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New Zealand PM Ardern Puts Nation in Lockdown on Single Covid Case

26 points by mrfusion 5y ago

hourislate 5y ago
This move is necessary to keep their medical system from collapse. The ICU capacity in NZ is pathetic and can't meet demand in normal times, most USA cities have more ICU capacity than all of NZ as a country. New Zealand has 4.6 ICU beds for every 100,000 people. A State like Texas has over 25 (as of 2018) for every 100k people. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/300374794/new-zealand-doesnt-have-enough-icu-capacity-even-without-the-effects-of-a-pandemic https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/300374794/new-zealan... Following graph is for every 10k people in the USA. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2020/05/18/icu-bed-capacity-in-all-50-us-states-compared-infographic/?sh=3a40a51424dc https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2020/05/18/icu-be...
- baldeagle 5y ago
  Also, a state like Texas has no currently available child ICU beds, and is still have legal fights over if anyone can issue a mask mandate at the local level. ICU bed capacity only does so much.
  - hourislate 5y ago
    I am under the impression it is staff related and not physical capacity and one of the reasons is a high level of RSV. The state deals with a lot of folks from Mexico and Central/South America that are not vaccinated and bring waves of controllable disease. A few years back they had to deal with a wave of Whooping Cough that was imported from unvaccinated children from Mexico.
- _fat_santa 5y ago
  > This move is necessary to keep their medical system from collapse Were we reading the same article? According to the article > after the discovery of the first community case of Covid-19 since February. They found one, ONE Covid case and that is somehow justification for shutting down a country of almost 5M people.
  - zimpenfish 5y ago
    > They found one, ONE Covid case Since February, yes, because their lockdowns and controls worked to get the country free of it. Why would they change a clearly winning formula?
    - pwner39 5y ago
      I'd rather live in a country not free of COVID-19 than live in a country where lockdowns like this are indefinitely possible over a single, probably unsignificant case. There are always going to be COVID-19 cases/hospitalizations/deaths from this point forward, whether populations are vaccinated or not, just as is the case with the Flu.
      - simtel20 5y ago
        Every case of covid in an unvaccinated community is significant.
        zimpenfish 5y ago
        And now there's 6 more, all linked to the same fella. Looks like it was a superspreader event after all.
      - mrfusion 5y ago
        Imagine getting downvoted for this idea in 2019. We’ve lost our minds.
  - hourislate 5y ago
    My intention was not to justify it but to state the probable reason it happened. I agree it's insane to shut the entire country down. The gov in NZ is panicked because it means the end for them when the population figures out their medical system is shit and costs them a fortune. It's the same story in Canada, the lock downs were to prevent a garbage medical system from collapsing after 100's of billions in tax payer dollars. It would have exposed how little the people get for their money and a system that can't handle emergencies. I'm sure the Governments of both those countries have other excuses for the ridiculous lock downs.
LuisOrtiz 5y ago
https://archive.ph/mT6Ip https://archive.ph/mT6Ip
pcdoodle 5y ago
Off their rocker.
shapefrog 5y ago
I wonder if covid was imported on a googlers private jet
nsizx 5y ago
Covid derangement syndrome.
_fat_santa 5y ago
The article says that they found one Covid case since Feb and that once Covid case prompted the lockdown. Did I read that correctly because that is absolutely crazy.
- olliej 5y ago
  up to 277 cases: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300391456/covid19-live-government-provides-latest-covid-details https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300391456/covid19-live-gove...
- zimpenfish 5y ago
  > that is absolutely crazy. Which bit? > they found one Covid case since Feb or > one Covid case prompted the lockdown They've gone into lockdown because the man "is deemed to have been infectious since Aug. 12" and "visited a crowded pub on Saturday night [Aug 14th]" and "the probability of it being delta". I should imagine they don't want a superspreader event coming from that when they've been C19-free since February...
- zinckiwi 5y ago
  You’ll find that the vast majority of the country is on board. This approach won’t last forever. Once the population is deemed sufficiently vaccinated (which is still supply-constrained) we will transition to “living with it.” Until then, zero tolerance is saving thousands of lives.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - husgfdsr34 5y ago
    They should ban driving too if that's the justification.
- shirro 5y ago
  This isn't all that crazy in the context of a place like Australia or NZ. In my state in Australia we have only had two very brief lockdowns of several days since the pandemic started and they were to let contact tracers get out ahead of a small outbreak when they were concerned that circumstances were not in their favour.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
olliej 5y ago
Now 148 https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300389630/covid19-live-41-new-cases-of-covid19-in-the-community-with-148-active-cases-nationally https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/30038963...

26 points by mrfusion 5y ago

This move is necessary to keep their medical system from collapse. The ICU capacity in NZ is pathetic and can't meet demand in normal times, most USA cities have more ICU capacity than all of NZ as a country. New Zealand has 4.6 ICU beds for every 100,000 people. A State like Texas has over 25 (as of 2018) for every 100k people. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/300374794/new-zealand-doesnt-have-enough-icu-capacity-even-without-the-effects-of-a-pandemic https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/300374794/new-zealan... Following graph is for every 10k people in the USA. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2020/05/18/icu-bed-capacity-in-all-50-us-states-compared-infographic/?sh=3a40a51424dc https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2020/05/18/icu-be...

baldeagle 5y ago
Also, a state like Texas has no currently available child ICU beds, and is still have legal fights over if anyone can issue a mask mandate at the local level. ICU bed capacity only does so much.
- hourislate 5y ago
  I am under the impression it is staff related and not physical capacity and one of the reasons is a high level of RSV. The state deals with a lot of folks from Mexico and Central/South America that are not vaccinated and bring waves of controllable disease. A few years back they had to deal with a wave of Whooping Cough that was imported from unvaccinated children from Mexico.
_fat_santa 5y ago
> This move is necessary to keep their medical system from collapse Were we reading the same article? According to the article > after the discovery of the first community case of Covid-19 since February. They found one, ONE Covid case and that is somehow justification for shutting down a country of almost 5M people.
- zimpenfish 5y ago
  > They found one, ONE Covid case Since February, yes, because their lockdowns and controls worked to get the country free of it. Why would they change a clearly winning formula?
  - pwner39 5y ago
    I'd rather live in a country not free of COVID-19 than live in a country where lockdowns like this are indefinitely possible over a single, probably unsignificant case. There are always going to be COVID-19 cases/hospitalizations/deaths from this point forward, whether populations are vaccinated or not, just as is the case with the Flu.
    - simtel20 5y ago
      Every case of covid in an unvaccinated community is significant.
      - zimpenfish 5y ago
        And now there's 6 more, all linked to the same fella. Looks like it was a superspreader event after all.
    - mrfusion 5y ago
      Imagine getting downvoted for this idea in 2019. We’ve lost our minds.
- hourislate 5y ago
  My intention was not to justify it but to state the probable reason it happened. I agree it's insane to shut the entire country down. The gov in NZ is panicked because it means the end for them when the population figures out their medical system is shit and costs them a fortune. It's the same story in Canada, the lock downs were to prevent a garbage medical system from collapsing after 100's of billions in tax payer dollars. It would have exposed how little the people get for their money and a system that can't handle emergencies. I'm sure the Governments of both those countries have other excuses for the ridiculous lock downs.

LuisOrtiz 5y ago

https://archive.ph/mT6Ip https://archive.ph/mT6Ip

pcdoodle 5y ago

Off their rocker.

shapefrog 5y ago

I wonder if covid was imported on a googlers private jet

nsizx 5y ago

Covid derangement syndrome.

_fat_santa 5y ago

The article says that they found one Covid case since Feb and that once Covid case prompted the lockdown. Did I read that correctly because that is absolutely crazy.

olliej 5y ago
up to 277 cases: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300391456/covid19-live-government-provides-latest-covid-details https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300391456/covid19-live-gove...
zimpenfish 5y ago
> that is absolutely crazy. Which bit? > they found one Covid case since Feb or > one Covid case prompted the lockdown They've gone into lockdown because the man "is deemed to have been infectious since Aug. 12" and "visited a crowded pub on Saturday night [Aug 14th]" and "the probability of it being delta". I should imagine they don't want a superspreader event coming from that when they've been C19-free since February...
zinckiwi 5y ago
You’ll find that the vast majority of the country is on board. This approach won’t last forever. Once the population is deemed sufficiently vaccinated (which is still supply-constrained) we will transition to “living with it.” Until then, zero tolerance is saving thousands of lives.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- husgfdsr34 5y ago
  They should ban driving too if that's the justification.
shirro 5y ago
This isn't all that crazy in the context of a place like Australia or NZ. In my state in Australia we have only had two very brief lockdowns of several days since the pandemic started and they were to let contact tracers get out ahead of a small outbreak when they were concerned that circumstances were not in their favour.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

olliej 5y ago

Now 148 https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300389630/covid19-live-41-new-cases-of-covid19-in-the-community-with-148-active-cases-nationally https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/30038963...