Big News from NSW. We are opening up.

However there is a big caveat.

"We expect the handful of daily cases we see today rise considerably in May with the lifting of restrictions. However, we have spent the time putting the health systems in place to handle the increased load".

This is a big call. It's all based on the economy and mental health.

Restriction fatigue is here and they are dealing with it.

I guess a handful of cases is elimination if you live in NZ. Ha ha no ho

BTW. NSW 5 today on the back of 4000 tests.

Sounds like there is consensus elimination is impossible and it's time to get on with it.

BEVS

--

It is a strategy, called an elimination strategy, done by breaking transmissions. Oz followed/ follows a different strategy. Individual countries base decision on their own nation, populace, movement, communities, economy. Oz is not NZ and NZ is not Oz so any approach was always going to differ somewhere. For NZ , communities are small. They overlap and interlink nationwide. Everyone knows everyone, knows someone who knows someone. It is that small. This could have overwhelmed a small island country with a small population if not clamped down quickly . I think the above quotes explains in context.

Elimination is used in terms of transmission.

I'll leave it there as I am not interested in the slaggy argy bargy that goes on in the Barbie. But I did feel the need to write a refocus on what is the actuality rather than the twist on the strategy.

HTH

Beoz

That's a very confusing strategy and even more confusing aim of end result.

Sounds very much like a politician back tracking.

COVID cases aside what about the economy, mental health, all equally important considerations.

Everyone knows everyone in Victoria, land size similar, population similar, however NZ has the added transmission benefit of being 2 islands. Not sure the total lockdown mistake will fly in the long run.

It was very much over pumped and the people should ask why.

Amazulu

Level 2 restrictions, or possibly level 3 for a short while, would have been sufficient. Level 4 was totally unnecessary and OTT

I guess the voters in NZ will let us know what they think about this in September

BEVS

Nope. The strategy was coming into place mid March and implemented a few days later. The nation was told which models were being considered and which may be the best fit for NZ. It is actually quite simple . Break the transmissions. Keep to that and then slowly lift restrictions in a way to be able to properly deal with any outbreaks very quickly, all the while learning and putting into place safeguards, ensuring services were not overwhelmed. Remember , NZ knows disaster through quakes, mass shooting and recently the volcano eruption. It knew what capacity it had . Many other countries did not have this practical knowledge from experience.
Transmission here would have been very very fast and widespread nationwide if little had been done. That's NZ.

It's been 5 weeks , not 5 months or years. The summer school shutdowns and breaks last longer here. This encompassed the Easter and Anzac breaks. It will be a further 2 weeks. Work will already have been underway by all parties , associations, unions and the like to look at how the economy can move forward within and on this very changed global stage.
Mental health has been incredibly well supported here all round. I know this from a grass roots level and also know it extends well nationwide.

No need to ask anything. It is all quite clear. Motto: Better to be safe than sorry. Another motto: There are no pockets in shrouds. My own thoughts = not overblown at all. NZ being the way it is, the potential for the virus to spread very fast, far & wide to every corner was there . I am glad that was not allowed to happen.

NZ is maybe the only 'western' country to follow this strategy but it is not the only country. In fact this strategy has been followed before previously for other types of outbreaks in other places. It is not new.

This says that you don't really understand how NZ operates and moves about its everyday life & business. That's fine as you don't live here but the two island thing is not a thing. Movement isn't like that. As stated, this current level 3 is for 2 weeks. That is not long term. What will be long term for the globe though is how borders are managed & how economies shape up following this pandemic crisis. For that , all countries will be in the same boat in that respect and would hopefully work together ( sigh - one can hope) regardless of Covid19 pandemic strategies.

Beoz

With all due respect, New Zealand isn't really that different to a Victoria. And to make it harder to combat for Victorians, Victoria's population density is higher than NZ. And yes I spend time in New Zealand for work. Most recently Palmerston North for a week then over to Gisborne for a week. This is a regular thing. NZ is not that foreign to me.

I am sure kiwis are pretty proud of their efforts while burying the excessive economic consequences of the over-zealous response. An over-zealous response brought on by a Prime Minister who is very conscious maintaining her global appeal and is now having to justify what elimination really means.

In hindsight I am sure NZ'ers would have rather gone for a what you call over there, a level 3 response, where the economy can keep ticking over, given the stats from the crippling level 4 response are not really where they should be. And that's OK. This is all learning for the world.

BEVS

I didn't expect you to agree with my posts. I expected you to push against them . That is what you do. I was posting to add balance and perspective as someone that has lived and worked in NZ for a good 16 years now & is currently living in NZ alongside its own Covid19 crisis.
Have a bit more think though & maybe a bit of a read up on critical care beds and hospital capacity nationwide. NZ is not Victoria. Victoria is a part of Oz. NZ is stand alone.

Here is an explanation of the use of the word elimination as was explained several times by Dr. Bloomfield and then used by J Ardern. I understood it. BTW , a prime minister is advised by many others. A prime minister does not make decisions without across the board consultation. That includes experts in their field. That is both national and international.

Quote:

When epidemiologists use the word eliminate in the context of Covid-19, they mean to bring the disease under control and reduce cases to zero in a particular geographical location. Of course, when anyone who isn’t an epidemiologist hears the word eliminate, they understand it to mean to completely remove or get rid of something. The word epidemiologists have for that is eradication.

All I can repeat is that NZ works in its own way & although you visit a bit you do not understand really just how the country ticks & operates at the contact level. The movement of people around this very small country is around small communities. All communities have links to other communities - over both islands. In usual times the entire place is awash with international tourists at every single corner. A virus like this one, largely unchecked, would ravage it . The economy was always going to get a very severe knock . The equation was what could be saved and what could be risked.

Now. You can seek to denigrate from afar, because you simply disagree, if you so wish. It doesn't change anything other than you being scathing of a country where you do not live. Why you would seek to do that I am not sure & will not interest myself.

NZ is now able to contain and track this dreadful virus. It knows it has the assorted capacities , in its own small way as a small nation, to deal with that. It will build on that safely. Hopefully other countries will find themselves in a similar position . From there maybe borders can open somewhat. For a small country like NZ that would be a huge boon but not if it once again puts the whole NZ populace at risk of an epidemic. NZ has enough natural risks to deal with , it doesn't need viral epidemics also.