The specific assertion was that "NZ doesn't have the same close traffic with any early covid hotspot", but that's demonstrably false. Perhaps there were more S

The specific assertion was that "NZ doesn't have the same close traffic with any early covid hotspot", but that's demonstrably false. Perhaps there were more Swedes traveling in general, but that is neither here nor there. [There were an average of 16,300 people arriving in NZ each day in early March.] NZ did in fact have plenty of overseas arrivals returning from various early hotspots (such as New York and Italy) and this is reflected in the confirmed case data showing that a whopping 39% of all of our cases were infected during their overseas travel. Furthermore, every single significant cluster of cases was kickstarted by an index case that had recently returned from overseas. It wasn't distance or being an island that protected NZ from experiencing an epidemic outbreak, but rather the rapid action from our government: travel restrictions, isolation/quarantine of arrivals, and strict lockdown of the entire country.