BEVS

No. There is a cabinet meeting = the cabinet - which happens in Wellington.
There will then be an announcement, probably with the Pm and Dr Bloomfield, but then likely you already know this and are just playing spin doctor.

Charismatic

All good, I apologise, I thought the Prime Minister ​​​​​​has been in Auckland today but I must have been mistaken.

BEVS

No idea where the PM was. May well have been in Auckland, however if there is a cabinet meeting than that will be the reason for returning from wherever she or other cabinet members were in NZ , as the cabinet meeting and announcement will be from ---wait for it --- Wellington because -drumroll - that is where parliament is.

Charismatic

If they where going to announce a lockdown I'm sure they'd hardly be having a physical meeting with someone present who'd travelled from the affected region. It's all about "modelling good behaviours" for New Zealanders.

BEVS

Umms. Assumption is no-one.'s pal . Anymore than The Pointies.

Mishclark

Take care guys, I hope you knock it over quick. I'm tired and weary in NSW..

Was booked to fly over 8th September, knew that wouldn't happen when we went into lockdown lite on 26th June.

jarv5116

NZ are way behind now on the covid strategy.
The zero covid policy can't and won't work forever.
Need to vaccinate more people and let it rip in the community.
I personally think we need to learn to live with it as soon as possible.
For instance I was working on a job last week lifting a hot tub in someone's garden. The full house had tested for covid and had to take money ect from the lady in the house.
Never caught covid.
Alot of the nonsense in NZ is propaganda and scare mongering.
Been back in the UK since May and the only difference I have actually noticed is I had to wear a mask in Tesco for a month. Nothing else at all.
25k cases a day at the minute and I ain't wiping trolleys down in Tescos or wearing a mask or scared to touch anything or any other nonsense.

Tom H

Who hoo, back to lockdown for three days, hope the Aucklanders on here are safe

Still, its great to hear that they've decided to allow us to have other vaccinations other than the Pfizer. This will really improve the vaccination program in place for New Zealand


Oh hang on!

Bo-Jangles

The Uk has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world but we all know the vaccinations are not foolproof and not effective against the Delta variant. Our one case identified yesterday has led to a further 10 cases being discovered today and heaven knows how many more tomorrow; likely at least another 100 or more will follow if they all have been with one or two other people. We don't want to be the next Sydney or UK, so I am happy to be in lockdown until they understand the extent of the current outbreak and break the chain of transmission. Happy with the go hard and early approach that has worked pretty well up until now and I don't believe our economy is any worse than anyone else's because of it.

Justcol

Done with it now. Open the doors and let it go

Charismatic

My view is that we should finish the vaccination campaign (which will be around November) and then have a full and immediate reopening of borders. The elimination strategy is clearly going to be a long-term losing strategy as it's unsustainable. I'm against a staged reopening, it would be a massive waste of time without any clear aim or benefit.

We need to face the fact that Auckland may end up in a Sydney-style lockdown where we are just firefighting a low number of ongoing cases for a few months. We have additional vaccine available and it should be deployed to expedite Auckland vaccination to reopen the city as rapidly as possible (although it would need to remain closed to the rest of New Zealand until November.)

Lastly settle with the Nurses and Midwives for a multi-year deal. They're going to have a hell of a time dealing with the anti-vax morons on top of their normal workload.

jarv5116

So what's your plan
stay in lockdown till a new vaccine is made and keep the borders locked?
At some point they are going to need to let it rip.
instead of all the shite lockdown invest in ventilators and hospitals and health care and let it rip.
Honestly I have been back in UK since May and I'm totally over sneaking around pack n save wiping trolley handles down and wearing masks every where. If I get the virus I take my chances I'm double vaccinated.

The UK is at 25k cases a day and has been for the past few weeks.
There is more people dead from the flu and pneumonia now than covid.
NZ strategy now is outdated and can't be sustained for ever.

Bo-Jangles

My plan revolves primarily around doing what we're advised and that seems to me to be the most sensible thing in the circumstances - all that involves is me staying home for a few days and doing my bit for the greater good. We're not vaccinated and therefore have to wait our turn for that to work through and there's nothing I can do to make that go any faster. I am disappointed that NZ hasn't been as fast to get that sorted and now we are facing a far bigger threat. If Delta rips through our largely unvaccinated population we are doomed. So staying home is my plan for the next seven days at least - then who knows what.

The UK seems to be defying gravity with Delta widespread in the community only a couple of weeks ago and cases up un the high 50 thousands per day but having miraculously reduced by half in a fortnight all by itself, which has baffled the experts yet again; nobody really knows what they are doing in this pandemic and we're all dealing with it in whatever way we can. I have preferred the NZ way so far - that may change.

scrubbedexpat094

I'm "okay" with lockdown for now but this isn't going to be just seven days. Health authorities are talking about 4 weeks depending on numbers in the next few days.
I've been seriously unimpressed with the vaccination process so far. I pushed to get mine done under Group 3, I'd still be waiting if I hadn't. OH has had lots of mixed messages today re:his vaccination tomorrow. He's going for it tomorrow come what may.
The populations of the main centres in NZ should have been prioritised. How the hell vaccinations today had to be suspended I'll never know. This situation was a given when the trans-Tasman bubble opened up. A plan for vaccination centres to operate should have already been tried and tested for this situation.
At some point in the not too distant future we have to re-open and live with this virus. It isn't going away anytime soon.

Justcol

Couldn't agree more. I'm sick of people panicking and whining about it. Get vaxxed and open the gates. If you don't get vaxxed, hard luck , the choice is yours, suffer the consequences and shut up.
There's plenty of other stuff out there that'll kill you, that's being ignored.