4 ms·
New Zealand seems to have abandoned that Zero Covid approach [0] > Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern acknowledged an end to the elimination strategy seven weeks in
by mattrighetti 5y ago
New Zealand seems to have abandoned that Zero Covid approach [0]
> Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern acknowledged an end to the elimination strategy seven weeks into a lockdown that has failed to halt an outbreak of the Delta variant, announcing that restrictions would be gradually lifted in Auckland, the country’s largest city.
> “We’re transitioning from our current strategy into a new way of doing things,” Ms. Ardern told reporters. “With Delta, the return to zero is incredibly difficult, and our restrictions alone are not enough to achieve that quickly. In fact, for this outbreak, it’s clear that long periods of heavy restrictions has [sic] not got us to zero cases.”
> “What we have called a long tail, feels more like a tentacle that has been incredibly hard to shake.”
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag5ubS_EHWU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag5ubS_EHWU
- julianz 5y agoThat said, NZ is still only discovering 1-200 cases a day and total deaths since it started are still well under 100. The South Island has hardly any Covid at all. Overall vaccination rates are reasonable and will get better when children are given the all-clear to get it.
- edmcnulty101 5y agoIt's an island(s) with it's borders closed isn't it?
- jacquesm 5y agoIf other countries had done as well as NZ delta would have never spread in the first place. Attributing NZs failure to how they handled things so far is misrepresentation, they did things by the book, but if other countries keep sending the equivalent of typhoid Mary's into the NZ population then it is a matter of time before the strategy will fail. If NZ would have kept their borders locked this would have not happened. They will come to regret that decision.