3 ms·
There are a few facts missing from your first paragraph. It might look like an "isolated island whose countrymen aren't regularly jetting back" from the outsi
by timClicks 6y ago
There are a few facts missing from your first paragraph.
It might look like an "isolated island whose countrymen aren't regularly jetting back" from the outside, but New Zealand is much more connected than that. Inbound, international students, migrant workers (mainly horticulture) and tourists are huge. Outbound, LAX is only a single flight.
The quarantine was only imposed fairly recently. Until late March IIRC, self-isolation was require because it would have been impossible to quarantine ~100k arrivals for 2 weeks.
- notahacker 6y agoSure, before they extended quarantine to everyone and barred all foreign nationals from entering, people who exhibited no symptoms and could demonstrate a 'viable self-isolation plan' were allowed to voluntarily quarantine themselves instead of being put into government approved facilities. That's still something which is considerably easier to impose in New Zealand after only six known cases of a disease than in Western Europe, where people take day trips or even commute to other countries. Sure, NZ isn't [usually] cut off from the outside world, but it isn't a transit hub, somewhere you expect to visit to conclude a business deal or watch the away leg of a football match or a stop on a busy itinerary either. For related reasons NZ only had six known cases by mid March when they imposed that restriction. Italy had 21k cases and 1400 deaths at that point, with a few hundred more dying every day from that point onwards.