Mishclark

😂😂

Charismatic

Reduced alert level on Monday. It doesn't seem like much progress has been made since the last announcement with new cases still popping up and no development on locating an index case.

Not sure about this one, it seems the governments appetite for risk is surprisingly high. ​​​​
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BEVS

I think the feel of this is that it is quite a bit of a 'different' community/culture wise. We shall see. Depends on a few thing . One of those things being Air NZ staff. The other is 'ring fencing' of course. Part of that steep learning curve some countries are bothering to bother with.

There has been so much bluddy moaning and groaning from some quarters and folk about any actions and precautions taken here in NZ that I am kind of over all the whinging and carry on. Either people want a reasonably safe country in which to lead their lives within their own country or they don't. Everyone should simply be glad this little country isn't in a far worse state with this. At least it has been held at bay, best it can be and so given the country time to learn , change , adapt to move forward with this. Some countries - which means actual people - have been ravaged really with no real clear agenda other than to mix and match or to play a russian roulette which has left many feeling incredibly unsafe, uncertain ; or dead, disabled ; bereaved or impaired for years. Who wants that for a nation.

Rewind a bit and it was all about closed borders v not closed borders and us starving = pointy fingers
Fast forward a bit and its all about border control and keep 'em blighters out = pointy fingers

I wish people would make their flaming minds up . I wish certain folks with something empty right now to gain would stop and think , set that aside and work together !

Oh - and -

Don't like the bulletins? Don't watch or turn them off. Easy peasy to get the updates from the COVID19 site. Clearly some people need to be reminded and keep on being reminded as they have cloth ears.
Don't like the personality/political party for whatever reason? Put that bluddy well ,stinking well ,aside FFS.

Argh!

Pull the big pants on & knuckle down. Times are tough and will not get less tough soon.

Bah!

Mishclark

I like your post and am going to give you karma 😊

P.s., as per a post last week, I'm going to come back to Nz after Xmas, in January, since it is September next week 😨, I was coming over for Christmas anyway, may as well stay on a bit, I can get back being in healthcare and looks like I'll have a new job. I've been lucky over here in Oz, been able to pick up shifts even before I finished my qualification they were that desperate!

By January it will be 9 months out of Nz, Covid has been a double edged sword, yes it happened but I found myself in a position that the new career I chose is in demand everywhere and I've come out of it pretty good.

Charismatic

Icelands open border strategy seems to be working well though they have tweaked their testing strategy in recent weeks. In​​​​In a way, with the stated goals of the Health Minister to ramp up testing, we may well converge with their strategy. Neither the approach of mass isolation or mass testing being sufficient alone to deal with the public health menace we face.

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Justcol

Over it

Over the lockdowns
Over the not in lockdowns but still can't do anything
Over the masks
Over the lack of travel
Over the empty towns
Over the lack of tourists
Over the whinging businesses
Over the self righteous politicians
Over the masks
Over the plastic shields on shop counters
Over the QR codes
Over the cups of coffee being seen as vital to the economy
Over the interviews with people wearing masks with their nose uncovered
Over the covid news stories
Over the this is not a covid news story stories
Over the whole bloody thing

I'm now at the point where I'm willing to take my chances with herd immunity.

Charismatic

The house price bubble is New Zealands economy. GDP per capita is the same level now as it was in 2014.

Bo-Jangles

I'm with you Bevs. No matter what the announcement it turns to politics and a whole heap of whinging.

I personally wouldn't have minded another week or three at level three and it seems its possibly needed with same 10 or so cases every day. We're still at risk of being another Melbourne with upwards of 100 cases and 12 deaths per day but we have to bow to pressure and think about the economy, right? It's a no win situation.

In last week's news: Auckland stayed at lockdown level 3 for an extra four days - Judy, businesses and the the rest of the country thinks its ridiculous, Covid-19 is no worse than the flu, we don't need masks and we need Aucklander's to be out and about travelling, spending their money in shops in Rotorua and Queenstown, drinking coffee and keeping some economy and local tourism going.

Next minute: Auckland's gone to level 2.5 - now the whinging and whining commences. It's too soon / keep the Aucklanders in Auckland / we don't want our kids to go back to school, we don't want Aucklanders moving about the country spreading their covidy germs all over the place.

Sure would love the benefit of hindsight to see where we would be today if National had their way; could the virus would have been contained any better or quicker? I don't think so.

As for wearing masks - each to their own I say, do whatever you like to keep yourself safe - except I feel in public confined spaces and public transport then we owe it to one another to do our best not breathe all over everyone else. Some common sense and personal responsibility would all go a long way to keeping everyone safe.

I'm happy to do my bit and will continue to avoid getting on any buses and staying away from as many people as possible.

garethwm

With Bevs and Bo-jangles all the way on this.

Today someone said to me that the people most benefiting from these lockdowns is the Labour Party. I replied, NO, the people most benefiting from these lockdowns are the people that would otherwise be dead, or on a ventilator for 6 weeks without the lockdowns.

A lot of people are using false logic in regards the economy too. Somehow they think that having a virus running rampant, with people reluctant to go out for fear of catching it is better for the economy than a short hard lockdown and resulting periods of relative freedom.

I'm sure the whingers on talk back and social media will be the first to whinge and moan if covid spreads. I think the government's decision to reduce to level 2 can be put down to those same people moaning about level 3 in the first place. And that includes talk back hosts like Hosking and Bridge who are being totally irresponsible. It wast long ago that Hosking was even telling his listeners that they didnt need to and shouldnt get tested.

Justcol

I'm surprised at the number of people who appear willing to spend the rest of their days in hiding with their head in their hands.
How long are the terrified masses prepared to hide away from the rest of the world if no vaccine is found. The govt will have to fold at some point for the sake of the nation. They can't keep borrowing forever, at some point the decision that jobs and the economy are more important than some people spending a few weeks on a respirator, or the deaths of people who will be passed off as having existing, underlying health issues, that are in fact the reason for their deaths
In the end, herd is the only way forward, there will be no global vaccines

garethwm

Doctor Col. There will be a vaccine. There will be several different vaccines. That's what the real doctors are saying. It might not be 100% effective, but it should lead to much milder symptoms and stop people dying, and may be something we will need an annual shot of. So it's not forever. And you shouldn't downplay the power of the virus. It's killed over 1000 health workers in the US alone, obviously most not yet even at retirement age.

Justcol

Honestly, I'm reaching a point where I couldn't care less about the numbers anymore.
I am simply tired of the terrified dictating to the rest of us, despite them coming up with nothing.
How long are we supposed to hide away. New Zealand is a pretty dull place when you only have new Zealand to look at. I would rather take my chances

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BEVS

Is this all about you simply wanting to travel offshore then? If so then put on your big boy pants and get on with NZ for the next 18/24 months. It isn't exactly dreadful is it and thanks to the way it has all been handled so far folks are free to wander the country well enough. Dry the eyes and get on with it. It could have been far worse here

Time though to rethink how the NZ economy actually works and what it has, in the past couple of decades, been relying on far too much. Also time to rethink harmful hoarde tourism & university funding .

Instead of the whining about a little restriction for a while, how about looking at opportunities for change instead.

Y'know , NZers have found themselves in very hard times before and survived. They will again. Resourceful and stalwart I thought they prided themselves on. A national pride in doing well under duress.

As has been written , it is not wise to stick the head in the sand over this virus for the sake of personal desires.


edit... Herd immunity is not at all proven atm.

chocolate cake

I’m not for herd immunity yet, but certainly much closer to Justcol views on this.

I’m guessing that these arguing for yet further level 3 lockdown pain with another 2-3 weeks of lockdown for Auckland are not people already out of work, or about to become so? including heaps of well run businesses.
Instead happily working from home for business unaffected.

We can‘t have 4-5 weeks of lockdown, or indeed another 2 1/2 weeks every time we have a new case in Auckland.
And there will be new cases again when this new cluster fizzles out, and their bound to in Auckland too, with 90% of arrivals coming in to the Auckland iso hotels.

There seems to have been plenty of ownership & self praise from the initial success, 100 days with no internal cases, but none of the border failures. Despite making this out to be new genome strain, it’s source has to be from the border somewhere, unless we have a new CV-20 that sprung from a warehouse in Mount Wellington!

it will happen again, and again, and self punishment L3 lockdowns can’t be the answer. That’s just as much sticking your head in the sand.

If some want to extend their own personal lockdown, then please go ahead and lock yourselves away, just don’t impose it everyone else.

Elsewhere at least Auckland returns to some form of normality today.

Timmy Chch

But wasn't the reason for level 3 in auckland because all of a sudden there was community transfer? So with community transfer still existing that's why some are questioning the loosening up of things, deffo can't use 'hard and fast' anymore!