Archive
Business and Media pimp for dodgy covid test. Govt caves. Questions Remain.
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Recent vociferous demands by business interests and the National Party have pressured the government into allowing Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) to be used throughout the country. The pressure has grown as freight-trucking companies and others have demanded the ability to move between Auckland and the rest of the country. Again, vociferous calls amplified by MSM (mainstream media) eager for click-generating headlines.
Over the last few months, the MSM have amplified calls to introduce RAT – often uncritically.
On 27 August, RNZ’s ‘Checkpoint‘ aired a story promoting RAT. ‘
‘‘Delta’s reach is like nothing New Zealand has seen before – with Covid-19 cases from the Auckland outbreak today reaching 277 and contacts passing 24,000.
That reach has put a massive strain on New Zealand’s PCR testing capacity – the only recognised testing used here – with thousands of people waiting up to eight hours to get the test, and then up to five days to get results.
But there’s hope that rapid antigen tests – which are widely used overseas – could help alleviate some of that pressure.’’
New Zealand Aged Care Association (ACA) Nursing Leadership Group chair, Dr Frances Hughes, was hugely supportive of RAT, with six thousand nursing staff working in the ACA and many waiting for all-clear results from the currently used nasal (nasopharyngeal) swabbing:
‘‘If we could do this for our frontline health workers and get those tests back and have a system that gets them back quicker and gets them back to work earlier? Absolutely, it would be a great initiative.’’
Dr Hughes’ concerns that her priority was to get employees “back quicker and gets them back to work earlier” was obvious.
‘Checkpoint‘ also interviewed president and CEO of Innova Medical group, Daniel Elliott. Innova is a major supplier of RAT and unsurprisingly sang the virtues of his company’s product:
They use the test to help keep schools open, to keep workplaces going, to be able to keep people that are working in closed environments that are critical infrastructure – police and fire – [going].
Now they’ve gained enough confidence with it and they’re starting to use it to open up pubs and sporting events, concerts, things like that.
While somebody may have a positive PCR test, it could be 20 to 30 days that they have an infection, but they may not be contagious to others.
What this type of test actually does is, is it’s really screening for people who have a viral load that is contagious or infectious to other people.
In what could pass as a free advertisement for his product, Mr Elliott stated:
‘‘They’re inexpensive, highly accurate tests that can be widely deployed in New Zealand and other places, that will certainly help open up the economy.’’
The statements were not challenged.
More to the point, someone at RNZ, putting together the ‘Checkpoint’ story quoting Innova’s CEO failed to noiced that eleven weeks earlier – the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had warned the public not to use their RAT:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning the public to stop using the Innova Medical Group SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Qualitative Test for diagnostic use. The FDA has significant concerns that the performance of the test has not been adequately established, presenting a risk to health. In addition, labeling distributed with certain configurations of the test includes performance claims that did not accurately reflect the performance estimates observed during the clinical studies of the tests. Finally, the test has not been authorized, cleared, or approved by the FDA for commercial distribution or use in the United States, as required by law.
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On April 23, 2021, Innova Medical Group recalled their Innova Medical Group SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Qualitative Test. The FDA has identified this recall as a Class I recall, the most serious type of recall.
As at 20 August, the United Kingdom has continued using the Innova testing kit. That, despite the FDA recomending that purchasers “destroy the tests by placing them in the trash or return the tests to Innova“.
RNZ had effectively pimped a product that the FDA had recalled, citing “a risk to health“.
On 6 October, twenty five of Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest companies added further pressure on the government to allow RATs to be imported and used:
- Mainfreight
- Foodstuffs North Island
- Genesis
- Hynds Pipe Systems
- Mercury
- Summerset Group
- Wellington Airport
- Christchurch Airport
- Sky NZ
- Queenstown Airport
- Spark, Vodafone
- The Warehouse Group
- ANZ Bank
- Contact Energy
- Fulton Hogan
- Woolworths NZ
- Fletcher Building
- Chorus
- Carter Holt Harvey
- Meridian Energy
- DHL Express NZ
- Air NZ
- Auckland Airport
Mainfreight’s managing director, Don Braid, was clear in his priorities:
‘‘This is business wanting to take care of their people from a health and safety perspective and to keep their sites operational.’’
Genesis CEO, Marc England, said it clearly:
‘‘Huntly is a critical part of New Zealand’s energy network – it simply has to keep running, and the only people who can operate Huntly are those who work there.’’
Once again, the RNZ story offered no counter-balance to business demands. Their statements were presented uncritically.
Queenstown Airport CEO, Glen Sowry – though not medically or epidemiologically trained – described RAT as ‘‘a very efficient, less invasive and reliable way’’ of testing for covid19:
‘‘Alongside vaccination, efficient and accessible testing is key to ensuring we get our economy moving and reconnect with the world, while keeping people safe.’’
There was no critical analysis of Mr Sowry’s assertions.
It was left to TV3/Newshub to offer a note of caution to using RATs. University of Otago clinical microbiologist, James Ussher, warned:
‘‘Rapid antigen tests are less sensitive than the PCR tests that have been used in New Zealand to date. We have been pursuing an elimination strategy and that has required the most sensitive tests so we don’t miss cases… As such, rapid antigen testing hasn’t formed a part of our response.
There are hundreds of these tests out there and they have very variable performance. The best ones can be about 80 percent sensitive compared to PCR, but many of them perform a lot worse.’’
Mr Ussher was candid as he further pointed out the unsuitability of RATs:
‘‘I can understand the desire of businesses to ensure continuity of business through regular screening of employees, however we need to make sure we’ve got appropriate processes in place before using these. An important thing to remember… a positive test needs to be appropriately followed up, because it would be more likely at this present time that it would be a false positive.
There is the risk of missing true infections and that’s particularly relevant in patients admitted to hospitals who have symptoms, in which case you really do need the most sensitive test – a PCR test. But there’s also the issue of when you’re doing screening in a population with a very low chance of having it, that any positive is more likely to be a false positive.’’
This was one of the few instances where MSM aired words of caution from an actual expert. Someone who knew the limitations of Rapid Antigen Testing and had no profit-motive to frame their narrative.
So the vocal demands from business were well canvassed by a (mostly) compliant media. Even our political servants added pressure on the government to introduce RATs:
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When, nearly two weeks later, RNZ finally got around to asessing the worthiness of RATs, it was left to ‘The Detail’ – a programme aired at 5AM. Hardly the same high-participation coverage as ‘Checkpoint’s‘ 5PM to 6.60PM “drive time” slot. The dawn programme also pointed out:
Rapid antigen tests, on the other hand, are nimble: they still involve a throat or nasal swab, but they deliver a result in as little as 15 minutes, and can be used by just about anyone, any time, anywhere.
On the other hand, they aren’t as reliable as PCR tests: when administered by a trained medical professional, their reliability is around 75-90 percent; but when used by an untrained person, that accuracy can drop as low as 50 percent.
Microbiologist, James Ussher, however, is 100% correct in his cautioning over the use of RATs.
In July this year, ‘Science Direct‘ reported a study on RAT, concluding:
The positive rate of RAD test using saliva samples was low throughout the clinical course. Poor concordance was observed between nasopharyngeal swab specimens and saliva samples (75.9%, kappa coefficient 0.310). However, a substantially high concordance between the RAD test and viral culture was observed in both nasopharyngeal swab specimens (86.8%, kappa coefficient 0.680) and saliva samples (95.1%, kappa coefficient 0.643).
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The sensitivity of the SARS-CoV-2 RAD test was insufficient, particularly for saliva samples. However, a substantially high concordance with viral culture suggests its potential utility as an auxiliary test for estimating SARS-CoV-2 viability.
The US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) was clear on RATs in that it was:
Less sensitive (more false negative results) compared to NAATs, especially among asymptomatic people
The fact that this test is not as sensitive and accurate as current processes is an ongoing concern. RAT does not detect asymptomatic carriers of Delta – the most infectious strain of covid19 yet known (to be confirmed).
Which means infected workers such as truck drivers can return a false negative at the Auckland border and then drive on to their destinations throughout the country. The consequences would be costly in terms of extending lockdowns; closed or reduced-operating businesses; and hundreds of millions spent on wage and business subsidies. Not to mention hospitalisations; ICU wards full, and a mounting death toll.
Infected truckies from Auckland have already been detected in Tauranga and Palmerston North.
If we are going to continue elimination, then RATs are utterly ineffective for this task, as Dr Joshua Freeman, a clinical microbiologist and the clinical director of infection prevention and control at Canterbury District Health Board pointed out:
‘‘When elimination is the overarching strategy and the proposal is to, in any way, relax precautions based on a negative result, the relatively high rates of false-negative results with rapid antigen testing is a major drawback.’’
It is abundantly clear that businesses demanding the use of RAT to facilitate commercial activities.
Just as the doomed Trans-Tasman bubble was vigorously hyped by business interests and the National Party, and which resulted in a Returnee from Sydney transmitting Delta to another Aucklander, the wide implementation of Rapid Antigen Testing will also have dire consequences.
The comments from Dr Frances Hughes, Daniel Elliott, Don Braid, Marc England, and Glen Sowry above all had one salient point in common: they were advocating for business interests to take priority over peoples’ safety and wellbeing.
The RAT offers a quick, albeit inaccurate, test-result – something that businesses desperately desire to operate smoothly. That these tests are inherently unreliable and unsafe is of little concern. The priority of a commercial enterprise is to it’s shareholders. Public safety is for government and its myriad official bodies.
If businesses can succesfully implement RAT, it will have paid lip-service to containing covid19 with minimal hurdles to their money-making pursuits.
To paraphrase an old tv commercial from the 1970s/80s, the RAT is a “Clayton’s” test: the covid test you’re having when you can’t be bothered with a real covid test.
The Rapid Antigen Test is a short-cut we can ill afford. But Delta will love it.
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UPDATE
On 14 October, the government acceded to demands from the business sector. Citing the “coalition of around 25 businesses across a range of sectors”, an “exemption was granted by the Director-General of Health, to import and use approved rapid antigen tests”.
Let’s hope this turns out better than the ill-fated Trans Tasman Bubble. If it is successful, National will take credit for it’s implementation.
If it fails, and Delta spreads throughout the country, they will point blame at the government.
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References
RNZ: ‘We need clarity’ for Covid-19 test to cross Auckland border – business owner
RNZ: Checkpoint – Call for government to consider cheaper, quicker testing for Covid-19
FDA: Stop Using Innova Medical Group SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Qualitative Test: FDA Safety Communication
Dark Daily: UK Continues to Use Innova’s SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test Despite Recall and FDA Warning Letter
RNZ: Coalition of 25 companies want to import 370,000 rapid antigen tests – but need permission
Otago Daily Times: Call to allow rapid antigen tests
Twitter: Chris Bishop – rapid antigen testing – 1.18 PM, September 16 2021
RNZ: Judith Collins reiterates call for use of rapid antigen testing
RNZ: The Detail – The lowdown on rapid antigen tests
Towards Data Science: Cohen’s Kappa
US Centre for Disease Control: Interim Guidance for Antigen Testing for SARS-CoV-2
TVNZ: Small number of locations of interest expected from Covid-positive truckie
TVNZ: Auckland truck driver who travelled to Palmerston North positive for Covid-19
Stuff media: Covid19 – Nasopharyngeal swabs, PCR tests still the ‘gold standard’
Newsroom: Sydney returnee likely source of Covid outbreak
Youtube: Claytons Commercial Australia 1980s
Beehive: Government green lights rapid antigen testing
Scoop: National Party – Time to introduce rapid antigen testing
Reference Sources
MIQ: History and origins of MIQ
Covid19: History of the COVID-19 Alert System
MBIE: Managed isolation and quarantine data
RNZ: Timeline – The year of Covid-19 in New Zealand
Stuff media: Covid-19 – A timeline of the Delta outbreak
Recommended Reading
The Bad News Letter: The Fifth Columnists
Knightly Reading: Media lessons from a pandemic
Previous related blogposts
Free Speech, done Newshub-style
The Microbiologist, the Caretaker Leader, and some Nasty Germs
One thousand dead New Zealanders per year?
The Virus, the Media, and John Key
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Acknowledgement: Guy Body
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Liked what you read? Feel free to share.
Have your own thoughts? Leave a comment. (Trolls need not bother.)
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Purpose-built MIQ: National’s sums don’t add up
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Parts of National’s document – to open up Aotearoa New Zealand “to the world” – has been recycled from various policy and media releases last year and more recently.
Despite demanding that the country open up to the outside world and end lockdowns by 1 December, and to “bring all New Zealanders home by Christmas“, National is still demanding that several hundred million dollars be committed to purpose-built MIQ facilities.
Their document, National’s plan to tackle COVID-19, end lockdowns and reopen to the world, calls for “1,000 to 1,500 permanent quarantine units and associated facilities outside of urban Auckland and close to the international airport and health and security workforce“:
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It is unclear why we would need MIQ facilities if the country “opened up” to the rest of the world. With Delta’s ferocious infectiousness, putting anyone into MIQ – irrespective of whether hotels or purpose-built – becomes a pointless exercise in futility. Delta would already be endemic throughout the country; spreading like wildfire; filling our hospitals and ICU beds; and our morgues.
By that stage, MIQ facilities become redundant. (Although Returnees might actually be safer inside a facility rather than outside, protected from an infected wider population.)
However, more to the point, National’s costing for a purpose built facility – which excludes land – is given as “estimated build cost would be circa $200 million” for “1,000 to 1,500 permanent quarantine units and associated facilities“.
It is unclear how $200 million can apply to one thousand units, or fifteen hundred units. The price must surely increase if the build increases. If not, someone is playing loose with construction costs.
It is also unclear where the figure of “$200 million” has come from.
The un-named author of National’s document quotes figures from the Victorian State Government plans for a purpose-built MIQ facility:
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National references the Victorian government’s plans with this URL: www.vic.gov.au/victorian-quarantine-hub.
Except, National’s figure of $200 million – whether for 1,000 or 1,500 units – doesn’t add up.
As this blogger first reported in July this year after National first floated it’s purpose-built MIQ facility some months earlier, it was noticeable at the time that neither Mr Bishop, nor his (current) Leader, had offered any costing for such a massive project:
To provide some broad indication, a planned purpose built quarantine facility in Victoria, Australia, is estimated to cost A$15 million [NZ16 million] to design and a further “A$200 million [NZ$214 million] to build a 500-bed facility and around A$700 million [NZ$750 million] if it was scaled up to 3,000 beds”.
By comparison, Aotearoa has between 4,000 to 4,500 beds in hotels in Auckland (18), Hamilton (3), Rotorua (3), Wellington (2) and Christchurch (6).
Using the above figures, building a 4,000 bed facility would cost the country well over a billion dollars. With inevitable cost over-runs, the final figure would be anyone’s guess.
Chris Bishop also called for returnees to be paid a wage whilst self isolating;
“We think the government needs to be more generous when it comes to supporting people when they’re told to self-isolate. Earlier this year we announced a policy of the government paying people’s wages when people are ordered to self-isolate. It’s pretty sensible – if the government is saying to you “stay home” and we don’t want you at work – they should pay.”
National’s calls have not been costed – and nor would they be. The agenda from the Opposition is not to demand a more effective Managed Isolation and Quarantine system. Instead, their unspoken aim is,
(A) to paint the Labour government as ineffective, for pure political point-scoring
(B) to pressure the Labour government to adopt costly policies, which would push up borrowing and debt. Caretaker Leader Collins would then wag a disapproving finger; and tut-tuttingly exclaim,
“It is irresponsible of the government continuing to spend money like it is with no thought as to where it comes from… it is ultimately the government’s decision to waste enormous amounts of money and not to actually put the focus on where it needs to be.”
Clever strategy; force your rival to spend money – then blame them for spending money.
National has now costed it’s proposed purpose-built MIQ – but the sums still do not add up.
In April this year, the Victorian government costed three options for MIQ. The first two were specifically reliant on hired, or mixed new-builds and hired, structures. Option three, purpose-built structures is closer to National’s plans.
Under heading “3.3.3 Project option 3: custom–built structures”, page 28, the Victorian government plan calls for “entirely of purpose-built structures designed to remain permanently on the site“. Furthermore:
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Victoria’s plan calls for 3,000 accommodation units costing A$701.675 million;
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National’s plan calls for 1,000 to 1,500 units for NZ$200 million. Let’s assume the NZ$200 million is intended for the maximum build number: 1,500.
1,500 is half of Victoria’s 3,000 accommodation units.
Halve the cost of Victoria projected price tag: A$350.68 million.
Converting that sum to NZ dollars, using Westpac’s* currency converter, A$350.68 million is roughly equivalent to NZ$359 million.
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National’s costings appear to be woefully under-stated – by a factor of one-and-a-half times.
Which is unsurprising. The party of “fiscal responsibility” has a poor track record of costing its policies with any meaningful accuracy:
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Tragically, the true cost of National’s policies will not be measured in dollars.
It will be measured in lives lost to a disease that, while tough to suppress and eradicate, should not be tolerated to rip through our communities.
We cannot afford a National government. Not in money; certainly not in lives.
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* Westpac is the government’s official bank.
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References
National: Opening Up: National’s plan to tackle COVID-19, end lockdowns and reopen to the world (p 27, 28)
TVNZ: National proposes building of purpose-built quarantine facility on Auckland’s outskirts
RNZ: National proposes reopening fully vaccinated businesses in ‘back in business’ plan
ABC News: Melbourne COVID-19 quarantine facility approved as Commonwealth, Victoria agree on site
Managed Isolation and Quarantine: Managed Isolation and Quarantine capacity
Stuff media: Covid-19 – Why the Government isn’t using purpose-built quarantine facilities
National Party: Ditch DHB merger, spend funding on medicines instead
Vic.gov.au: Alternative Quarantine Accommodation Hub Project Summary April 2021 (p 27-29)
Westpac: Currency Converter
Stuff media: Election 2020 – ‘Fair cop’ – National’s Paul Goldsmith admits to accounting mistake as Labour points out $4b hole
The Spinoff: The launch that fell down a four-billion-dollar fiscal hole
RNZ: Judith Collins downplays National’s fiscal error, defends Paul Goldsmith
Stuff media: Election 2020 – National’s fiscal hole appears to double to $8 billion as Paul Goldsmith denies double count mistake
RNZ: Explainer – How deep does National’s fiscal hole go?
Previous related blogposts
Judith Collins and National: It’s a trust thing
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Acknowledgement: Rod Emmerson
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Have your own thoughts? Leave a comment. (Trolls need not bother.)
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The Virus, the Bubble, and the Trap
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In case people missed it, National’s de- facto 2023 election campaign was launched on 15 March this year.
The campaign – in the form of a petition to open a Trans Tasman bubble without need for MIQ – was uploaded onto National’s twitter account, and twentyfive minutes later onto Caretaker Leader, Judith Collin’s account:
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Pressure mounted from the business community. The usual vocal business, tourism, and hospitality industry lobbyists made their voices heard loud and repetitively to the point of being cliched “broken records”:
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Even state-owned, non-commercial RNZ was prodigious in platforming the clamour from business interests.
Voices calling for caution were few and far between. Apparently, calls for caution were not nearly as news-worthy and exciting as the prospect of re-opening our borders to our nearest neighbour after nearly a year cut off from the rest of the world.
One voice of caution came from Stuff Media’s travel journalist, Brooke Sabin. In October 2020, Mr Sabin posed five critical questions pertaining to any proposed travel bubble. One such question asked:
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One of the key questions around a travel bubble with Australia is what happens if a community case pops up? For example, if we have flights to Adelaide and a single mystery case popped up there, would flights to and from New Zealand be cancelled? If not, would we adopt Australia’s hotspot definition and stop travel if there were more than three cases for three days in a row? The New Zealand public may find that hard to stomach, but that’s why debate is needed now, before the election, to try and settle on a risk we’re happy with.
Travellers, airlines, insurers and the tourism industry need this certainty. We could see cases pop up once a bubble is underway, and nobody quite knows at what point travel would continue, or if tens of thousands would have travel plans disrupted by widespread cancellations.
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Events nine months later were to answer his questions, with grim, dramatic effect.
Ironically, Brook Sabin’s article was picked up and republished by a merchant banker, Fifo Capital. The financiers at Fifo obviously recognised the inherent danger posed to the Aotearoa New Zealand’s economy should covid19 – especially the highly infectious Delta Strain – break through our borders. It was a pity other businesses did not share Fifo’s wise caution.
The strident calls to open a Trans Tasman bubble succeeded.
On 6 April this year, PM Ardern announced that “quarantine-free travel between New Zealand and Australia will start on Monday 19 April“.
However, she also issued a clear, stark warning:
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“Quarantine free travel will not be what it was pre-COVID-19, and those undertaking travel will do so under the guidance of ‘flyer beware’. People will need to plan for the possibility of having travel disrupted if there is an outbreak.”
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It was a warning that many either did not heed or understand.
University of Auckland epidemiology professor, Rod Jackson, who recently appeared on Newshub Nation (2 October), and who has a reputation for clear, unvarnished, truth stated with crystal clarity:
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“I’ve seen some things in the newspaper and the media about people complaining they are not being helped by the New Zealand government when they’re stuck in Australia and can’t come back.
I think that they need to suck it up, that anyone who wants to go to Australia needs to be aware that at a moment’s notice they could end up being there for weeks, if not months.”
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Again, people took no notice.
Eighteen days late, on 23 July, PM Ardern announced the closure of the Trans Tasman bubble. The Delta Strain was spreading through Australia and the risk that a traveller could bring it back to this country – as happened in June this year – could no longer be ignored.
PM Ardern pleaded with New Zealanders:
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“There is considerable pressure on our managed isolation facilities at the moment and my strong urging to everyone is do not travel to Australia in the next eight weeks.”
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Returnees were put in two weeks isolation upon return to Aotearoa New Zealand, putting a strain on availability of MIQ rooms. New Zalanders were now not only trapped throughout the world, trying to get home, but thousands were now also trapped throughout Australia.
Returnees demanded access to MIQ rooms. There were insufficient rooms. Calls became strident. The media shamelessly gorged itself on amplified stories of misery, stress, and hardship. There were emotive headlines and interviews. There were clicks to be gained; advertising to sell; and careers to build.
A few in the media bucked the stampede to exploit this human crisis. Writing in his column, Q+A presenter, Jack Tame, pointed out the blindingly obvious:
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“Remember – this is the way the bubble was designed to function. From the word go, there was risk for anyone who decided to go to Australia. You bought a ticket. You chose to travel. You assumed that risk. I actually think the people who’ve come back from New South Wales and into MIQ should consider themselves very lucky they haven’t had to pay for the privilege when everyone else does.”
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The truth is that business and political agitation for a trans tasman bubble generated considerable media stories. Once the bubble collapsed and New Zealanders were trapped overseas, there were yet more “human interest” stories to be made. The more tragic the story, the better the headline.
24 hours a day, seven days a week, the media feasted.
Critics of the Labour government; political opportunists; those dissatisfied with travel restrictions; and detractors of the MIQ system were quick to weaponise “human interest”, “heart-string” stories for their own ends. Where reasoned argument fell short against our covid19 and MIQ policies, emotive invective took over. That weaponisation of PM Ardern’s plea to Be Kind was turned back against the government and those who understood the danger which covid19 posed to us collectively.
And then, finally, our luck well and truly ran out.
On 17 August – four months after the Trans Tasman bubble had opened – a community case of the Delta Strain was detected in one person, in Auckland. The PM wasted no time, and the entire country was thrown into Level 4 Alert lockdown at 11.59PM that very night.
Since then, Delta has infected 1,420 people. Two have tragically died (as at 6 October 2021).
The response from National, amplified by the media, has been scathing:
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Every morning, afternoon, and throughout the evening, from Monday to Sunday, National and their fellow-travellers from business and right-wing media excoriated the government for the current outbreak. The relentless headlines – of which only a small sample is presented above – does not even include radio, television interviews and social media propaganda.
Demands for a Trans Tasman bubble was a carefully laid trap from National.
If the bubble was successful, Chris Bishop and National’s current (?) Leader, could loudly proclaim success and claim credit for loosening restrictions and ‘liberating’ New Zealanders from our isolation. It would be a valuable, vote-grabbing ‘coup’ to take to the 2023 general election.
“See? This is what a competent government looks like! This is what a National does! Vote for us!”
If the bubble failed, Chris Bishop and National’s current (?) Leader, could blast the government for incompetence and every other ‘misdemeanour’ imaginable.
“See? This is what an incompetent government looks like! This is what Labour does! Vote for us!”
Truly, it was a win/win, no-lose, cunning gambit.
The Government fell for the trap. Delta got loose. Country forced into lockdown. Delta all but impossible to contain.
Checkmate.
If there is a lesson for Labour, it is this: As Opposition, National can demand whatever it can dream up. But as Opposition, it has zero accountability for consequences when things go horribly wrong.
Never listen to National. They are the the party of responsibility, except when National has no responsibility.
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References
National Party: Open the Trans Tasman Bubble Now (archived)
Twitter: National Party – Sign the Trans Tasman bubble petition
Twitter: Judith Collins – Sign the Trans Tasman bubble petition
RNZ: Tourism New Zealand forecasting billion-dollar economy boost if trans-Tasman bubble opens
Stuff media: Crack open the border, mate – Waikato tourist towns’ plea for trans-Tasman bubble
Stuff media: Tourism disappointed over delay in trans-Tasman bubble date
RNZ: Business community wants quick decision on trans-Tasman bubble
Newshub: COVID-19 – Concerns some small tourist towns will be gone before trans-Tasman bubble opens
Stuff media: Government pushed to act on trans-Tasman travel bubble
Stuff media: Covid-19 Five big problems with the proposed trans-Tasman travel bubble
Beehive.govt.nz: Trans-Tasman bubble to start 19 April
Stuff media: Trans-Tasman travel: Prepare to be stuck ‘for weeks’ if you travel under re-opened bubble, expert says
RNZ: NZ government suspends quarantine-free travel with Australia for at least eight weeks
RNZ: Australian traveller who visited Wellington has Delta variant
Stuff media: Covid-19 – A timeline of the Delta outbreak
Ministry of Health: 39 community cases of COVID-19; two border cases; more than 63,000 vaccines doses administered yesterday
Voxy: ‘Short and sharp’ lockdown will be the longest ever – Judith Collins, Chris Bishop
National: Time has run out on Government’s incoherent Covid strategy
National: Government has choices and needs to make them now
National: New Zealand at Covid crossroads
National: What is the Government’s Covid strategy?
National: No mention of Delta strain in Government plans
National: South Island should drop now to alert level 2
National: Labour has dropped the MIQ ball
Stuff media: Covid-19 NZ – Judith Collins says level 4 should be all but ruled out, Government lacks mandate to lock people down
National: Labour recklessly delayed vaccine shipments
RNZ: New level 2 rules a ‘bitter pill to swallow’ for South Island, Collins says
National: Minister won’t say how much more taxpayers will be up for
Additional
The Spinoff: New Zealand urgently needs a serious opposition leader
Al Jazeera: New Zealand grapples with Delta – and Tucker Carlson
Reference sources
MIQ: History and origins of MIQ
Covid19: History of the COVID-19 Alert System
MBIE: Managed isolation and quarantine data
RNZ: Timeline – The year of Covid-19 in New Zealand
Stuff media: Covid-19 – A timeline of the Delta outbreak
Other Blogs
The Knightly Views: Media lessons from a pandemic
The Standard: Smug hermit king
Previous related blogposts
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 4 – Caretaker Leader Collins, another rare mis-step
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 15 (@L3)
The Microbiologist, the Caretaker Leader, and some Nasty Germs
One thousand dead New Zealanders per year?
The Virus, the Media, and John Key
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Acknowledgement: Rod Emmerson (15-21 March 2021)
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Liked what you read? Feel free to share.
Have your own thoughts? Leave a comment. (Trolls need not bother.)
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One thousand dead New Zealanders per year?
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The “Plan Bers” – including assorted right-wing politicians, privileged media commentators, faux “experts”, business lobbyists, et al – have a new argument they’re recently taken to trotting out, to justify opening up Aotearoa New Zealand to covid-19:
“We already have 500 New Zealanders dying each year from influenza.”
Overseas “experts” have been just as keen to join the But What About Influenza Club, like this character from the United States, Dr Amesh Adalja, from the Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Health Security:
“We don’t want anybody to die from Covid. Covid is a vaccine preventable illness, now is a vaccine preventable death, but I think there are many tools that you can use short of a lockdown to achieve that goal and I think what we eventually want to see is decoupling of cases from hospitalisations and death. But there’s going to be some level of deaths that occur, and I think it’s interesting because in New Zealand you had around 26 or so deaths.
But in the last flu season you had 500 deaths and I just worry about that precedent, because what is New Zealand going to do for the next flu season? How do you kind of square what you’ve done for Covid for flu? When the flu deaths are 20 times higher because of those actions you’ve taken and I think this is going to be something that your society has to to think about and debate, and I think it’s an important debate to have.”
So there we have it: allowing people to die from preventable disease is worthy of “debate”.
When do we get to debate if Dr Adalja should live or die. Or his family?
In the same “debate”, hosted by Nathan Rarere on RNZ’s “First Up“, Dr Adalja called our lockdowns “as a last resort when nothing else works, and as a policy failure“.
He acknowledged that our current covid death rate was “around 26 or so deaths” (It’s currently at 27.)
Dr Adalja didn’t mention that the covid death toll of the United States – his home country – currently stands at 691,562. The US is currently experiencing 148,000 cases and 1,991 deaths reported per day.
Nor did Dr Adalja mention that the US is currently experiencing a massive resurgence of Delta Covid, with hospitals being over-whelmed. Hospital care is being rationed as staff can no longer cope:
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Dr Adalja mentions none of these inconvenient truths. Out-of-control Delta surge. Hospitals forced to rational care. Rising death toll.
Not. One. Word.
But he is happy to lecture us that lockdowns are “a policy failure“.
On a recent episode of TV3’s The Nation, political report Tova O’Brien asked National’s covid spokesperson, Chris Bishop, and ACT Leader, David Seymour what number of covid-related deaths would be acceptable to open up Aotearoa New Zealand.
Chris Bishop suggested that “he would like us to get to around 85% before we start to open up“. David Seymour offered no vaccination target.
According to one report from The Lancet, at 90% vaccination rate (including under 15s), our death toll was estimated at around 1,030 per year – twice the influenza rate.
Neither had the courage nor stomach to offer an acceptable death rate.
Mr Seymour, however, did respond with a bit of Grim Reaperish ‘whataboutism’:
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“Well, 30,000 people die in New Zealand every year.
The truth is that we cannot prevent all deaths. The important question here is how much more are we prepared to spend to prevent a COVID death than deaths from car crashes, deaths from cancer? Because at the moment, the money we’re spending on COVID, we can’t spend on preventing those other kinds of deaths.”
David Seymour has established a new benchmark by casually accepting the annual influenza death toll as an acceptable figure. If 500 covid-related deaths per year are also acceptable, we should look at other causal factors of death in this country, and apply the new benchmark:
David Seymour’s 500 Deaths Rule
Road toll for 2020: 320 + 180 more acceptable deaths = 500
Work Related Deaths for 2020: 66 + 434 more acceptable deaths = 500
Drownings for 2020: 74 + 426 more acceptable deaths = 500
Homicides for 2020: 142 + 358 more acceptable deaths = 500
There are probably many more categories that could have the 500 Deaths Rule applied.
If Mr Seymour can justify an increased covid death toll by pointing and demanding, “What about ‘flu?” then anything can be justified and made acceptable.
This is the benchmark set by David Seymour. Let’s call it “Seymour’s Death Rule”.
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References
RNZ: Covid-19 debate – When should New Zealand open up its borders?
Worldometer: Coronavirus Cases – United States
RNZ: US hospitals ration care amid shortages and Covid-19 surge
Reuters: Some U.S. hospitals forced to ration care amid staffing shortages, COVID-19 surge
NPR: A COVID Surge Is Overwhelming U.S. Hospitals, Raising Fears Of Rationed Care
Vox: Americans are dying because no hospital will take them
New York Times: Idaho allows overwhelmed hospitals across the state to ration care if necessary.
Forbes: In Idaho And Other States, The Delta Covid-19 Surge Is Forcing Hospitals To Ration ICU Beds
CNN: As Covid-19 hospitalizations spike, some overwhelmed hospitals are rationing care
The Lancet – Western Pacific: COVID-19 vaccine strategies for Aotearoa New Zealand: a mathematical modelling study
Otago University magazine: Flu a major killer
Police: 2020 road deaths down on 2019
Worksafe: Fatalities
Water Safety: Water Safety Reports 2020
Police: Daily Occurrences of Crime and Family Violence Investigations
Previous related blogposts
Judith Collins and National: It’s a trust thing
The freezing cold invisible hand of neo-liberalism
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 4 – Caretaker Leader Collins, another rare mis-step
The Microbiologist, the Caretaker Leader, and some Nasty Germs
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Acknowledgement: Chris Slane
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Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 20 (@L3)
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6 September: Day 20 of living in lock-down…
Day’s beginning.
Current covid19 cases: 801
Cases in ICU: 6 (4 on ventilation)
Number of deaths: 1 (Total since first infection in Aotearoa: 27)
Twenty new cases today – the same as yesterday. Not a drop down – but not a rise either.
Meanwhile, as reported, Aotearoa New Zealand :
“… outside of Auckland, will move to alert level 2 from 11.59pm Tuesday 7 September.
Auckland will stay in level 4 until 11.59pm next Tuesday, 14 September.
Cabinet will review the alert level settings for all of New Zealand next Monday, 13 September.
It’s a positive move which reflects that this risk-averse government accepts we are on the right track.
Meanwhile, business interests – notably the trucking industry – is bleating like stuck pigs – at requirements for truckies to be tested as they move from Auckland to the rest of the country.
Because these never happened:
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— right?
The grim prospect of an infected truckie driving the length and breadth of Aotearoa New Zealand, transmitting Delta along the way, does not bear thing about. One infected truckie could plunge the country back into Level 4 lockdown, giving the trucking industry more headaches than a simple nasal swab test.
Time to grow up, fellas.
And speaking of immature, self-entitled, plonkers of the worst sort:
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Seymour this morning released a written statement with an attached image displaying the priority access codes, which allow Māori and Pacific people to receive the vaccine at Whānau Ora locations without needing to book ahead.
“The virus doesn’t discriminate on race, so neither should the rollout,” the statement said. “Access to vaccination has been the same for people of all ethnic backgrounds. If fewer Māori are vaccinated it can’t be a problem with access, but this move by the government insinuates that Māori have trouble making a booking.”
However, the virus does discriminate. The New Zealand Medical Journal has found that after controlling for age and underlying conditions Māori and Pacific people have 2.5x and 3.06x higher odds of being hospitalised for contracting Covid-19 than other ethnicities.
Researchers estimated risk of death for Māori from Covid-19 was at least 50 percent higher than European New Zealanders and infection rates are also significantly higher while vaccination rates have languished.
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“The virus doesn’t discriminate on race, so neither should the rollout” – he doesn’t even understand the basic science behind infection; underlying co-morbidities; and heightened risks. His wilful ignorance is Trumpian, to put it politely.
Look, I get that the two right-wing parties are scrapping over the diminishing red-neck voter demographic. There are probably a few hundred thousand right-wing voters which could mean a couple of extra MPs for either ACT or National.
But if National and ACT are going to get dirty with their politicking, and put us at risk of a raging pandemic, I doubt they will endear themselves to the majority of New Zealanders.
What David Seymour did was so wrong that it reveals an immoral aspect to his nature that makes him unfit to be anywhere near political power.
A person who exploits a minority for political gain is the last thing this country needs.
We already have one deadly germ to deal with. We don’t need another.
By Day’s End.
Current covid19 cases: 821
Cases in ICU: 6
Number of deaths: 1 (Total since first infection in Aotearoa: 27)
So ended the twentieth day of our journey to beat this thing.
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References
Newshub: As it happened: Latest on COVID-19 community outbreak – Sunday, September 5
RNZ: Covid-19 update – 20 new community cases reported in New Zealand today
The Border Mail: Truck driver in isolation with COVID, exposure site listed at Henty
NZ Herald: Covid 19 coronavirus – Truckie’s ‘guilt’ after spreading Covid-19 in Victoria
WA Government: COVID-19 update 27 August 2021 – NSW truck drivers test positive to COVID-19
RNZ: Māori vaccine equity scheme criticism blows back on Seymour
RNZ: Covid-19 Delta outbreak day 20: How it unfolded
Other Blogs
A Phuulish Fellow: Down to Level 2 – 2021 Edition (+ Rant about Australian Plague)
The Standard: Seymour undermines vaccine roll out for Maori
Previous related blogposts
Team 5 million vs Covid: Aotearoa on Three Strikes
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 1
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 2
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 3
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 4 – Caretaker Leader Collins, another rare mis-step
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 5 & 6
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 7 & 8
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 9 & 10
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 10 (cont’d) & 11
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 12
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 13 & 14
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 15 (@L3)
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 16 (@L3)
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 17 & 18 (@L3)
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 19 (@L3)
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Acknowledgement: Rod Emmerson
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Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 19 (@L3)
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5 September: Day 19 of living in lock-down…
Day’s beginning.
Current covid19 cases: 782
Cases in ICU: 7
Number of deaths: 1 (Total since first infection in Aotearoa: 27)
Another day spent mostly at home. Plenty of housework to finish, and a chance to catch up on some tree and flax planting I’d been meaning to get around to for since Lockdown. The front lawn is slowly becoming a micro-“Zelandia, with native trees and other plants gradually replacing flat grass:
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New flax plantings, and Whao (encircled in red)
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New ‘Whao’ (centre)
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The flax was obtained from a professional garden-maintenance team who were going to dump it. The flax was perfectly fine, simply needing to be split apart, pruned back, and planted.
As I was doing the work (surprisingly easy, as the holes did not require to be large or deep), I spotted a ‘friend’ high over-head on a power-line studying my exertions:
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Perhaps in a few decades, when my ‘mini-Zelandia’ garden has become more mature, Kereru, Tui, and other native birds will choose to roost in branches that are only a few metres from my lounge.
How cool would that be?
Trimmed other trees around my property. Much needed, as they were over-growing a pathway, and entangling each other.
Went to ‘Repco” for car engine oil. The contactless-service was well designed; a table at the back of the retail outlet; roped off; masked retail attendant; QR codes well displayed; sign-in sheets filled with names and details of customers: a responsible corporate citizen.
Waited until after the 1PM press – more on that at the conclusion of this blogpost.
Phoned my partner. We chatted. Hoped that the North Island outside Auckland would drop to Level 2 this week. She had been gardening as well. If the nationwide lockdown lasted long enough, the entire country would have the most well manicured gardens on the planet.
Waited until 8PM to do grocery shopping. At this time, the supermarket was not as busy as usual, and social distancing was a simple, non-stressful matter.
A day where I managed to do the things I’d been meaning to do for months, but always managed to deflect my attention elsewhere.
Jarring note for the day, unsurprisingly, came from TV3’s Tova O’Brien, in an exchange that beggared belief. Ms O’Brien asked Dr Bloomfield this bizarre question about exemptions for funerals:
“Funeral directors are pushing for that because there’s this inconsistency where under Level Four, strangers can be socially distanced in a supermarket queue and they can be socially distanced on the waterfront, but they can’t be socially distanced at a burial outdoors at a cemetary.”
The utter incoherent stupidity of that question/assertion cannot be over-stated.
Firstly, it is not an “inconsistency”. Many businesses and services have either closed or been forced to offer reduced services.
Secondly, it defies rational understanding that Ms O’Brien compares a supermarket queue or people on the waterfront with a funeral service. Strangers at a supermarket, standing in a queue, do not – generally speaking – comfort each other in a heightened emotional state of grief. Strangers passing by on the waterfront, likewise, rarely grab each other for a ‘comforting’ hug.
Thirdly, comparing going to a supermarket for a loaf of bread with a funeral service where a family’s loved one is being buried or cremated, is offensive. Who makes such comparisons?!
As Dr Bloomfield explained – with the sainted patience of a teacher addressing a six year old:
“Indeed, one of the comments I would make and I know the Prime Minister has made it before, is that funerals and tangihanga tend to be places where people like to comfort each other and so its… that’s a very important consideration here where it may be more difficult for a whole lot of reasons for people to maintain physical distancing, but of course we’ll continue to keep talking with the funeral director groups. If the request comes through we’ll assess that on it’s merits.”
Ms O”Brien followed up with a loaded question that can only be described as appallingly bad taste:
“Do you support the arrest of grieving families at a ceremony if they were socially distanced?”
If she was looking for headlines, thankfully TV3/Newshub’s news-editors wisely decided against it. Little wonder that public irritation with some individuals in the mainstream media has increased throughout the covid crisis. And little wonder that social media lit up with outright disgust at her inappropriate line of questions.
Because most people with at least a modicum of comprehension realise how – during a raging pandemic – funeral services can be potential super-spreaders leading to more covid cases; more hospitalisations; more ICU patients, and ultimately, more deaths:
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I don’t know what Ms O’Brien thought she was doing, but it wasn’t journalism.
But to end the day on a good note, there were only twenty new cases today (same as yesterday); no covid viral particles detected in wastewater outside Auckland and Wellington.
And no one died.
There’s your headline, Ms O’Brien: no one died.
By Day’s End.
Current covid19 cases: 801
Cases in ICU: 6 (4 on ventilation)
Number of deaths: 1 (Total since first infection in Aotearoa: 27)
So ended the nineteenth day of our journey to beat this thing.
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References
RNZ: Covid-19 wrap for day 18 of lockdown
Facebook: COVID-19 update – 5 September 2021 (video, @ 25:22)
BBC: Coronavirus doctor’s diary – A super-spreading funeral that led to three deaths
Fox4: Texas funeral becomes ‘super spreader’ event after 40 people contract COVID-19
ABC News: Health authorities fear Wilcannia funeral could be a ‘major’ COVID event as NSW Far West cases climb
France24: Fiji’s capital enters lockdown after Covid-19 ‘superspreader’ funeral event
Newshub: As it happened: Latest on COVID-19 community outbreak – Sunday, September 5
RNZ: Covid-19 update – 20 new community cases reported in New Zealand today
Previous related blogposts
Team 5 million vs Covid: Aotearoa on Three Strikes
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 1
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 2
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 3
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 4 – Caretaker Leader Collins, another rare mis-step
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 5 & 6
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 7 & 8
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 9 & 10
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 10 (cont’d) & 11
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 12
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 13 & 14
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 15 (@L3)
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 16 (@L3)
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 17 & 18 (@L3)
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Acknowledgement: M David
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Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 17 & 18 (@L3)
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3 September: Day 17 of living in lock-down…
Day’s beginning.
Current covid19 cases: 736
Cases in ICU: 6 (3 on ventilation)
Number of deaths: –
It started of as a great day.
The covid lockdown was working. Yesterday there had been 49 new cases. Today. the number was down to an an amazing 28 new cases. This would give the anti-lockdown cranks here and abroad (especially where covid is rampant; hospitals are failing to cope; and the corpses are mounting) something to get hysterical about.
There are plenty of covid-cowards who cannot abide our success at controlling this deadly disease. They would rather that we fail – as their leaders have utterly failed. It rationalises their own deficiencies.
Even National’s Covid Spokesperson, Chris Bishop, found good cause to cheer from the sidelines:
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Greater Wellington had one of the finest days since… last summer. With a bright blue sky and not a single cloud in sight, it was the promise of summer to come. (Chillingly, little did I know as I took those pictures that dark clouds were gathering over Auckland…)
Along Oriental Bay, Wellingtonians made the most of this perfect Spring Day:
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Oriental Bay, looking north
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Perhaps the loveliest sky in the entire Solar System (Ok, with possible exception of Saturn, with it’s dazzling rings)
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Southwest, toward the city
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Mask wearing could have been better, as I estimated only around two thirds (?) bothered.
That afternoon, before 3pm, reports started coming over the radio: an incident at LynnMall in New Lynn, Auckland. People had been hurt, one person dead.
As events unfolded it became clearer. Aotearoa New Zealand had been struck by another terrorist extremist. He had attacked and injured six shoppers at the supermarket (later, it was announced there was a seventh victim/survivor).
He had used a knife.
Acknowledging the horror of this incident and the deep harm caused to the seven people; their families; and to supermarket workers – there was an immediate thought that crossed my mind.
Thankfully he had not the same access to firearms that the Christchurch terrorist had.
The contrast in blood-letting was staggering. The Christchurch terrorist had used firearms and shot dead 51 people. The LynnMall terrorist had only a knife, and had not succeeded in wounding more than seven. All seven are still alive (though three remain in Intensive Care in critical condition), and hopefully none will lose their life.
We can be thankful to this government that semi-automatics have been mostly (but not all) eliminated from this country; that gun licensing has been tightened up; and that this deranged individual was under constant surveillance.
On a day we should have been rejoicing and being insufferably smug to the rest of the world, it felt as if the rug had been pulled out from under all five million of us.
By Day’s End.
Current covid19 cases: 764
Cases in ICU: 9 (3 on ventilation)
Number of deaths: –
So ended the seventeenth day of our journey to beat this thing.
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4 September: Day 18 of living in lock-down…
Day’s beginning.
Current covid19 cases: 764
Cases in ICU: 9 (3 on ventilation)
Number of deaths: –
A day off. Have not gone out – I still take Level 3 lockdown meaning precisely that: stay at home.
Another beautiful day outside. Breakfast time: feed companion animal. Feed myself.
Watched ‘The Nation‘ on TV3. A Tauranga port worker interviewed, demanding his right to choose whether or not to get the vaccine. I wonder if the virus will offer him the same choice to be infected or not? I’m 100% certain the virus will respect his right to decline infection.
Viruses are nice like that. They ask permission first.
Tova O’Brien interviewed Associate Minister of Health, Peeni Henare. When the issue of the recent absconder from Novotel & Ibis Ellerslie MIQ facility was raised, Ms O’Brien suggested to the minister:
“Your focus also has to be on your constituents in Tamaki Makaurau and keeping them safe.”
Considering Minister Henare is not a police constable on-the-beat on the streets of Ōtāhuhu, it is unclear how he could have intervened directly to apprehend the absconding idiot. She might as well ask him why he can’t walk on water.
On a lighter note, this exchange took place between National’s Caretaker Leader Collins and another Twitter-user on the social-media platform. A subtle ‘burn’ if I ever saw one:
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*Ouch!* That reposte would sting.
And worse still, the Twitter-user had more “Likes” to his post than the Official (Caretaker) Leader of the New Zealand National Party.
Some work to do around the house; a week’s worth of laundry (done); hang-out to dry (done); change kitty litter box (done); do dishes (done); have fun jousting with RWNJ trolls on Twitter who have been harassing another Twitter-user (done)…
The 1pm figures are released and it is more happy news – tinged with tragedy. My fear has come to pass; we have had a loss of life due to Delta, the first for this current outbreak.
We have now lost 27 souls to this pandemic and 27 families (if not more) are grieving.
The sadness makes the good news harder to appreciate. Only 20 new cases of Delta infections. Less than half the number from yesterday. I should be punching the air in triumph and giving a whoop of delight.
But we’ve lost a fellow New Zealander.
If the Universe is playing a joke on us, I don’t get the punchline.
By Day’s End.
Current covid19 cases: 782
Cases in ICU: 7
Number of deaths: 1 (Total since first infection in Aotearoa: 27)
So ended the eighteenth day of our journey to beat this thing.
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References
Stuff media: Covid-19 outbreak situation report – what happened today, September 2
RNZ: Covid-19 case numbers – 28 new community cases in NZ today
Stuff media: Covid-19 outbreak situation report – what happened today, September 2
RNZ: Covid-19 case numbers – 28 new community cases in NZ today
Twitter: @cjsbishop – 89,000 new vaccinations – 3 Sept 2021
RNZ: Man shot dead at Countdown supermarket in Auckland
Stuff media: Auckland terror attack – Victims aged between 29 and 77, three still in critical condition
Stuff media: Covid-19 – Man who allegedly fled managed isolation was given ride home by friend
Newshub Nation: Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare promises priority for Māori should COVID-19 vaccine stocks run low
RNZ: Covid-19 wrap for day 18 of lockdown
Additional
TVNZ: Covid-19 wrap for day 18 of lockdown
Other Blogs
Bryan Gould: A Grim Future for National
The Standard: Judith’s very bad two days
Werewolf: Gordon Campbell on the messaging to the vaccine hesitants
Previous related blogposts
Is Air NZ the Covid re-infection problem? Possible evidence points to national airline
Does OIA evidence confirm possible Air NZ link to recent covid outbreaks?
Team 5 million vs Covid: Aotearoa on Three Strikes
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 1
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 2
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 3
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 4 – Caretaker Leader Collins, another rare mis-step
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 5 & 6
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 7 & 8
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 9 & 10
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 10 (cont’d) & 11
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 12
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 13 & 14
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 15 (@L3)
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 16 (@L3)
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Acknowledgement: Guy Body
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Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 16 (@L3)
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2 September: Day 16 of living in lock-down…
Day’s beginning.
Current covid19 cases: 687
Cases in ICU: 8 (3 on ventilation)
Number of deaths: –
Woke up to RNZ’s ‘Morning Report’ to not one – but two stories! – of people wanting to travel and whining that they haven’t been allocated MIQ rooms. Both were classic cases of entitlement with the latter an unbelievable whinge. (Trigger warning: both are irritating to listen to.)
Especially as, in the same morning, it was clearly reported and explained that the Delta outbreak in Aotearoa New Zealand was already placing our MIQ facilities and hospitals under considerable strain.
It is unclear what purpose was served by airing those two stories about New Zealanders demanding to travel. While it is understandable that people may want to travel to see elderly parents, now is not the time during a global pandemic. (I would dearly love to visit my parents and family overseas!)
Especially – and RNZ failed utterly to make this point – Kiwis travelling through countries to visit elderly, vulnerable, or sick family is not a wise idea. In fact, it’ds downright dangerous. Picking up Delta and then infecting elderly parents would most certainly finish them off.
RNZ failed to probe whether international travel was wise.
This is ‘grief journalism’ we can do without.
The day was chilly and overcast.
Curiously, traffic appeared to be less than preceding days. In parts of Kilbirnie (away from the supermarkets) traffic was actually more like Level 4 Lockdown last year; sparse.
Only half of pedestrians were wearing facemasks. Disappointing.
The second best news of the day? We had 49 new cases, in contrast to yesterdays depressing ‘blip’ of 75. The downward trajectory resumes – hopefully – as long as all New Zealands act responsibly.
And the best news of the day? Despite over 700 cases, no one has died. (“Don’t ‘jinx’ it, Frank!”, I hear you all scream at me!) Despite everything that has happened since this outbreak began, our preternatural Kiwi good luck has continued.
Please may that not end.
By Day’s End.
Current covid19 cases: 736
Cases in ICU: 6 (3 on ventilation)
Number of deaths: –
So ended the sixteenth day of our journey to beat this thing.
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References
RNZ: Covid-19 update – 75 new community cases in NZ today
RNZ: Covid-19 – Overseas Kiwi distraught at MIQ vouchers pause
RNZ: Covid-19 – MIQ virtual lottery on the way, but bookings on pause for now
RNZ: Covid-19 – Delta cases outstrip hotel quarantine
Newshub: As it happened – Latest on COVID19 community outbreak – Wednesday, September 1
Stuff media: Covid-19 outbreak situation report – what happened today, September 2
Previous related blogposts
Is Air NZ the Covid re-infection problem? Possible evidence points to national airline
Does OIA evidence confirm possible Air NZ link to recent covid outbreaks?
Team 5 million vs Covid: Aotearoa on Three Strikes
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 1
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 2
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 3
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 4 – Caretaker Leader Collins, another rare mis-step
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 5 & 6
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 7 & 8
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 9 & 10
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 10 (cont’d) & 11
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 12
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 13 & 14
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 15 (@L3)
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Acknowledgement: Tom Scott
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Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 15 (@L3)
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1 September: Day 15 of living in lock-down…
Day’s beginning.
Current covid19 cases: 612
Cases in ICU: 8
Number of deaths: –
Day 15 of Level four lockdown in Auckland and Northland. For the rest of Aotearoa New Zealand, the first day of moving down to Level 3 – or Level 4 with takeaways, as others describe this alert level.
It’s a beautiful spring day outside. There are few clouds in our over-carbonised, clear blue sky. According to 9AM news bulletin on RNZ, traffic around Wellington is “near normal”.
As I leave for work around mid-day (Wednesdays at the moment are short work-days for me) for my one and only client, I drive past the local railway pak & ride. A lot more cars today, around ten or a dozen.
Out on the motorway and the level of traffic stuns me. It is almost as heavy as pre-L4 lockdown. And… roadworks are back. Damn.
Though I notice that road-working crews are all masked up. It’s a warm, sunny day, and these guys are klitted up with work clothes, safety boots; flouro-jackets, and face-masks. They must be bloody hot with all that kit.
These guys are heroic. I hope their employers slip them a little “something extra” in their Christmas pay-packet.
On the Hutt River-bank, a few people are strolling or lying in the sun.
In Wellington I took a slight detour around Oriental Bay. My suspicions are confirmed: the footpaths are busy with strollers and joggers. And the beach has attracted a few families and others:
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Oriental Bay – northward
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Oriental Bay-Freyberg beach
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Only around half or two-thirds maximum were masked up. (Note: the photos do not do justice to the actual numbers that were present.)
So much for staying home during Alert Level Three. Some folk must have missed that memo.
This blogger wasn’t the only one who noticed the apparent, unannounced drop down to Level Alert 2, seemingly skipping L3 altogether:
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No wonder the government was so cautious before moving to Level 3. They had to make absolutely certain that there was no community transmission outside of Auckland before dropping a Level.
Government and Ministry officials understood that human behaviour being what it is, moving out of L4 would signal to people that there was no further imminent danger. To all intents and purposes, Level 3 and Level 2 are one-and-the-same for a significant portion of the population.
Danger over.
Slip back into complacency mode.
Time for fish and chips.
The Mystery of the Delta Strain
Yesterday, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield admitted that government and ministry officials had no clear understanding of the source of the current outbreak:
Contact tracers have hit a brick wall in their efforts to find the source of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Earlier, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield explained all while evidence points to Auckland Crowne Plaza hotel managed isolation facility, the virus’ exact path remained a mystery.
“We’ve gone down a number of roads and they’ve all turned out to be dead ends so far,” Dr Bloomfield told a news briefing. “We may never find the exact way that the virus got from the facility into the community but we are very confident that’s the place where it came from.”
All that is known for certainty is that the Delta strain emanated from Sydney (or somewhere in New South Wales). The virus entered through a Returnee from Sydney (“Index Case”) in early August soon after the Trans Tasman bubble – originally strongly supported by the National Party – was closed on 23 July.
But the Ministry of Health has been unable to ascertain how the Returnee transmitted the virus to others.
There is one possibility that has not been publicly discussed: that the Returnee infected a member of the flight crew. This is a real option, as flight crews are not required to isolate for fourteen days at MIQs like everyone else.
They are provided with separate facilities at Heartland Hotel situated at 14 Airpark Drive, Māngere, some 3.5kms from Auckland International Airport; at Grand Windsor in down Auckland’s Queen Street, and Ramada Hotels at Auckland CBD and Manukau.
For more information, I refer the reader to two previous stories on this issue:
- Is Air NZ the Covid re-infection problem? Possible evidence points to national airline
- Does OIA evidence confirm possible Air NZ link to recent covid outbreaks?
If the outbreak was caused by the “Index Case” transmitting the virus to a flight attendant, it will not be the first time an Air New Zealand cabin-crew member has been infected and transmitted the virus to others.
Whilst flight crews are not required to isolate in MIQ for the full fourteen days, that are required to provide a negative nasal-swab test before allowed to leave their facility:
Air NZ crew returning to Aotearoa have to enter managed isolation, just like the passengers they are transporting, but are allowed to leave if they return a negative test after 48 hours.
However, as the most recent Delta case in Wellington showed, negative results are not always accurate. Not even two negative tests. Or three negative tests!
All but one of the cases reported on Wednesday were in Auckland, the other is a household contact of a Wellington case who had returned three negative tests and remains asymptomatic.
If that Wellington person had been an Air New Zealand flight crew member, they would have left their isolation facility after their first negative test.
For reasons that can only be guessed at – but may involve strong financial incentivess – Air New Zealand flight crews continue to be exempt from isolation rules that are strictly enforced for others.
Private Enterprise, a pandemic, and consequences
ACT Leader David Seymour is not short of ideas. Most of them impractical, to put it politely.
One such very dim “light bulb” moment – which government has thankfully dismissed as downright dangerous – is to allow private MIQ facilities to operate:
ACT’s plan for managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) – were it to be in Government – would be to allow private hotels to provide MIQ services under contract to the government as a way to relieve the shortage of MIQ beds. Governed under strict rules, both workers and guests in these facilities would have to be vaccinated.
“ACT has a plan to expand MIQ places and make it safer than what the Government is doing now. Under ACT’s plan, owners of currently mothballed hotels could seek a licence to operate MIQ according to strict criteria,” ACT leaders David said in a statement accompanying the release.
How successful would it be?
Who knows. But if two recent incidences are any indication: not very good:
Two students have now been caught breaching lockdown rules by flying out of Auckland, receiving fines for breaking the rules.
Over recent days, a Victoria University student flew from Auckland to Wellington without an exemption.
An Otago University student flew from Auckland to Dunedin.
Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins said this was “disappointing”.
“These people should not be travelling, there will potentially be consequences for them, for breaking the rules.”
But more critically still, Minister Hipkins made it clear these students had breached critical security protocols to board their flights:
“They should be being checked even before they get into the airport terminal. Previous level four restrictions, and I just want to check to make sure this has absolutely operating as it has previously, have had people at the door at the airport terminal checking why people are entering the terminal, before they can even get anywhere near the plane.”
So the Auckland airport terminal – a private company – had such poor security that two students were able to breach the facility and board their flights, without being detected?
If those two had been carrying the Delta Strain, Aotearoa New Zealand would now be facing new clusters of the virus in Wellington and Dunedin. It would cost the country billions more.
Would Auckland airport pay the bill for the economic damage that would result?
And if private MIQ facilities failed, allowing Delta (or a worse strain) into the community – would David Seymour take responsibility?
Did National take responsibility for the failed Trans Tasman bubble they pressured the government to open up?
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The answer to all three questions is a resounding “no”.
As the sign on the wall states quite clearly:
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Wiping the Debating Chamber Floor with ACT
National and ACT got their wish: Parliament sat yesterday. Though going by Hansard and video, National’s Caretaker Leader Collins and ACT Leader David Seymour may be ruing that it happened at all.
A series of questions from Mr Seymour to Minister Hipkins resulted in hard answers that the former was perhaps not expecting. Minister Hipkins wiped the floor with the hapless ACT Leader.
But matters took a dark turn when Mr Seymour asked:
“Has he, his officials, or anybody in the Ministry of Health at all—or the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, for that matter—offered to pay additional money to Pfizer, as Canada has done, to get additional doses faster?”
Minister Hipkins made his response crystal clear; Aotearoa New Zealand would not be bribing its way to vaccinating the population ahead of other countries:
“Pfizer have been very clear: their production, the production that they have of the vaccine, is fully committed around the globe and they are not willing to offer rich countries the opportunity to pay more in order to displace countries who cannot afford to do that—which suggests that big pharma has a higher ethical and moral standard than the ACT Party does.”
Mr Seymour quickly changed his line of questioning.
For good reason. Various cranks around the country have been pushing the line that we should outbid other nations for the vaccine.
Former minister; ACT politician; and relic from a by-gone age, Richard Prebble made the same disturbing demand in a NZ Herald article*:
“The government is innumerate. They are willing to spend $685 million on a harbour cycleway with negative cost/benefit but not $40 million for an early vaccine rollout to save billions of dollars and possibly many lives.”
As did NewstalkZB ‘host’ and right-wing fellow-traveller, Heather du Plessis-Allan who said on 7 July:
“Why did we agree to $56 and then baulk at another $10 to get it earlier? Why would we say ‘nah we’d rather be right the back of the queue thanks, literally last in the developed world’?
[…]
I do not buy the government’s argument that it’s unethical to pay more to vaccines ahead of others
We didn’t elect them to prioritise citizens of other countries, they’re elected to look after us
[…]
But isn’t it an insight into the lack of urgency behind the scenes. For a mere $10 a person, we might’ve actually been front of the queue, instead of dead last in the developed world”
A free marketeer Twitter-user also called for jumping the queue by paying a “premium” (a polite way of calling an outright bribe):
“Of course you can. By drug companies selling to the highest bidder, they increase their resources to ramp up production. ECON 101 which this government, and its defenders don’t understand”
The only people who do not understand “econ 101” are neo-liberals who are so blinded by their simplistic ideology that they cannot see the consequences of their reckons.
Let me oblige them.
Assume that pharmaceutical companies auction of their vaccines to the highest bidder(s). What would be the consequences (because free-marketeers/neo-libs must accept that everything has consequences, whether intended or not)?
As I pointed out to the ACT-supporting Twitter user:
Firstly, it is just plain wrong. It is neo-liberal, hyper-individualist self-interest taken to it’s deadly conclusion. Even if we could, is that the soul of Aotearoa New Zealand?
Bidding for what’s already available just pushes up the price & we WILL lose out every time to richer nations. There is no avoiding that reality.
There are 49 other countries richer (GDP, 2017 figures) than us. Calculated per capita, there are thirtyone wealthier nations ahead of us. Imagine entering a bidding war with the US, China, UK, France, etc. This would be the scenario confronting us if certain foolish people had their way. We would end up with nothing.
Bidding for vaccines creates a law-of-the-jungle instead of international co-operation. Again, there is no way small nations would benefit from a tooth-and-claw struggle with richer economies.
To assume otherwise demonstrates a childlike lack of understanding of international affairs and human nature.
Pharmaceutical companies are already producing at full capacity. A bidding war would not create more supply; just push up prices. (Our electricity supply has similarities.)
How would out-bidding poorer, developing nations to grab vaccines benefit us? It wouldn’t. It would simply create vast breeding grounds of new mutant strains of covid. These mutations would likely end up with strains more infectious; more deadly, and more critically, more resistant to current vaccines.
In effect, bidding and grabbing vaccines would end up with covid spreading and evolving, becoming vaccine-resistant, and we would end up back at Square 1.
It is obviously from the witterings of the likes of Mr Seymour, Mr Prebble, Ms du Plessis-Allan, Mr Wrathall, et al, that none of them have thought this through. Their shallow thinking would doom us all to repeating cycles of vaccination; new mutations; new vaccines; new mutations; new vaccines, etc.
With a lot of dead people in body-bags along the way. But then, Mr Seymour is prepared for that eventuality:
“If vaccination doesn’t work, then we’re isolated forever. Clearly, we have to have a plan B from vaccination being the endgame. And if we’re not prepared to do it at the start of next year, then when are we prepared to do it?
That could mean living with Covid-19, even if that led to large outbreaks, more hospitalisations and even fatalities because the level of population is not high enough to keep health services from being overwhelmed.”
By Day’s End.
Current covid19 cases: 687
Cases in ICU: 8 (3 on ventilation)
Number of deaths: –
So ended the fifteenth day of our journey to beat this thing.
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* This blogger will not be linking directly to Mr Prebbes or Ms du Plessis-Allan’s articles. To do so would reward them and their media platform with “clicks” this blogger is not prepared to encourage.
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References
RNZ: Covid-19 update on 31 August – 49 new cases in the community
Twitter: @FranklNZ – we missed the L2 announcement – 1.9.21
Newshub: Coronavirus – Latest on COVID-19 community outbreak – Tuesday, August 31
Newsroom: Sydney returnee likely source of Covid outbreak
NZ Herald: Covid 19 coronavirus – Bluff wedding cluster – Air New Zealand flight attendant is possible origin
Newshub: Air New Zealand crew claim they’re being ‘forced’ to work on COVID-19 quarantine flights
Stuff media: Covid-19 – 75 new cases in Delta community outbreak, but curve is ‘gradually bending’
Stuff media: ACT proposes private MIQ and ending ‘the four horsemen of bad regulation’
RNZ: Uni student who flew from Auckland to Wellington didn’t understand guidelines
Twitter: National Party – Sign the Trans Tasman bubble petition
Hansard: Seymour, David; Hipkins, Chris; Mallard, Trevor
RNZ: Week in Politics – Learning to live with the virus – or not
Twitter – @SteveHWrathall – drug companies selling to the highest bidder – 31/8/21
Twitter: @fmacskasy – Bidding for what’s already available – 1/9/2021
Worldometer: GDP by Country
Worldometer: GDP per Capita
NZ Herald: Covid 19 coronavirus – David Seymour -Open the borders next year regardless of vaccination levels
RNZ: Covid-19 update – 75 new community cases in NZ today
Previous related blogposts
Is Air NZ the Covid re-infection problem? Possible evidence points to national airline
Does OIA evidence confirm possible Air NZ link to recent covid outbreaks?
Team 5 million vs Covid: Aotearoa on Three Strikes
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 1
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 2
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 3
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 4 – Caretaker Leader Collins, another rare mis-step
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 5 & 6
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 7 & 8
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 9 & 10
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 10 (cont’d) & 11
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 12
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 13 & 14
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Acknowledgement: Jeff Bell
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Liked what you read? Feel free to share.
Have your own thoughts? Leave a comment. (Trolls need not bother.)
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= fs =
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 13 & 14
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30 August: Day 13 of living in lock-down…
Day’s beginning.
Current covid19 cases: 511
Cases in ICU: 2
Number of deaths: –
Another gray, overcast day. It’s been raining and though there’s no wind, there’s an edge of a chill in the air.
Local railway park n ride has four cars. On SH2 River Road, I counted half a dozen cars in sight – and a rainbow! Yet again, commercial vehicles dominate the road, including a car-transporter with two cars on the deck.
South of Petone, on SH2, a car had broken down, it’s rear end up on jacks. An AA Service vehicle and police car with flashing emergency lights were in attendance. (Just one example why people need to stay home and shop or exercise local: a break-down involves emergency services in attendance and the potential for those in the immediate vicinity to break their “bubbles”.)
Traffic surprisingly south of Ngauranga was lighter than usual.
Radio on in the car, Nine to Noon’s, Kathryn Ryan’s first guest was University of Auckland Professor of Epidemiology, Professor Rod Jackson. It was a hard, in-your-face discussion, but worth listening to. For all those immature adults constantly demanding certainty, Professor Jackson had an apt saying:
“The only thing certain about covid is uncertainty.”
He added that the best way to contain covid is simple: keep infected people away from everyone else. That stops the spread. Blindingly simply. But surprising how many people don’t get it.
The interview is worth listening to. Prof Jackson knows his stuff. He’s not a NewstalkZB “shock jock”; fear mongering columnist; or business whinger.
There is a world of difference between professional experts who have spent decades learning their science and telling us hard truths – as opposed to business whingers always demanding the impossible (because Sydney shows us where that road leads) or doom-merchant columnists who mock and deride us for our collective efforts to carry on fighting this viral foe. Or a media platforming bad-take “reckons” from overseas and local commentators that serves no useful purpose. Except gain ‘clicks’ for advertising revenue?
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Or, sadly, opportunistic and ambitious politicians (not mentioning any names) who will undermine the government in the hope that it will win them votes. It won’t. Team 5 Million are committed to this struggle; we have too much invested; and we identify with the empathetic, yet determined, leadership of PM Ardern. Anything that detracts from our collective “mission” creates an “Us and Them” resentment.
With the Opposition National party being the “Them”.
It is also a dangerous strategy because Delta is apolitical. Any chink in our collective armour, and the virus will exploit it mercilessly.
Undermining the government undermines us all.
Later in the day, at the 1PM ‘presser’, the nation learns that we have 53 new cases! 53! A significant drop from yesterday’s 83.
Judging by the responses on social media, the entire nation just went nuts with joy. It’s like we just beat our Yankee cuzzies in KZ7 all over again.
The grim news is that numbers have reached mid-500s with five in ICU. These are not good figures to have. About now, statistically speaking, people will start dying.
Driving home tonight, I realise it’s been several days since I’ve listened to my usual news programmes, mostly RNZ’s “Checkpoint” and TV1 News. I’m not really missing either of them.
By Day’s End.
Current covid19 cases: 562
Cases in ICU: 5
Number of deaths: –
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31 August: Day 14 of living in lock-down…
Day’s beginning.
Current covid19 cases: 562
Cases in ICU: 5
Number of deaths: –
First up on RNZ’s Nine to Noon programme: serial business whiner, Michael Barnett. I switch off.
It’s a new day and the big question on Team 5 Million’s collective mind is – was it just a ‘blip’? Or is it a real, downward trajectory. This afternoon’s 1PM presser will be top-rating, must-watch TV (or must-listen radio).
Pre-empting the announcement, I post on Twitter:
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And the announcement is made…
…the number of cases has fallen for a second day running: 49! And the crowd goes wild!!!
Meanwhile, in Wellington, having totally failed to read the room, National’s Caretaker Leader, Judith Collins, has demanded that Parliament sit – physically – instead of conducting business by modern technology.
Instead, she and a handful of picked cronies (but, curiously, not including Chris Bishop – the National Party’s covid spokesperson) fly to Wellington from Auckland.
Breaking lockdown in Auckland to fly to Wellington. According to Ms Collins, as an elected Parliamentary representative, she is an “essential worker”.
Bad news for Ms Collins. Five million pairs of eyes just rolled simultaneously: a politician – by definition – cannot be essential.
By Day’s End.
Current covid19 cases: 612
Cases in ICU: 8
Number of deaths: –
So ended the thirteenth and fourteenth day of our journey to beat this thing.
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References
Stuff media: Covid-19 NZ – Delta outbreak sees 83 new cases, worst day of outbreak yet
RNZ: Covid-19 update – 83 new community cases reported in New Zealand
RNZ: Cabinet considers tougher restrictions under Level 4
Twitter: @FoxyLustyGrover – stoically getting on with – 29/8/21
Twitter: @MariaSherwood2 – Are the media nitpicking – 26/8/21
RNZ: Covid-19 lockdown day 13 – How it unfolded
Twitter: @fmacskasy – if our new positives drop further, I expect – 31/8/21
RNZ: Covid-19 update on 31 August – 49 new cases in the community
Additional
Other Blogs
Previous related blogposts
Team 5 million vs Covid: Aotearoa on Three Strikes
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 1
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 2
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 3
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 4 – Caretaker Leader Collins, another rare mis-step
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 5 & 6
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 7 & 8
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 9 & 10
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 10 (cont’d) & 11
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 12
For Reference
Covid19.govt.nz: COVID-19 compliance
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Acknowledgement: (author unknown)
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Liked what you read? Feel free to share.
Have your own thoughts? Leave a comment. (Trolls need not bother.)
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= fs =
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 12
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29 August: Day 12 of living in lock-down…
Day’s beginning.
Current covid19 cases: 429
Cases in ICU: 2
Number of deaths: –
Not a work day, so I’ve stayed home. Housework to do, writing, and went to Pak N Save. A long queue outside, so decided to go back later when it’ll hopefully be quieter.
On Jim Mora’s Sunday Morning programme on RNZ, panellists Mike Williams and Linda Clark were a breath of sanity after the doom-merchants and lockdown critics we’ve been enduring for the last week. Listening to them both- especially Ms Clark – allowed some measure of composure after the gloomy cynicism much of the MSM has been platforming and amplifying lately.
Ms Clark said, in part:
“I think comments by people like Scott Morrison, and other overseas commentators who various media outlets have chosen to publish in the last week, and some of our own commentators actually, are very critical of the New Zealand strategy because of their politics and not because of the science.
…If the New Zealand strategy works… if it works, people like Scott Morrison will have to speak up to their own population and explain why a whole lot of people needlessly died. Because that is the consequence of the so-called Plan B. And if you look at those countries overseas that are… cliche of the moment is living with it, ‘they’re living with it’, but a whole lot of people in their countries are dying with it. So… the number of deaths in countries like Australia, the UK, those numbers are as high now as they were in April… In the UK had 140 deaths yesterday or the day before; 1,200 deaths in the United States two days ago; and of course in New South Wales yesterday… more than a thousand cases.
So I think there’s a really deep and pretty cynical strand of politics around a lot of the criticism about New Zealand’s strategy.
Now you can criticise how it’s been implemented; it can be improved absolutely. I’m not arguing about that. But the politics of this is messy. Because as I said, the living with it strategy means that some people don’t. And you just have to look around you and think, “Ok if we lived with this, if let it in, if we give up like other countries have, I mean Boris Johnson just got bored with it, if we get bored with it and we want to do what Boris Johnson has done and what Scott Morrison is now talking about; which of us in our community are you willing to sacrifice”?
Is it nana? Is it grandad? Is it your aunty? I mean, actually, its not going to be just old people, because at the moment in Australia, in New South Wales hospitals there’s a whole lot of young people under the age of 9.
So, your nephew, your daughter, your son? That’s the question here.
And those columnists that are constantly on about this, just simply don’t want to face up to that. And added to that I put David Seymour who yesterday talked about the fact we we can’t eliminate any longer. Well we actually can stay with the strategy, and we are, and New Zealanders have a good sense of this and that’s why they’re following the rules, by and large.”
[Blogger’s note: some repetitive words and halted-speech have been omitted.]
I suspect she spoke for a great number of Team 5 Million, if not nearly all. It is abundantly clear; giving up means we allow people – young and old – to die.
Who get’s to draw the ‘short straw’?
This afternoon, took a call from one of my clients, “D”. He’s anxious and just needed a supportive voice. A few minutes of casual chit-chat and he’s fine. I confirm I’ll catch up with him at our appointed time tomorrow afternoon. “D” is reassured and sounds happy.
“D” is one of many New Zealanders with underlying conditions. It is doubtful he could survive Delta.
This evening, chatted with my partner. It’s now two weeks since we’ve seen each other: we have separate ‘bubbles’. We share our weekly activities and discuss our respective ‘bubbles’, work, family. There is no grizzling; no complaining; it is unspoken what needs to be done.
Later tonight, went back to Pak n Save to buy a few groceries – including six rolls of toilet paper (I know, I’m such a hoarder!). Double masked and scanned in. Nearly everyone seemed to be scanning-in and wore masks – except, again, a woman in her mid-to-late-twenties. Not many people present; the aisles are relatively clear. Easy to maintain social distancing.
Just before I’m about to log off, I spot this article written by Stuff writer,
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It’s a great way to end the day and prepare for Monday.
Back to work in the new morning.
By Day’s End.
Current covid19 cases: 511
Cases in ICU: 2
Number of deaths: –
So ended the twelfth day of our journey to beat this thing.
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References
Stuff media: Covid-19 outbreak situation report – What happened on Saturday, August 28
RNZ: Sunday Morning
RNZ: Sunday Morning – The Weekend Panel with Mike Williams and Linda Clark
Stuff media: During Covid, spare a thought for our leaders’ mental health
Stuff media: Covid-19 NZ – Delta outbreak sees 83 new cases, worst day of outbreak yet
RNZ: Covid-19 update – 83 new community cases reported in New Zealand
Previous related blogposts
Team 5 million vs Covid: Aotearoa on Three Strikes
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 1
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 2
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 3
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 4 – Caretaker Leader Collins, another rare mis-step
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 5 & 6
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 7 & 8
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 9 & 10
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 10 (cont’d) & 11
For Reference
Covid19.govt.nz: COVID-19 compliance
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Acknowledgement: Emma Cook
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Liked what you read? Feel free to share.
Have your own thoughts? Leave a comment. (Trolls need not bother.)
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= fs =
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 10 (cont’d) & 11
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27 August: Day 10 of living in lock-down… (cont’d)
The park n ride at my local railway station had only two vehicles. As the lockdown proceeded, the number of parked cars became fewer and fewer.
The weather worsened. There would be few strollers and joggers, hopefully, out and about.
Traffic on the motorway around Lower Hutt; about half a dozen cars. Commercial vehicles were much in evidence, including a gas cylinder truck; firewood truck with a covered full load; “Wellington Electric” truck carrying a power pole; gravel hauling truck; car-transporter carrying three vehicles; et al. Police presence on the roads was also noticeable.
On RNZ’s 9AM news bulletin, a story about a woman complaining bitterly that her Function Room business could not open whilst shopping malls were allowed. Not sure what Alternative Reality she’s from, but nearly all shops whether in Malls or not, are closed during Level 4. More entitlement.
At the Wellington Evans Bay Marina, there was on-going evidence that campervans and housetrucks were still moving about.
The first two appear to be staying put:
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But it’s not all bad news. (We get sufficient amount of that from the msm and the hacks that are passed of as “informed commentators”.)
Building sites and roadworks, in the main, appeared to be adhering to lockdown more than any other commercial activities aside from retailing. Just a few from Wellington’s eastern suburbs:
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Miramar “Cutting” roadworks
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Building site, Rongotai Rd
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Building site, Evans Bay Pde
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Building site, Onepu Rd
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There were many more sites, left temporarily abandoned as builders and road workers respected the need to isolate and stay home.
By afternoon, the weather had turned drizzly, with a cold wind and heavy cloud. A few joggers braved the miserable, gray day on Oriental Bay but otherwise it was deserted.
The evening was busy, work-wise and I again missed listening to RNZ’s “Checkpoint” or television news bulletins. Again, my evening was less stressful not having to listen to whatever nay-sayer “experts”; business whingers; and political opportunists msm news-producers had scraped from the bottom of the news-cycle barrel.
By Day’s End.
Current covid19 cases: 347
Cases in ICU: 1
Number of deaths: –
So ended the tenth day of our journey to beat this thing.
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28 August: Day 11 of living in lock-down…
Day’s beginning.
Current covid19 cases: 347
Cases in ICU: 1
Number of deaths: –
Morning started with usual; coffee; breakfast; coffee; and then settling down to watch Newshubs “The Nation“, hosted by TV3’s Head Prefect, Simon Shepherd.
When “The Nations” twitter feed announced “experts”:
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– a sense of unease struck me. Which self-interested business heads; ambitious political vultures; untrained commentators, had they lined up to spew their depressing “concerns”?
I was pleasantly surprised.
The show’s producers had indeed lined up real experts. Medical, sciencey; epidemiological – people who had spent years, if not decades, understanding the microscopic menace we faced.:
- Professor Michael Plank
- Professor Michael Baker
- Professor Quentin Grafton
They were a pleasant contrast to the stream of bullshit we’ve been subjected to, from NewstalkZB (Aotearoa’s wannabe FoxTV); NZ Herald, to even the state-broadcaster, Radio NZ.
The latter has been indulging in a depressing orgy of scraping self-appointed “experts” and commentators from around Aotearoa New Zealand to overseas.:
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The above article was penned by Marc Daalder. He is not described as a Health reporter:
“Marc Daalder is a senior political reporter based in Wellington who covers Covid-19, climate change, energy, primary industries, technology and the far-right”
The story itself is categorised under “Politics”.
Which begs the obvious question: why is a pandemic reported by a political journalist? Do we see Health reporters writing stories on the share market?
When did a medical-health crisis become political? (In the US, UK, Brazil, et al, covid has indeed become politicised – usually at the behest of the Right.)
I look forward to seeing a motoring journalist reporting on flower arrangement at the next flower-show. Or vice versa. Both are equally ridiculous.
Micky Savage writing for The Standard analysed some of the media stories and media response to criticisms made of material presented to the public. It is well worth reading.
He referred to Andrea Vance’s defensiveness in a recent story published for Stuff media where she complains bitterly how unfairly the public have been treating the msm and journos:
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Ms Vance is being disingenuous.
The criticisms of the mainstream media (msm) have, by and large, not been targetted at their scrutiny of the government. This blogger himself has written countless blogposts highly criticical of aspects of government MIQ policies.
The criticism from the public – which is how she dismissively describes as “us vs them’ group think mentality” -has been largely focused on the media’s willingness to platform a pale-yellow stream of negative opinions framed as expert commentary. Every single day, we are presented with carping businesspeople and commentators, often from overseas, with little or no medical or science training.
The response of the public has been one of exasperation at this negativity. That negativity is a covert denigration of us and our willingness to temporarily sacrifice our liberty for the greater good. The platforming of nay-sayers in our media – especially from overseas where the horrifically high death toll from covid19 has been tragic – is undermining and pointless.
No one in the msm has yet explained what benefit we get when a professor from the United Kingdom – current death toll 132,376 – is platformed and given airtime to effectively suggest we’re all idiots for pursuing an elimination strategy.
That exasperation from the public is every bit “freedom of expression” as she demands for herself and her colleagues.
The media do not get a free pass from the public’s scrutiny that the media themselves exact on politicians.
The propensity of non-commercial, public broadcaster, RNZ to platform negative opinions as faux “expert commentators” has been noticed on social media. The response has not been good for the broadcaster, going by comments after this post I made:
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Other observations have been in a similar vein.
When RNZ has reported rational comments as from Dr Richard Webby – an infectious disease researcher working at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Tennessee, US – the headline was less than helpful – and more tabloid-flavour:
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At least it was in the “Health” category.
The medical experts on Saturday’s “Nation” was contrasted by the jarring comments by Westland mayor and possibly deranged individual, Bruce Smith. His bizarre comments raised a storm of angry criticism on social media.
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His remark that covid19 was “no worse than polio” would have been met with 5 million slippers thrown at the TV screen.
No doubt next time Mr Smith is feeling unwell, he will seek medical advice from his mortgage broker.
By contrast, the medically-trained and sane human being, Professor Quentin Grafton, had a very simple and coherent response to “Plan Bers” like Mr Smith:
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To repeat:
“… Living with the virus means dying with the virus.”
How lucky does Mr Smith and his ilk feel?
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By Day’s End.
Current covid19 cases: 429
Cases in ICU: 2
Number of deaths: –
So ended the tenth day of our journey to beat this thing.
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References
Stuff media: Covid-19 – 70 new cases in Delta community outbreak, total now 347, one person in ICU
Twitter: The Nation – experts – 27 August 2021
RNZ: Covid-19 lockdown – Ardern struggles to give New Zealand certainty
Stuff media: If the Government is making the right decisions on Covid-19, it will withstand scruntiny
RNZ: Covid-19 – UK-based critic on New Zealand’s exit strategy
Worldmeter: UK Covid Death Toll
Twitter: @fmacskasy – RNZ – 28/8/21
Twitter: @nealejones – state of New Zealand’s media – 25/8/21
RNZ: Dr Richard Webby – ‘We’ll all catch Covid-19 eventually’
Twitter: @Tim_McCready – Bruce Smith – 10.23AM 28/8/21
Newshub: Coronavirus – What 59 essential workers testing positive means for elimination
Stuff media: Covid-19 outbreak situation report – What happened on Saturday, August 28
Additional
Gizmodo: New Zealand Pursues Covid-Zero as Right-Wing Idiots Lose Their Minds
Other Blogs
The Standard: Covid and the media
Previous related blogposts
Team 5 million vs Covid: Aotearoa on Three Strikes
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 1
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 2
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 3
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 4 – Caretaker Leader Collins, another rare mis-step
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 5 & 6
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 7 & 8
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 9 & 10
For Reference
Covid19.govt.nz: COVID-19 compliance
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Acknowledgement: Tom Scott
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= fs =
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 9 & 10
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26 August: Day 9 of living in lock-down…
Day’s beginning.
Current covid19 cases: 210
Cases in ICU: –
Number of deaths: –
A fine day, cloudy but warm.
Five cars at the railway station park and ride. Traffic seemed lighter than previous days, with about six to eight vehicles in sight at the Melling interchange.
There will be no further listing of branded commercial vehicles. Previous blogposts have given a ‘flavour’ of the wide-range of commercial and public service vehicles that were traversing the main roads from Hutt Valley to Wellington.
However, spotted were three firewood trucks (one branded “Chopps”) and two gas-cylinder trucks; a small campervan heading northalong SH2 north of Ngauranga Gorge interchange; a car transporter (not carrying any cars) flat-deck truck; a tow truck towing one car and carrying a second on its deck; a Fulton Hogan light-arrow truck with usual cargo of orange road-cones; and a couple of police cars.
The sighting of police cars is noteworthy. Last year’s lockdown was notable for the near-total absence of police vehicles on our Wellington-Hutt Valley roads. This time they appear to be out in force.
It is unclear if their focus is on speedsters and issuing infringement notices, or perhaps more critically, monitoring potential breaches of the lockdown.
By 10AM the weather had turned inclement. A good sign to keep folk away (hopefully) from popular public walkways along the harbour front.
Meanwhile, activity continued to be apparent at Evans Bay marina carpark. Campervans were obviously coming and going, or moving about and returning to different parking spotspots, as the following images demonstrate.
Comparing 20 August with today, six days later later:
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20 August
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26 August
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20 August
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26 August
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20 August
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26 August
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20 August
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26 August
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Let’s hope none of these travellers spread Delta as they are moving about. For these folk, it seems to be life-as-usual.
I recommend educating these folk on Delta Covid. If that fails, wheel clamps.
With pressures of work well into the evening I missed listening to RNZ’s “Checkpoint” and haven’t watched recorded episodes of TV1 or TV3 news bulletins. Surprisingly, my head seemed clearer and calmer.
Not listening to a torrent of “news” stories comprising of whining entitlement from businesses having to close; so-called “experts” who decry the government’s and people’s efforts to stop the spread of Delta; and Opposition politicians who have their own agendas – I think I’ll sleep well tonight.
By Day’s End.
Current covid19 cases: 277
Cases in ICU: –
Number of deaths: –
So ended the ninth day of our journey to beat this thing.
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27 August: Day 10 of living in lock-down…
Day’s beginning.
Current covid19 cases: 277
Cases in ICU: –
Number of deaths: –
A good night’s sleep. Woke up to an overcast day and starting to drizzle.
Sadly, the positive mind-set didn’t last long.
RNZ’s “Morning Report” featured two stories, one after another:
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The first story, at 8.43AM, featured Susie Ferguson interviewing clinical psychologist, Karen Nimmo on the stresses and anxiety people were feeling during the current lockdown.
Cited as reasons were:
“…it’s mid-winter”
“…the novelty factor has been stripped out”
“…we’ve got uncertainty”
“…the same old thing”
“…feeling flat”
“…feeling fatigued”
“…people jammed together in flats”
“…not warm flats”
“…boredom”
“…pressure cooker with flatmates and kids”
“…lonely”
I wasn’t entirely convinced.
Lo and behold, the reason why I wasn’t convinced came approximately a few minutes later.
Ms Ferguson was followed by her colleague, Corin Dann interviewing Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine from the UK University of East Anglia.
It was another critic of Aotearoa New Zealand’s strategy to eradicate and keep covid19 from our shores. The five minute 38 seconds long interview was a confusing, incoherent mess of poorly-thought through “reckons” by a supposed foreign “expert.
Questions abound as to why RNZ thought it worthwhile to interview this man.
I listened to him. I pondered his answers to Mr Dann’s probing questions. I considered what point he was trying to make.
I still cannot fathom what he was trying to say. Because at the end of the interview, Professor Hunter then finished by endorsing our elimination strategy:
“Yes, carry on at the moment trying to stop it spreading.”
Which leaves unanswered questions about who, at RNZ, thought it was a good idea to platform this person?
What was the point of yet more criticism and undermining of our eradication policy?
What did RNZ hope that listeners would learn?
How did it help us?
How did it further our collective efforts to contain and remove this deadly virus from our midst and save many lives?
What was the purpose of it?
And how many more of the thousands of nay-sayers and self-appointed experts has RNZ lined up to beat us over our collective head with?
If anyone at RNZ can offer even a wee glimmer of light on the rationale for this depressing interview, I will be fascinated to know it.
I will send my questions to RNZ and hope for an answer.
But in answer to Dr Nimmo, she left out one of the culprits for stresses and anxieties which some (or many) of us in Team 5 Million may be feeling:
“…a constant mainstream media diet of debilitating “news” and “reckons” which belittles and undermines our resolve and leave us wondering if our efforts are actually really worthwhile”
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By Day’s End.
Current covid19 cases: 347
Cases in ICU: –
Number of deaths: –
So ended the tenth day of our journey to beat this thing.
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References
TVNZ: Covid community cases reach 210, most in Auckland
RNZ: Covid-19 lockdown day 9 – How it unfolded
RNZ: Covid-19 – Clinical pyschologist on getting through lockdown
RNZ: Covid-19 – UK-based critic on New Zealand’s exit strategy
Twitter: Neale Jones – state of New Zealand’s media – 25/8/21
RNZ: Covid-19 update – 70 new community cases reported in NZ today
Additional
Gizmodo: New Zealand Pursues Covid-Zero as Right-Wing Idiots Lose Their Minds
Other Blogs
The Standard: The mysterious socialist hermit kingdom
Previous related blogposts
Team 5 million vs Covid: Aotearoa on Three Strikes
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 1
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 2
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 3
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 4 – Caretaker Leader Collins, another rare mis-step
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 5 & 6
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 7 & 8
For Reference
Covid19.govt.nz: COVID-19 compliance
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Acknowledgement: Sharon Murdoch (ft National Party)
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Have your own thoughts? Leave a comment. (Trolls need not bother.)
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Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 5 & 6
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22 August: Day 5 of living in lock-down…
Day’s beginning.
Current covid19 cases: 51
Cases in ICU: –
Number of deaths: –
Another day spent at home.
Morning; breakfast of low-sugar muesli and watch the eternally-young, but deceptively-capable Jack Tame on Q+A. First interviews Chris Hipkins who makes comments almost suggesting we will have to “live with covid19” at some time. The comments set of a flurry of media and social media speculation.
Jack Tame suggests we might’ve offered a “premium” to pharmaceutical companies to acquire their vaccines. Chris Hipkins replies that government has never offered a premium to jump the queue.
Rightly so. The suggestion is repellent. I would want no part of it.
And on a practical level, we’d be outbid every time by countries wealthier than us. In a “rule of the jungle”, Aotearoa New Zealand would lose every time.
Tampa survivor and refugee from Afghanistan, Abbas Nazari, is interviewed. Mr Nazari is incredibly personable and articulate. There is something incredibly compelling about his insights. I can’t help but wonder if, in an Alternative Universe, he might’ve been a natural leader in his country of birth.
He is Afghanistan’s deepest loss and Aotearoa’s gain.
After Q+A I don’t go out. No groceries are needed (I don’t do the toilet paper hoarding thing) and there’s plenty to do around the house.
Listening to RNZ as I catch up on things I’ve been planning to do; assemble shelving for memorabilia displays; repairing items in my “breakages box” that I’ve been meaning to get around to for a while; strip bed; laundry; give cat cuddles; vacuum; change kitty-litter; dusting… the day fills with tasks I’ve no excuses to not do.
In the early evening; dinner; phone my work colleagues regarding rostered shifts and maintaining work ‘bubbles’. My throat has developed a minor soreness that becomes more noticeable as I’m chatting with my colleague. The soreness subsides later that night. Troubling…
I watch “One Land Bridge“, noting the weirdness that is so redolent of David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks“.
I chat with my partner on the phone and we share our weekend experiences. We have separate ‘bubbles’ because of my community work and extended ‘bubble’ that goes with it.
I’m feeling unusually tired and go to bed after chatting with my partner. Work tomorrow and I start early for a long day.
By Day’s End.
Current covid19 cases: 72
Cases in ICU: –
Number of deaths: –
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23 August: Day 6 of living in lock-down…
Day’s beginning.
Current covid19 cases: 72
Cases in ICU: –
Number of deaths: –
I wake up feeling like crap. Fuzzy headed and lethargic. I have breakfast, shower, and prepare for work. I wait for the unwellness to subside.
Driving down along SH2, known informally as the “River Road”, I park my car by the roadside. Nearby, there are workers on two massive diggers with flashing yellow “alert” lights in the middle of the river and pushed-up mounds of rock.
I still don’t feel better. I phone the covid line (0800 358 5453). It’s not much help, I can’t get through. I phone the Healthline (0800 611 116) and I’m answered promptly. I relate my symptoms to the person on the line; she takes down my details; advises me a nurse will get back to me shortly. I thank her.
I hang up. My attention is drawn back to the men on the diggers. Should they be operating during a Level 4 lockdown? How is river works essential?
The number of commercial vehicles on the River Road is noticeable. If Delta spreads, businesses that continue to operate may likely be spreaders of this virus. Their occupants appear to travel widely throughout the Wellington region.
I take several photos with my smartphone.
First, an all-but-deserted SH2 River Road. There are no more than half a dozen vehicle on the road at any one time:
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The two diggers, atop mounds of re-arranged river rock:
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Do I carry on to work? Should I even be on the road?
I start my car and head south along SH2. The SH58 interchange comes into view and I make an immediate decision; head up the interchange on-ramp; veer right around the the roundabout and head back north. I’m going home. I shouldn’t’ve left my house in the first place; my thinking is that fuzzy.
Back home I phone and advise my manager.
The nurse phones me back later. She ‘interrogates’ my symptoms. I ask if I need covid testing. She replies; not at this stage, but if my condition worsens I’m to get down to a testing station. She advises rest, plenty of fluids, and paracetamol if I have it. I thank her for her help.
I take the paracetamol tablets, noting I need to buy more. Sleep.
A little later, waking, my head is clearer than before. Still a bit fuzzy, but not as bad as before. I phone Greater Wellington Regional Council, intrigued at the riverwork I’ve been witnessing on Friday and today. The receptionist take my details, and promises someone will call me back.
True to their work, “M.B.” phones me back from GWRC.
M.B. advises that the river work has been designated as “essential” and that it is permitted activity. He says the shifting of rock is necessary to “defend” river banks that’ve been scoured out by torrential flow after recent heavy rains. Riverbank walkways are threatened with collapse if left un-remediated.
M.B. explains the work was stalled last week because of more heavy rain – hence why work men were not on scene until last Friday.
M.B. reassures me that the workers are in their own “work bubble” and not interacting with the public. Similar work is also being carried out further south at Pōmare, where river bank scouring has exposed (or threatening to expose) gas pipes. (Question: who builds gas pipes so close to a river?!) “Essential work” is also planned for Moonshine Park, along the river bank. Another riverbank walkway is also threatened.
I thank M.B. for returning my call and offering answers to my questions.
I’m still a bit fuzzy-headed and don’t question M.B. any further.
However, if river works are “essential work”, other businesses may reasonably question why they are missing out and not deemed “essential” as well.
Let’s hope M.B. is reflecting an accurate picture and the workers are keeping to a strict work bubble. A collapsed walkway can be repaired. Lives damaged by Delta Covid, not so easily.
Later in the night, I’m feeling better. If this was nothing more than a head cold, it was the first one since August last year.
But not surprising. The flutracker website has reported a recent upsurge in flulike symptoms:
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A reminder that covid19 isn’t the only virus floating around, waiting to ‘hitch a ride’ in our warm breeding grounds that we call our bodies.
By Day’s End.
Current covid19 cases: 107
Cases in ICU: –
Number of deaths: –
So ended the fifth and sixth days of our journey to beat this thing.
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References
RNZ: Covid-19 update – 21 new community cases in New Zealand today
RNZ: Covid-19 lockdown day 5 – How it unfolded
TVNZ: Q+A – Aucklanders told to prepare for more time in lockdown
TVNZ: Q+A – Tampa survivor on why New Zealand must again open doors to Afghanistan refugees
Flutracker: Weekly Interim Report New Zealand
RNZ: Live – Covid-19 updates on day 6 of lockdown
Twitter: Richard Hills – Ardern won’t regret helping save thousands of lives
Recommended Reading
The Guardian: The Covid crisis suits rightwing media personalities as they monetise fear
Additional
Wikipedia: COVID-19 pandemic death rates by country
Other blogs
The Standard: Matt King caught blowing anti vaccination dog whistle
Previous related blogposts
Team 5 million vs Covid: Aotearoa on Three Strikes
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 1
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 2
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 3
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 4 – Caretaker Leader Collins, another rare mis-step
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Acknowledgement: Rod Emmerson
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Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 3
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20 August: Day 3 of living in lock-down…
Day’s beginning.
Current covid19 cases: 22
Cases in ICU: –
Number of deaths: –
The day began sunny and near-cloudless sky. It was warming up. Not good, I thought with dread: fine days bring out the people for casual strolls on the beachfront; joggers; bike riders, dog walkers; et al. Most without face-masks, judging by yesterday’s observations on Oriental and Evans Bays.
By late morning, the sky filled with gray clouds; the temperature plummeted; and it began spitting with rain.
Perversely, my spirit lifted. People were less inclined to wander out and about in bad weather and – hopefully – would instead remain home.
The drive into Wellington to begin my work-day confirmed that the weather was worsening; the gentle ‘spit’ became a light drizzle.
There were fewer cars parked at the local railway station park-n-ride – only five today. In my immediate urban area there were even fewer cars on the road than yesterday. It was resembling last year’s lockdown.
On the highway I observed trucks marked PBT, “Lowcost Bins”; van marked “The Drain Doctor”; an “Armourguard” van; “Waste Management” jumbo-bin truck (unladen); “Postehaste” courier van; white van marked “Precision”; a light-truck carrying gas cylinders; a van marked “HydrauLink”; van marked “Initial”; a “Moore Wilsons” truck; another “Waste Management” truck; a ute marked “Groundforce”; a “Hirepool” truck, with driver and passenger, parked up at Belmont, carrying a portacom toilet; a “L.G. Anderson” marked truck; a yellow soft-sided truck (“Pak n Save”?)’; an unladen flat deck truck with a hi-ab; a soft-side truck marked “Countdown”; a “Mitre 10 – Crofton Downs” truck carrying building materials; another “L.G. Anderson” flat-deck truck carrying a container; an ambulance; “Hirepool” truck; glaziers van; a “Traffic Management” truck; “Envirowaste” truck; “Waste Management” truck; “Provida Refrigerated Logistics” truck; “Kiwi Express” courier van; “L.G. Andrerson” flat deck truck, empty; “Dixon Dunlop” gravel truck, apparently empty; a police ute just north of Wellington; a “Toll” marked truck; “Dawson’s Waste” Pumping truck; two utes marked “Vertex”, carrying scaffold gear; a “Linfox” tanker; “Onestop Plumbing & Gas” van (parked up); another police car in Miramar; and many more which this blogger could not determine their company markings.
There was rock-dredging taking place in the Hutt River adjacent to SH2 “River Road” by two heavy digging-machines. Operations to rearrange the river-bed seemed to have returned to “normal” during an abnormal period. Has the Wellington Regional Council sanctioned this work?
By Melling, traffic was still light; lighter than the last few days.
At the automated BP Service station, on SH2 north of Ngauranga, there were workmen present again with several heavy vehicles. Whatever work they were engaged in seemed unaffected by the nationwide lockdown order.
Out in the harbour, the freighter from yesterday was still anchored out in the choppy waters:
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One couldn’t but feel sympathy for the hapless crew aboard the ship:
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In Wellington City, few pedestrians wore face masks. But positively, there were even fewer people wandering along Oriental Bay Parade.
Update on the Marquee this blogger witnessed being erected/dismantled outside Te Papa Museum, in Cable Street yesterday:
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The Marquee had been put up. And it’s use was obvious:
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Unlike some of the commercial-construction activity this blogger was witnessing, this work was very much essential. A new covid-testing station in the city. Just in time, for the terrible news that was just starting to break:
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Meanwhile, in the nearby Te Papa carpark, three campervans were parked up. It remains to be seen if they will be present on Monday morning:
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At the Evans Bay Marina Campervan park, vehicles were still apparently coming and going, despite the lockdown.
At the eastern end:
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Compared to yesterday (right) with today (left):
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At the southern end:
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Compared to yesterday (right) with today (left):
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At the northern end:
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Compared to yesterday (right) with today (left):
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Parked up roadside:
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There was no change above from the image taken yesterday.
The reason this matters is not a campervan version of “trainspotting”. If these vehicles are are no longer parked-up, but are mobile, then they potentially become super-spreaders.
As the Wellingtonian who returned by car to Wellington, driving from Auckland:
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One campervan laden with occupants could easily spread the virus throughout the north island.
On 21 August, this blogger reported one of several vehicles on the motorway:
“South of Ngauranga, a white campervan was heading north. Another person taking the opportunity to treat lockdown as a personal opportunity for impromptu holiday-time?”
Where were they heading?
They are a potential, dangerous vector for spread no one has considered.
Tonight, a campervan owner at the Marina told this blogger that the Wellington City Council had lifted the 4-day maximum parking limit for vehicles during the covid emergency. There is therefore no valid justification for campervan owners to be moving around and flouting the lockdown.
Police have been notified.
Throughout the day, this blogger had occasion to visit two ‘Pak n Save’ supermarkets; one work-related on behalf of a client; the other personal. Neither were pleasant experiences.
Though supermarket staff did their best to limit numbers entering the store, the two-metre distancing rule is impossible to practice. The aisles are simply not wide enough and customers often pass each other well within a metre.
However, mask wearing was near universal. Only three customers were spotted; one with his mask slipped down; another without a mask, and wearing only a scarf which had slipped down around his neck; and a woman who responded that she “had an exemption“.
Did she also have an exemption from the Delta Covid? She didn’t say.
But they were only three of several hundred this blogger witnessed.
People entering the stores were assiduously scanning QR codes.
Dodging the Bullet – a personal note
The Ministry of Health released a list of locations of interest where covid-infected Wellingtonians, returning from Auckland, had been in the last few days.
The locations included places in suburbs around Wellington:
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As this blogger read through the list, my heart sank. Two places on Wednesday 18 August, in Johnsonville, were on a day I visit a client. The times coincided when I accompany them through Johnsonville.
Could it be that we had crossed paths with this infected person? I could have passed him on the footpath and breathed in as he exhaled. Delta Covid is that infectious.
I felt sick in my gut.
I quickly grabbed my work diary. Checking the appointments, I found my client’s entry.
It had been crossed off.
I had been reassigned to Miramar clients instead. This was dodging the bullet on a personal level. By reassigning me, my Manager may have inadvertently saved me and my client from becoming two more statistics.
By Day’s End.
Current covid19 cases: 31
Cases in ICU: –
Number of deaths: –
So ended the third day of our journey to beat this thing.
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References
RNZ: North Shore Hospital patient tests positive for Covid-19, emergency department closes
NZ Herald: Covid 19 coronavirus Delta outbreak – Everything we know so far about Wellington cases
NZ Herald: Covid 19 coronavirus Delta outbreak – Two cities, one cluster; North Island cases grow
NZ Herald: Covid 19 coronavirus Delta outbreak – Locations of interest pass 190 – yet more expected
RNZ: Covid-19 update – 11 new cases in the community, including three in Wellington
Additional
Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MoBIE): Workplace operations at COVID-19 alert levels – Guidance for businesses at Alert Levels 2, 3 and 4
RNZ: Daily cheer – Social media content from lockdown day 3
Previous related blogposts
Team 5 million vs Covid: Aotearoa on Three Strikes
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 1
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 2
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Acknowledgement: Sharon Murdoch
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Have your own thoughts? Leave a comment. (Trolls need not bother.)
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Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 2 – REVISED
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19 August: Day 2 of living in lock-down…
Day’s beginning.
Current covid19 cases: 10
Cases in ICU: –
Number of deaths: –
Traffic today seemed marginally lighter than yesterday, with not as many obvious “tradies” on the road. The nearby railway station park-n-ride had the same number of cars as yesterday (around half a dozen).
It was a much brighter, sunnier day than yesterday and people were out and about in my suburb walking with family and dogs. Mask-wearing was not much evident.
On SH2 “River Road”, traffic was lighter than yesterday, about 6 or 8 cars visible at any time. Unlike yesterday most of the vehicles were domestic rather than commercial.
Commercial vehicles sighted; two “Traffic Management” light-arrow trucks, complete with dozens of orange cones; a “Crest Clean” van; “Silbury Roofing” ute; “First Security” hatchback; “Waste Management” truck; “Apparel Line NZ Ltd”; ute marked “Hunt”; a ute towing a bobcat; “Posthaste” courier van; a police car; “NZ Post” courier; van marked “Flooring Design”; van marked “Wellington Waterways”; container truck; a ute marked “Site Care”; a flat-deck truck carrying an over-size tractor; van marked “Chorus”; a drain-cleaning light truck; SUV marked “Collective First National” real estate; a gravel bearing truck marked “Horokiwi”; a tow-wagon carrying a ute; vabn marked “Marshall Batteries”; “HydroTech” truck; “Envirowaste” truck; another “Waste management” truck; another “Envirowaste” truck; “Allied Petroleum” double-tandem tanker-truck; “Monk Appliances” black van; ambulance past Aotea Quay; a black van marked “Plumb 2 Please”; another ambulance heading north through the Terrace Tunnel
At Petone, track building operations had ceased. Heavy construction vehicles were abandoned with no crew about.
At the automated BP Service station on SH2 there were workmen and heavy-work vehicles continuing their construction/maintenance project from yesterday.
At the Ngauranga interchange there were about ten to twelve vehicles visible in either direction. It was definitely busier than last years lockdown.
Out in the harbour, two freighters were anchored on the open water. (Later, that night, only one remained on open water.)
South of Ngauranga, a white campervan was heading north. Another person taking the opportunity to treat lockdown as a personal opportunity for impromptu holiday-time?
In Wellington, the streets were more deserted than yesterday and in the commercial/shopping precincts, most wwere wearing face-masks.
Taranaki Street, looking north:
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Taranaki Street, looking south:
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In Dixon Street, four commercial/service vehicles marked “Vital” were carrying out work:
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One of the vehicles was a ‘cherry picker’. Were they doing work on the power or phone lines? Was it essential – “vital” – work?
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More workmen.
This time outside Te Papa Museum, in Cable Street. Around five men were busily erecting/dis-assembling the white marquee pictured below.
Only half appeared to be wearing face-masks. How is erecting/disassembling a marquee “essential” work?
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A Fulton Hogan truck and ute towing a portacabin, that appeared connected to work being carried out on the marquee:
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Ute towing portacabin:
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Around the bays; Oriental Bay and then Evans Bay; there were considerable numbers of people walking in the sun; families; and plenty of joggers. Not many were masked-up. Two mask wearers wore them inappropriately; one under the nose; the under his chin. (His chin was safe from Delta Covid, no doubt.)
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At the Evans Bay Marina campervan facility, things had changed.
Western end of the carpark:
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Compare todays photo (left) with yesterdays (right). Spot the difference?
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Southern side of the carpark:
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Compare todays photo (left) with yesterdays (right). Spot the difference?
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Northern side of carpark:
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Compare todays photo (left) with yesterdays (right). Spot the difference?
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Out on the street:
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Compare todays photo (left) with yesterdays (right). Spot the difference?
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From my observations, people were making the most of the fine day to either walk about; go jogging; carry out commercial – and possibly non-essential – work; or take campervans out for a tour.
You wouldn’t think there’s a pandemic and we’re currently facing dire consequences from the highly transmissable and deadly Delta variant.
Traffic later in the night was practically non-existent, with no vehicles near the airport or Cobham Drive when this blogger drove through just after 8pm.
The night-time drive home though wasn’t much better, with road works on SH2 opposite the Melling Railway station. The vehicles appeared to have “Fulton Hogan” brandings. How “essential” are roadworks during a pandemic lockdown?
When – not if – Delta Covid arrives in Wellington, it has to be hoped that Wellingtonians lift their game. If current behaviour persists, the virus will rip through this city.
Meanwhile, on a Black Humour Note.
By the way, is anyone still interested in signing this petition?
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Asking for a virus, keen to know.
But for the most supreme irony of the year, take a closer look. Look at the heading “National launches trans-Tasman bubble petition“.
Then look at the red-bannered message above:
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A rather unfortunate juxtaposition?
By Day’s End.
Current covid19 cases: 21
Cases in ICU: –
Number of deaths: –
So ended the second day of our journey to beat this thing.
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References
RNZ: NZ in day two of lockdown as case numbers rise
RNZ: Covid-19 update -11 new community cases and 8 in managed isolation
National Party: National launches trans-Tasman bubble petition
Twitter: @BMHayward – Sth Island lockdown – Sydney – 6.03PM Aug 18 2021
Previous related blogposts
Team 5 million vs Covid: Aotearoa on Three Strikes
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 1
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Acknowledgement: Bill Bramhall (USA)
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Have your own thoughts? Leave a comment. (Trolls need not bother.)
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= fs =
Life in lockdown, Round Two – Day 1
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18 August: Day 1 of living in lock-down…
Day’s beginning.
Current covid19 cases: 5
Cases in ICU: –
Number of deaths: –
After a night of torrential rain bursts and thunderous blasts of lightning, I wake up to Round Two of life under lockdown. The weather is overcast outside; the roads wet from last nights downpour. This is a good sign; people may be less inclined to sneak of down to the beach or summer baches for a long weekend.
Sorting through my revised roster of reassigned clients. Thankfully most are staunch and understand the severity of the crisis.
Listening to the radio, vox populi interviews of Kiwis in various centres, I am struck at the stiff-upper-lip response from people. The lock-down is considered necessary; people point to the cluster-f**k that is Sydney; “we can do this, we’ve done it before”. I am reminded of WW2 stories of British people during the blitz; calm resignation and determination to see it through.
Only one jarring, dissenting voice from the South Island who whines like a six year old that only the North Island should’ve been locked down because the outbreak was a North Island thing:
But Matt Radcliffe said the South Island should not have been forced to lock down for a case in the North Island.
“We’re like sheep aren’t we. Yeah, I think it is over the top. You know, one case, if it is one case in the North Island… Australians can lock down a state, why can’t New Zealand lock down an island, if it’s in the north, shut down the North Island.”
“ Australians can lock down a state” has to be the most moronic statement since David Seymour prattled on about plastic bags. Obviously Mr Radcliffe is living in blissful ignorance at how Delta has slipped through one state after another because NSW did not opt for a full lockdown.
Contrast with this person, who really was the adult in the room:
In central Dunedin, Carolyne Smith said anything less than level four would have risked a New South Wales-type scenario.
“I mean if we go for sharp and hopefully short, we’ll knock it on the head, but I think if Jacinda and Ashley had gone for say level three or anything like that, they would have been just wide open to letting it go.”
The drive into Wellington took me along my usual route; down SH2 to the motorway; through the Terrace Tunnel; down Ghuznee Street, toward the Basin Reserve and then the Eastern Suburbs.
Traffic along the way. Definitely busier than the last L4 lockdown last year. Whilst hard to put a firm number, counting at any moment indicated twice the level of traffic than last year.
And there seemed to be more tradies on the motorway and city streets with their vans, utes, flat decks, et al. Plus a coca cola delivery truck – because carbonated soft drinks, as we all know, are critical to our wellbeing.
Near deserted suburban park-and-ride carparks. Normally filled to overflowing onto adjacent streets, only half a dozen cars sat under a gloomy, chilly gray sky…
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The drive into town (and on the way home later that night) was marked by the presence of police vehicle. One sighted on SH2; another in Victoria Street, south of the Terrace Tunnel; and one parked up on the grassy central berm in Cobham Drive, connecting the city to the airport. This was in marked contrast to last year, when police were curiously absent from streets and motorway.
As mentioned above, traffic on the motorway was noticeably heavier than last year’s lockdown. More trucks; vans, utes – both marked and unmarked.
The number of vans and utes with electricians and plumbers markings indicated that either these people were still on the job, or perhaps were nipping down to their local super market for milk, bread, and nappies.
Last year I listed the markings on commercial vehicles. But I also missed many more travelling in the opposite direction. I may or may not continue the practice…
But certainly will observe and diary events, incidences, and people being people as I witness them.
Meanwhile, as I entered the deserted streets of Wellington…
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Looking north along Cuba Street, toward Cuba Mall…
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Coca cola-branded delivery truck. Both delivery persons wore masks. One over his face (good). The other under his chin (not so terribly good)…
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At Evans Bay marina, where campervans were permitted by Council by-laws to park-up. It remains to be seen if these vehicles stay put for the next few days…
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As I left my last client and headed to my car, I stood in a Miramar street not far from the Weta Workshops. Unlike last year, the high-pitched sound of a turbo-prop aircraft accelerating to take-off still filled the dark night. A marked difference from the dead still silence from April 2020.
Tonight I headed home. Wednesdays was usually spent with my partner; dinner; something interesting to watch on TV or Youtube (Chris Hedges and Seth Myers are strong favourites). But tonight was to be spent home, alone. We have separate “bubbles” with mine being far more extended than hers because of my community work.
At least my cat would be happy to see me.
By Day’s End.
As trhe day came to a close, our covid toll had doubled…
Current covid19 cases: 10
Cases in ICU: –
Number of deaths: –
So ended the first day of our journey to beat this thing.
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References
RNZ: South Island settles in for level 4: ‘That’s the sacrifice we’ve got to make’
RNZ: Microbiologist slams ‘irresponsible’ plastic ban claims cited by Seymour
Other Blogs
The Standard: The importance of political leadership in dealing with Covid
The Standard: Here again, but Delta gives less latitude. So give less latitude.
Previous related blogposts
Life in Lock Down: Day 33 & 34
Life in Lock Down: Day 2 of Level 3
Life in Level 1: Reinfection – Labour’s kryptonite
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Acknowledgement: Slane
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Have your own thoughts? Leave a comment. (Trolls need not bother.)
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= fs =
Team 5 million vs Covid: Aotearoa on Three Strikes
[Blogger’s Note: Events from 1.30PM, 17 August have overtaken this story.]
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Prologue
16 June, NSW: A Sydney limousine driver ferrying airline flight crews is found to be infected with covid19. Analysis confirms it is the Delta variant.Two days later, community transmission is reported where a Sydney woman had only fleeting contact with the limousine driver.
22 June, NSW: The “Bondi cluster” increases to 21 cases.
22 June, Wellington: Aotearoa New Zealand’s government announces a “travel pause” with New South Wales, effective 11.59PM. As reported;
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Strike 1
23 June, Wellington: The news shocked the entire country: a traveller from Sydney to Wellington had tested positive for covid19:
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The male traveller had spent the weekend of 19/21 June in Wellington. After only a fleeting two day visit, the country was thrown into an urgency not seen since last year’s covid outbreak and lockdown.
The response was immediate. Wellington’s Level Alert was raised to Two. It was quickly determined that the traveller had mixed with thousands of other people as he visited popular tourist spots; retailers; a bar; cafe; hotel, etc:
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Authorities only knew of his precise movements because he – unless most New Zealanders – was scanning the QR code wherever he went. It was this meticulousness that allowed the Ministry of Health to ascertain not just where he had been, but who might have been in close contact with him.
We owe this person a great deal.
Four days after the first announcement, and upon his return to Sydney, the traveller’s partner tested positive for covid19. It was announced at around the same time that – unsurprisingly – the traveller’s covid variant was indeed the highly infectious Delta strain.
It was the same strain that was rapidly spreading through Sydney from where the traveller had come from. By a miracle, as days passed, there were no reports of community transmission in Wellington. None of his 2,609 close contacts tested positive for the virus. Neither were there any traces of the virus in the city’s wastewater.
We had dodged the bullet. Strike 1.
Strike 2
5/6 July, Auckland-New Plymouth: The country was stunned to learn that relieving foreign ship crews were landing in Aotearoa, without the full 14 day MIQ. One crew was transported to their vessel, the Spanish-owned Viking Bay:
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Alarmingly, the MoH disclosed:
A Ministry spokesperson says they entered into the country under an exemption so they did not have to quarantine.
“These mariners entered into New Zealand under an exemption contained within the maritime border order.
“It’s important to note that all people such as mariners who this exemption applies to are still required to comply with full infection prevention controls.”
It is as if leading Ministry of Health officials are oblivious as to the vastly more infectious nature of the Delta variant. Remember that the Sydney limousine driver infected a 70 year old woman at a local cafe with only the briefest of interactions. As New South Wales’ Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerry Chant, pointed out:
“This indicates that the initial case was highly infectious, as transmission must have occurred through fleeting exposure, noting that the woman who caught the infection at the café was actually seated outside and there was no known contact with the initial case.”
The van driver who transported the nine seafarers was put into isolation, as were two other Ports of Auckland workers.
The Ministry’s insistence that there was “minimal additional risk to any of the contacts during the transfer process” rings dangerously hollow when we realise that the current crisis facing NSW started of with one highly infectious person.
At last two Ports of Auckland workers and the van driver were put at risk of infection; potential serious illness, and possibly worse.
The drive from Auckland to Port Taranaki is a five hour journey. During that journey, the travellers “stopped to use the toilets at a Hamilton isolation facility”.
It is difficult to accept they made only one “pit stop”. With nine individual seafarers and a van driver, is it credible they all needed to use the toilets simultaneously? And as Maritime Workers Union national secretary, Craig Harrison, added:
“It’s a fair old drive from Auckland to New Plymouth when you think about it. If the driver’s coming back from New Plymouth, if it’s down and back in one day, he must be refuelling somewhere.”
It is unclear where else the van may have stopped for food, toilet visit, or to re-fuel. And if the van had broken down, with two infectious seafarers onboard; had they interacted with passers-by or professional road-side assistance, the scenario for community transmission would have been set.
12 July, Wellington: A week after the five-hour drive from Auckland to Port Taranaki, the Viking Bay docked in Wellington.
13 July, Wellington: According to the MoH, fifteen of the Viking Bay’s 20 crew were transferred to an on-shore MIQ facility at the Grand Mercure Hotel. Including the original two from the Auckland-to-New Plymouth drive, all fifteen were now infected with the Delta variant.
The following day, another crewmember – one of the remaining five aboard the Viking Bay – became unwell and joined his comrades in MIQ. This despite the fact that same seafarer had recently returned a ‘negative’ covid test.
We had apparently (?) dodged another bullet. Strike 2.
Strike 3
18 July, Lyttelton Port: Another ship, the Spanish-flagged Playa Zahara docked at the port. The Delta variant had spread easily throughout the ship, infecting three crewmembers. A further thirteen crew also tested positive for covid, most likely Delta as well.
Again the relieving crew for the fishing vessel landed in Auckland on 18 June and spent only two days in MIQ. According to MoH, they were tested before their arrival in Aotearoa New Zealand and again prior to boarding their ship. It is unclear when the second testing took place.
4 August, Port of Tauranga: Matters took a dangerous turn when the Singapore registered container ship, Rio De La Plata, docked at the port to unload its cargo.
Initially, 72 Tauranga port workers boarded the Rio De La Plata.
Eleven of the 21 crew aboard the ship tested positive for covid. According to the MoH, “Officials have worked with employers to identify 94 port workers who had contact with the ship, unloading cargo in shifts over the four-day period it was berthed at Port of Tauranga from 6pm on Wednesday 4 August to 2pm on Saturday 7 August.”
The number was subsequently increased to 98.
Writing for Stuff media, Port of Tauranga or Bay of Plenty District Health Board was keeping track of who was or was not vaccinated at the port.
was able to reveal that no one atWorse was to come.
It was also revealed that port workers were needlessly exposed to infected crew aboard the Rio De La Plata a second time:
The Rio de la Plata was initially given the okay to berth in Tauranga on Wednesday. Then it was suddenly shut down that same night. Then it was given the all clear again the next morning. And now, half of its crew have tested positive for Covid-19.
Ports of Tauranga management put their side of events:
The ship was tied up at Port of Tauranga from 6pm on Wednesday 4 August to 2pm on Saturday 7 August…
[…]
… A Port of Tauranga pilot boarded the vessel at approximately 5pm on Wednesday and brought the ship in to the Tauranga Container Terminal. At about 9pm, Customs NZ unexpectedly shut down operations on the ship and the local Public Health Unit advised Port of Tauranga that our pilot and the stevedores unloading the ship should go home and isolate while awaiting further instructions.
On Thursday morning, Government agencies have clarified the situation and the Public Health Unit advised us that operations can resume on the vessel and there was no need for workers to isolate.
This despite Port of Tauranga admitted that they had been advised the day before the Rio de la Plata had been boarded by an Australian Queensland pilot who later tested positive for the virus:
On Tuesday, 3 August, Port of Tauranga received an alert from Maritime NZ that the ship had been boarded two weeks ago by an Australian pilot, who had tested positive for Covid-19. Maritime NZ subsequently cleared the ship for pilot boarding. The ship was also cleared to berth by the Medical Officer of Health at the local Public Health Unit as part of the normal free pratique process.
11 August: the Rio de la Plata departed Port of Tauranga. All port workers and two pilots tested negative for covid.
The Australian pilot who became infected was not so lucky:
The ship is linked to a COVID case in an Australian pilot who was onboard the vessel July in Queensland and who later developed symptoms and then tested positive for COVID-19 nine days after being aboard the vessel. The Australian pilot is confirmed to have the Delta variant and has not been linked to any other Queensland cases.
Yet again, bullet dodged. Strike 3.
Out!
[This part written after 1.30pm, 17 August. However, it largely follows the original ]
The high-transmission rate of Delta Covid was starkly illustrated in Australia, as described above, when a woman at a cafe came into brief, passing contact with a limousine driver.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, the insanely high degree of transmissability of Delta Covid was reinforced at Auckland’s Jet Park quarantine facility:
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Every aspect of the increased dangerous nature of Delta Covid, combined with Aotearoa New Zealand’s policies toward foreign ship crews avoiding full fourteen-day MIQ; and haphazard protocols followed by port workers with visiting ships – does not bode well for us.
Little wonder that the Prime Minister was also uneasy about our vulnerability when it came to maritime traffic:
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Delta covid is unforgiving. We are tempting Fate with our complacency. Someone at the Ministry of Health has not been paying attention.
We must do better.
Meanwhile, from the Death Cult Capitalists
For ACT leader David Seymour, opening up Aotearoa New Zealand couldn’t come fast enough:
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And to drive home the point, he added:
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“That could mean living with Covid-19, even if that led to large outbreaks, more hospitalisations and even deaths…” – Mr Seymour can be very casual with other peoples’ lives. Almost sociopathic.
To be clear what Mr Seymour is calling for:
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“We couldn’t afford a situation in New Zealand to have it out of control in the community because it would risk collapsing or compromising our health system.”
It is not often a politician calls for the planned exposure of a deadly virus on to our country; casually dismisses the inevitable deaths (and not just from unvaccinated); and doesn’t comprehend the damage it would cause our health system.
Not only would opening up and “living with covid” kill – our hospital wards would quickly fill with hundreds of covid patients. This would take beds normally occupied by others with injuries and illnesses. Hip operations would be cancelled: no beds. Injuries from a natural disaster would not be treated: no beds. Life-saving transplants could not go ahead: no beds.
That is the nightmare scenario ACT leader David Seymour would visit upon his fellow Kiwis.
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References
ABC News: How the potentially ‘inexcusable’ actions of a limo driver put Sydney on COVID-19 alert
Sky News: Woman in 70s contracted COVID from ‘fleeting exposure’ to Bondi limo driver
NSW Government: COVID-19 (Coronavirus) statistics – 22 June 2021
Otago Daily Times: NZ pauses travel bubble with New South Wales
Ministry of Health: Australian traveller tests positive for COVID-19
RNZ: Sydney Covid-19 case flew to Wellington last weekend
Stuff media: Covid19 NZ – Wellington enters alert level 2
Stuff media: Covid19 – If Aussie tourist who visited Wellington has Delta variant, alert level shift may be needed
TVNZ: Partner of Sydney man who visited Wellington tests positive for Covid-19
Otago Daily Times: Sydney man who visited Wellington had Delta variant
The Conversation: New Zealand has managed to dodge the COVID-19 bullet, again. Here’s why
RNZ: Australian traveller who visited Wellington has Delta variant
RNZ: Two mariners who were in Auckland test positive for Covid-19
RNZ: Covid-19 – Mariners driven from Auckland to Taranaki pose ‘very low risk’
RNZ: Fishing vessel with two Covid-19 cases will dock in Wellington
MoH: Update on Viking Bay fishing vessel
RNZ: Public at risk, confine infected mariners to MIQ rooms – Des Gorman
RNZ: Another Viking Bay crew member moved to Wellington MIQ facility
MoH: No community cases; 2 new cases in managed isolation; 2 historical cases; Taranaki wastewater update
MoH: Update on Whole Genome Sequencing for Playa Zahara
NZ Herald: Covid 19 coronavirus – Most of infected Playa Zahara crew to go to Christchurch MIQ
Stuff media: Explainer – How a Covid-19 carrying ship docked in NZ, and why workers were let aboard
Otago Daily Times: No community cases in NZ, port workers all negative
MoH: Container Ship at Sea off Tauranga tests positive for COVID-19
Stuff media: Who, exactly, is monitoring vaccination numbers at the port in Tauranga?
Port of Tauranga: Rio de la Plata Update – Tuesday 10 August
RNZ: Covid-19 transmission at Jet Park when doors opened for seconds
Stuff media: PM wants to stop foreign fishing boats from changing crews in New Zealand
Otago Daily Times/NZ Herald: Seymour – Open borders next year regardless of vaccination levels
RNZ: Covid-19 – Delta in NZ community would ‘risk collapsing or compromising our health system’
The Conversation: Most COVID deaths in England now are in the vaccinated – here’s why that shouldn’t alarm you
Twitter: @GrumpyYetAmusin – 8.1AM – deadly virus – eugenicist – 8.11AM Aug 12, 2021
Additional
NZ Herald: Covid 19 coronavirus – Viking Bay mariners broke MIQ rules in Wellington
Previous related blogposts
Life in Level 1: Reinfection – No, Dr Bloomfield!
Life in Level 1: Reinfection – Labour’s kryptonite
Is Air NZ the Covid re-infection problem? Possible evidence points to national airline
Does OIA evidence confirm possible Air NZ link to recent covid outbreaks?
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Acknowledgement: Shaun Yeo
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Have your own thoughts? Leave a comment. (Trolls need not bother.)
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= fs =
A Tale of Two Schools…
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Two stories which appeared almost side-by-side on RNZ’s website.
Parent, Miranda Cross, was quoted as saying;
“I think the expectations are that we can at least send our kids to school where they will receive an education.”
An American parent would probably demand;
“I think the expectations are that we can at least send our kids to school where they will survive the day and come home alive.”
It’s not a bad country to live in when the most toxic thing that could potentially harm our kids is mould – whereas the United States has bullets flying.
But what else can we expect from a nation that is at perpetual war with itself?
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References
RNZ: Reports of shooting at Knoxville, Tennessee high school with one dead and multiple victims – police
RNZ: Hutt Valley High School principal ‘beyond angry’ as classrooms close due to mould, leaks
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Is Air NZ the Covid re-infection problem? Possible evidence points to national airline
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A shroud of secrecy surrounds isolation facilities used by Air New Zealand international flight crews. Until recently, Aucklanders were not even aware that Air NZ had begun to use hotels in the CBD to isolate returning flight crews.
Furthermore, it was revealed that returning Air NZ were leaving their rooms to exercise outside of their isolation CBD hotels by jogging through Auckland’s busy central-city streets,
Newshub journalist, and formerly with Radio NZ, Zac Fleming, uncovered the story;
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As reported by Zac Fleming;
Air crew were originally staying at the Ramada Hotel at Auckland CBD and Manukau, but switched to the Grand Windsor on Auckland’s Queen Street on Friday.
After the switch, they were told by Air New Zealand via a staff bulletin: “As per the MoH guidelines you will be able to leave the hotel for up to 90 minutes of exercise per day.”
This means the crew returning from the US over the weekend could have checked into the Grand Windsor and then left and gone for a run through the middle of downtown Auckland.
It would not be the first time returning flight crews had been given permission to exercise outside their isolation facilities.
From an Air New Zealand web-page dated 19 August 2020, flight crews were allowed to venture out for up to an hour each day in several “medium risk” overseas cities;
Air New Zealand has worked closely with Ministry of Health officials in implementing the measures in place today. High, medium or low risk destinations are set by the Ministry of Health and this risk matrix is reviewed regularly. Measures include:
[…]
For medium risk layovers, including Narita, Hong Kong, Shanghai
[…]
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- Air crew isolate in hotels, limiting trips outside to 1hr per 24-hour period
In a web page document dated 24 December 2020 – and which is still publicly visible – the Ministry of Health issued these guidelines for returning aircrew;.
Aircrew are only permitted to leave their place of self-isolation:
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• to do any outdoor exercise (except at any shared exercise facility, such as a swimming pool
[…]
Aircrew are not permitted to leave their place of self-isolation for anything other than the reasons described above. Any time aircrew leave their place of self-isolation for these reasons, they must maintain physical distancing and wear PP Eat all times.
Moh: Requirements for air crew ordinarily resident in New Zealand to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection and transmission (24 December 2020)
Additional requirements for aircrew who travel internationally on designated ‘higher-risk’routes and for pilots undergoing flight simulator training in Australia
[…]
4. Aircrew are only permitted to leave their place of self-isolation:
[…]
• to do any outdoor exercise (except at any shared exercise facility, such as a swimming pool)
[…]
Aircrew are not permitted to leave their place of self-isolation for anything other than the reasons described above. Any time aircrew leave their place of self-isolation for these reasons, they must maintain physical distancing and wear PPE at all times.
The guidelines are complex, attempting to cater for every possible situation flight crews will experience overseas.
And it was reported on 22 January, this year;
Until Monday [January 22], [Air New Zealand] aircrew had the choice to self-isolate at home in New Zealand.
TVNZ has reported that every week about 80 pilots and cabin crew on high-risk flights are now being driven to a hotel where a private healthcare team tests them for Covid-19.
If they test negative, they can leave after 48 hours.
[…]
“We’re not going to have security on the door. We do trust the airlines to follow the rules,” Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins told 1 News.
[…]
The ministry said the hotel where the aircrew stay, which they would not name or identify its whereabouts, is not managed isolation/quarantine (MIQ) facility.
However, aircrew are required to follow isolation requirements, which includes staying in their rooms until the result of their test is available. Meals are delivered to their rooms during this time and they are permitted to exercise outside provided they maintain social distancing and wear personal protective equipment (PPE).
[…]
1 News said it had been told some cabin crew were suspected of breaking self-isolation at home and [Minister Chris] Hipkins was aware of the claims.
“It’s difficult to respond to anecdotes rather than actual evidence that people haven’t been following the rules,” he said.
It was then first revealed on 9 February this year that returning flight crews had switched from a Manukau isolation hotel, to the Grand Windsor in down Auckland’s Queen Street;
Air New Zealand crew were allowed to leave a quarantine hotel to exercise on the streets of Auckland’s CBD for nearly three weeks, Newshub can reveal.
Up until three weeks ago, the airline’s crew could isolate at home for 48 hours after an overseas trip, but on January 18 it became mandatory for crews who had been to the United States to isolate in hotels – because it’s deemed a high-risk country.
Despite the ‘high-risk’, Ministry of Health guidelines were still allowing them to leave their hotel to exercise for up to 90 minutes a day.
The Ministry of Health says it was only aware of and gave guidance for Air New Zealand staff to leave a hotel in Manukau to exercise, and its guidelines did not allow for staff to leave a CBD hotel to exercise.
Air crew were originally staying at the Ramada Hotel at Auckland CBD and Manukau, but switched to the Grand Windsor on Auckland’s Queen Street on Friday.
After the switch, they were told by Air New Zealand via a staff bulletin: “As per the MoH guidelines you will be able to leave the hotel for up to 90 minutes of exercise per day.”
This means the crew returning from the US over the weekend could have checked into the Grand Windsor and then left and gone for a run through the middle of downtown Auckland.
In response, the airline’s attitude to the problem was;
AirNZ does not believe there was a problem in crew having been allowed to leave the Ramada for three weeks between January 18 and February 5.
But there clearly is a problem.
In March last year, Aotearoa New Zealand moved from Level Alert 2 to Level Alert 4 within four days. On 11.59pm on 25 March, the country was under a State of Emergency.
However, nature and the viruses it produces wait for no-one and our rules do not not apply. On the same day Aotearoa New Zealand moved to Level Alert 2 on 21 March, a wedding and reception at Bluff was held the same day. An Air NZ flight crewmember attended – a person infected with covid19.
Air NZ issued a comment at the time;
“Air New Zealand’s employee, as all operating cabin crew, adhered to the Ministry of Health’s guidance which includes hygiene and PPE measures.”
The “Bluff Cluster“, as it became known, resulted in 98 people becoming infected, including one fatality. (Note: this blogger does not attribute any blame to the AirNZ flight crew member, who was following rules at the time. The entire country had yet to learn the lesson that covid19 was about to teach us.)
Eight months later, another Air NZ flight crew member was found to be infected;
Air New Zealand is investigating after one of its crew members tested positive for Covid-19 in China.
The staff member tested negative to the virus in New Zealand on November 18 but on arrival in Shanghai on November 22 returned a positive test.
Air New Zealand said the person was well and had no symptoms of Covid-19 – all other crew have returned negative results.
Other cases followed;
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By 22 April, Air NZ confirmed that thirty of it’s workers had been infected with the virus.
The cry for more stringent testing and isolation protocols came from Air NZ staff themselves;
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Covid-19 testing, isolation needs urgent attention – Air NZ staff
19 August 2020
Air New Zealand staff say there are a multitude of loopholes in the airline’s border controls – and Covid-19 testing and isolation requirements need urgent attention.
The Health Minister today met with Air New Zealand to discuss ways to tighten Covid-19 restrictions, after saying he was concerned with their procedures.
While returning travellers must undergo strict 14-day isolation requirements, the air crews bringing them home are largely exempt.
One person working on Air New Zealand’s international flights told Checkpoint there had been unease for sometime among crews about the current rules, which mean only those returning from America are required to self-isolate, have a Covid-19 test on day two and continue to self-isolate until that test comes back negative.
“I think there’s a multitude of loopholes, and some of them are due to the way the airline operates but also unfortunately, I believe that the loopholes and the vulnerabilities at the border, are due to the way things have been designed by Ministry of Health rules.”
He recently returned from a long haul flight which was not to America, so he is not required to self isolate.
“However, I’m doing that, because… it’s the right thing to do. So I am managing the quarantine at home.
“But many crew have difficulty with that, they might have flatmates or they might have the situation so that they cannot physically isolate at home without putting people at risk.”
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Air NZ crew remain at risk while they are not required to isolate for 14 days, as are all other Returnees and essential workers permitted to enter the country. Air NZ management state that there are not sufficient crew to staff aircraft if they were isolated for the full two weeks.
Instead, if air crew are returning from high-risk destinations such as Los Angeles, they are required to self-isolate in a hotel for only 48 hours;
One staff member has told Newshub the airline is putting “profit before people” and staff are “afraid” as a result.
[…]
Air NZ crew returning to Aotearoa have to enter managed isolation, just like the passengers they are transporting, but are allowed to leave if they return a negative test after 48 hours.
However, crew on the domestic MIQ flights are only required to wear standard facemasks, and aren’t isolated or tested for the virus once they finish their shift.
Once the MIQ flight is over, the domestic crew is then stood down for a period of 48 hours.
Air NZ’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Ben Johnston confirmed that while the crew aren’t allowed to work in the air for that period, they are free to do what they want.
However, any shortage of air crew can be laid fairly and squarely at the feet of Air NZ management:
Around 380 of the cabin crew on the 787s are being made redundant...
“There are people in the quarantine facilities right now so pretty much on the day they get out of that two week quarantine will then be made redundant, so this is the last two weeks of their job at Air New Zealand is sitting inside a hotel waiting to see if they’ve got Covid.”
This has impacted on other higher-risk Air NZ flights requiring volunteer crews;
Some of those hotels are located in Rotorua, Wellington or Christchurch and to get to them, the returnees fly out of Auckland on flights including specially chartered Air New Zealand turboprop services.
Despite working alongside the same inbound international passengers as their long-haul colleagues, the crew on the turboprop domestic flights aren’t protected by the same restrictions or protocols as those who work on flights from overseas.
Air NZ crew returning to Aotearoa have to enter managed isolation, just like the passengers they are transporting, but are allowed to leave if they return a negative test after 48 hours.
However, crew on the domestic MIQ flights are only required to wear standard facemasks, and aren’t isolated or tested for the virus once they finish their shift.
[…]
The MIQ flights were originally staffed on a voluntary basis. But due to the health risks and the likelihood of earning less money, many Air NZ staff have declined to work on the special flights.
[…]
In an email to staff that has been seen by Newshub, Air NZ said the reason the flights would now be rostered like any other flight was because they were running out of volunteers.
“While we have always been supportive of these flights being crewed on a volunteer basis, the challenge we now have with only having a limited amount of crew volunteering, means that potentially some of these crew would lose overnight duties and the associated allowances,” the email reads.
However there have also been alleged instances of staff breaches of strict covid protocols;
Air New Zealand says it’s investigating after allegations a flight attendant breached Level 3 lockdown to fly as a passenger from Auckland to Wellington.
A former Air New Zealand flight attendant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told 1 NEWS multiple complaints have been made to the airline after a flight attendant allegedly flew from Auckland to Wellington on August 15th to visit a friend.
Level 3 rules stipulate people leaving Auckland should only be doing so under very specific circumstances, for example doing essential work, or returning home.
The former flight attendant said she and some current staff are “disgusted” by the alleged behaviour.
“She had disclosed to operating crew on the flight NZ691 on 15 August that she was flying down to operate a duty however the crew checked the passenger manifest and noticed she was on leisure travel.”
“I am disgusted at this abuse of privilege at putting others at risk when many Aucklanders and New Zealanders are working so hard to abide by lockdown.”
“It makes me so sad as I know many fellow crew who have lost their job and would never even consider abusing power as she has and putting our national carriers reputation at a huge risk.”
Bearing in mind that isolation for returning air crews is not as lengthy as other Returnees, and essential workers permitted to enter the country, it came as a shock that Air NZ had changed it’s isolation facility from Manukau to central Auckland;
Some Air New Zealand crew members arriving back in New Zealand are isolating at Auckland’s Hotel Grand Windsor [on Queen Street, downtown Auckland], with taxpayers footing the bill.
[…]
New Zealand-based aircrew arriving into the country from “higher risk” Covid-19 destinations as part of their work duties are required to enter 48 hours’ self-isolation at a hotel. They must return a negative test before they can leave isolation.
San Francisco and Los Angeles are currently classed as “higher risk” routes, while deaths from Covid-19 in the US exceed 450,000.
Around 70 pilots and 18 cabin crew return each week from these destinations, an Air New Zealand spokeswoman said.
[…]
Air New Zealand began using this facility on February 5 as its previous hotel couldn’t accommodate the number of crew required to isolate under new health guidelines.
Meanwhile, changes have been made after it was revealed by Newshub that Air New Zealand crew were able to leave an isolation hotel to exercise on the streets of Auckland’s CBD for almost three weeks.
The guidance given to crew has since been clarified, with the crew advised to stay inside and spare rooms at the Grand Windsor being transformed into gyms.
The Ministry of Health was unaware of the change in isolation facilities until the media began asking questions;
Newshub can reveal the Ministry of Health (MoH) had no idea our highest-risk airline crew had stayed at a hotel in the middle of Auckland’s CBD until we reported it last week.
Air New Zealand didn’t tell the Ministry the high-risk crew were there – so the Ministry thought they were staying in Manukau and near the airport.
[…]
“That clearly imposes risk of transmission,” University of Otago epidemiologist Dr Michael Baker told Newshub.
[…]
“This current system seems to have these major weaknesses in terms of people being allowed out to exercise during that period,” [Dr Michael Baker] says.
“We need them to keep flying so we’re working very closely with them to make sure they can keep flying,” Hipkins adds.
As pointed out above, Air NZ’s isolation hotel was the Ramada. A second hotel remains un-named, and its location unknown. In an email to this blogger on 17 February, Air NZ Communications (public relations) confirmed;
Air New Zealand aircrew were previously using two hotels in Manukau to complete hotel self-isolation after returning from high risk destinations such as Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Attempts by this blogger to uncover the name of the other airport have been unsuccessful, with strong secrecy surrounding it’s location. The oft-quoted reason has been fears that isolation hotels used by airlines would be harassed by a mob or that the privacy of airline crews somehow threatened. However this has not been the case of the new isolation facility at Hotel Grand Windsor in Auckland CBD. Nor has this been “an issue” for Returnees and essential workers granted entry visas.
In the same email, the AirNZ Comms spokesperson said;
Under the MoH guidance our crew completing hotel self-isolation after returning from a high-risk destination are unable to leave the hotel premises to exercise. Instead, aircrew have been provided an area within the hotel to get fresh air and complete low impact exercise – they are required to book the space to ensure they can achieve physical distancing and wear masks while they exercise.
Air New Zealand aircrew were previously using two hotels in Manukau to complete hotel self-isolation after returning from high risk destinations such as Los Angeles and San Francisco. Under the previous health order aircrew were permitted to leave hotel premises for a short period to exercise provided they wore a mask and physically distanced.
Air NZ flight crew are no longer permitted to leave their isolation facility.
As at publication of this story, an email to Minister Chris Hipkins has not received a response (aside from an automated acknowledgement). In the email, this blogger requested the location of any isolation facility/ies used by Air NZ.
Why is the location of Air NZ’s isolation facilities – both past and current – a matter of interest?
The recent cluster of covid19 centers around a worker from LSG Sky Chefs, a company situated in Māngere, not far from Auckland International Airport.
The Auckland August Cluster, last year, was an outbreak of covid19 involving a worker from Americold in Mt Wellington. There is an Americold branch in Māngere near the Auckland Airport. A series of maps puts all three into context;
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Americold:
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LSG Skychefs
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And Auckland International Airport:
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The close proximity of Americold to Auckland International Airport could be considered a coincidence.
But add LSG Skychefs to Americold and the International Airport – and there’s a pattern.
The only two missing pieces remain;
Missing Piece 1: Is/was there a second Air New Zealand Isolation facility within the LSG Skychefs – Americold – Auckland International Airport precinct? What was it’s location? And if it did exist; did isolating Air NZ flight crew members take their exercise outside the facility “as per the MoH guidelines you will be able to leave the hotel for up to 90 minutes of exercise per day”?
Missing Piece 2: Did an employee from Americold Mt Wellington (where covid infections were detected) have direct contact with the Māngere Branch, thereby placing themself at “Ground Zero”?
What we do know is that the “index case” of the Auckland August Cluster was a “person in their 50s who lives in South Auckland”, according to MoH.
Americold NZ’s Managing Director, Richard Winnall, insisted that the “Index Case” man’s position at the company meant he did not leave the office and he had not been in contact with employees at any of the three other local branches in Auckland, according to an ODT report.
And yet, “Index Case” contracted the virus from someone.
There has been suggestion that the strain of covid (B.1.1.7) detected in the worker at LSG Skychefs may have been infected by a Returnee who had a similar strain and passed through a MIQ facility in December last year. Whilst Dr Bloomfield did not outright dismiss the possibility, he thought it unlikely;
“Whether there was a potential link from that case through one of the guests who may have left through to our cases that we found on the weekend seems very unlikely because of the time period and what would need to have happened to create that epidemiological link while at the same time we were finding no other cases out in the community.”
Instead, Dr Bloomfield suggested;
“The airport precinct seems the most likely route of infection of our original case and we just need to get to the bottom of how she may have been exposed… “
Though the worker was near the “airport precinct”, she apparently had no direct proximity with crew, Returnees, or other travellers;
The LSG Sky Chefs employee works in a team of nine in the company’s Māngere catering and laundry facility.
She is responsible for washing and ironing linen, napkins, blankets and sheets from incoming flights.
Despite earlier suggestions, it has been clarified the woman does not handle international aircrew’s uniforms. She also has no face-to-face contact with crew or travellers, nor access to the airport.
Which, if true, would suggest that if the worker did not place herself into a risky situation – then someone else was in proximity to her.
It is a fact that Air NZ flight crew are not required to isolate for 14 days as are Returnees, sports people, entertainers, or essential workers. They are only required to “return a negative test after 48 hours”.
University of Otago Medical School epidemiologist, Sir David Skegg, has questioned reliance on the 48 hour test;
“Of course a single negative test does not prove that a person is not infected, especially early in the course of their illness.”
Dr Ashley Bloomfield also admitted that tersting was not 100% reliable;
“First of all because the tests do have a false negative rate of somewhere around 20 to 30 percent but also because it’s part of our departure planning for people to confirm that they don’t have the virus.”
False negative results have been reported on the Ministry of Health website. On 20 September last year;’
The second imported case reported today is a man in his 20s who arrived from India via Singapore on September 12. He returned a negative test for COVID-19 around day 3 of his stay in managed isolation at the Grand Millennium. The man was moved to the Auckland quarantine facility as a close contact of a confirmed case, retested, and has returned a positive result.
Had this man been an Air NZ flight crew member, he would have been tested on Day Two of his isolation. If a negative result returned, as above, he would have been allowed to return to the community.
It would be interesting to know how many false negative returns are made after Day Three of Returnees in MIQ.
On the latest LSG Sky Chefs cluster, Sir David Skeggs suggested;
“I think the most likely thing, and obviously this is speculation, is that this woman was infected by one of her colleagues at work who has been going airside … and perhaps was in contact with someone who in transit who was infectious but wouldn’t have been tested here in New Zealand.
“But, of course, if it was someone passing through the airport, we may never find a link with the original case.”
He added;
“I don’t think we should see this as a surprise, I’ve been saying this all along. There will be more lockdowns in 2021 I’m afraid.”
The last two cases have proven Sir David correct. But more troubling is that the outbreaks all seem to involve Auckland International Airport directly or (as in Americold’s case) indirectly.
The government’s decision to exclude AirNZ from quarantining airflight crews for the full 14 days – which Dr Bloomfield has described as “The Gold Standard” – seems to fly in the face of the Ministry’s own pronouncements.
It is obvious that Air NZ has been allowed to operate withouit the restrictions faced by other industries. Especially those industries clamouring to bring essential workers into the country.
It should be remembered that Air NZ is currently 52% owned by the government. There would be disastrous repercussions if it collapsed because it could no longer operate with even minimum profits.
Executive Director of Board of Airline Representatives New Zealand (BARNZ), Justin Tighe-Umbers, may have been speaking on behalf of the government when he made it clear where his priorities lay;
Executive director Justin Tighe-Umbers says New Zealanders shouldn’t be fearful of the risk from air crew, but should be worried about the economy.
“They should be worried about the economic shock if airlines pull out of the country should conditions become too stringent for them to operate.”
The Ministry of Health was even more explicit in government support for unrestricted air travel;
Because of the importance of maintaining international air routes, New Zealand-based international air crew are mostly exempt from a 14 day isolation or quarantine period as long as they meet certain conditions – both in flight and during layovers
Unfortunatelty, Air NZ’s privileged position to avoid full quarantine for it’s flightcrews – even as it made hundreds of it’s staff redundant – may be a cost borne by the rest of this country’s businesses and workers who lose their jobs.
Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins may have been uncannily prescient last year when he said;
“I’m meeting with Air New Zealand today to make sure that that’s as tight as a drum. I’m not 100 per cent convinced that it is at the moment. I’m going to be absolutely boring into that. There’s no time for rest here. I’ve been doing this job for seven weeks. Every single day I’ve woken up thinking about Covid-19.”
If the next outbreak of covid19 is in the same area as Auckland International Airport, Americold, and LSG Sky Chefs, the the conclusion will be inevitable: there is a gap in our borders.
A gap big enough to fly an airplane through. A plane with a koru on it’s tail.
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Additional Notes
12 Feb (page up-dated 13 Feb)
The COVID-19 Public Health Response (Required Testing) Order 2020 requires routine testing of specified aviation workers for COVID-19.
You are required to continue testing once every 7 days if you are:
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- Aircrew members
You are required to continue testing once every 14 days if you are:
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- Persons who spend more than 15 minutes in enclosed spaces on board aircraft that arrives from location outside New Zealand
- Airside government officials including (without limitation) personnel from Immigration New Zealand, New Zealand Customs Service, Aviation Security Service, or Ministry for Primary Industry
- Airside district health board workers
- Airside retail, food, and beverage workers
- Airside workers handling baggage trolleys used by international arriving or international transiting passengers
- Airside airline workers who interact with passengers
- Airside airport workers who interact with passengers
- Airside cleaning workers
- All landside workers who interact with international arriving or international transiting passengers
Workers can be exempt if an aircraft has not arrived at the affected airport from a location outside New Zealand for a period of at least 14 consecutive days.
[…]
Because of the importance of maintaining international air routes, New Zealand-based international air crew are mostly exempt from a 14 day isolation or quarantine period as long as they meet certain conditions – both in flight and during layovers.
The Minister of Health has agreed that this exemption to the Air Border Order now includes non-operating air crew returning to New Zealand on a flight after performing in-flight duties (repositioning crew).
[…]
The Director-General has now designated Los Angeles and San Francisco as higher risk routes. This designation is available on the New Zealand Gazette website
[…]
Because of the importance of maintaining international air routes, New Zealand-based international air crew are mostly exempt from a 14 day isolation or quarantine period as long as they meet certain conditions – both in flight and during layovers.
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References
Newshub: Coronavirus – Air NZ crews allowed to leave quarantine for exercise in Auckland CBD
Newshub: Ministry of Health had no idea Air NZ’s highest-risk crew were staying in Auckland CBD hotel
Air New Zealand: Air New Zealand provides clarity on safety precautions for staff
NZ Herald: Covid 19 coronavirus – International Air New Zealand aircrew must now isolate in hotels
Stuff media: Coronavirus – Air NZ steward linked to Bluff wedding cluster ‘deeply upset’
Scoop media: Nation Steps Up To COVID-19 Alert Level 2
RNZ: Coronavirus – Covid-19 updates in NZ and around the world on 25 March
NZ Herald: Covid 19 coronavirus: -Air NZ steward ‘deeply upset’ by Bluff coronavirus outbreak
Ministry of Health: COVID-19 – Source of cases – Cluster Details
Stuff media: Covid-19 – Air New Zealand crew isolating after testing positive in China
Newshub: COVID-19 – Air New Zealand crew member who tested positive visited six Auckland shops
NZ Herald: Covid 19 coronavirus – Eight Air New Zealand staff test positive for the virus
NZ Herald: Air New Zealand air crew member tests positive for Covid-19
ODT: Air NZ crews hoping to stall redundancies
RNZ: Covid-19 testing, isolation needs urgent attention – Air NZ staff
Stuff media: Transit passengers and air crew are considered possible Covid-19 sources. How are they kept safe?
Newshub: Air New Zealand crew claim they’re being ‘forced’ to work on COVID-19 quarantine flights
RNZ: Covid-19 – Anxious wait for Air NZ staff in isolation
TVNZ: Air NZ investigating allegations of lockdown breach by flight attendant
NZ Herald: Covid 19 coronavirus – Air NZ crew isolation arrangement ‘under review’
Newshub: Ministry of Health had no idea Air NZ’s highest-risk crew were staying in Auckland CBD hotel
ODT: Covid 19 – Money company, cool store at centre of outbreak
Stuff media: Covid-19 – Kiwis face months-long wait to come home as border controls are tightened
RNZ: Checkpoint – Potential Covid-19 link to MIQ weeks ago highly unlikely – officials (audio link)
RNZ: Covid-19 – LSG Sky Chefs employees ‘following all the rules’ – union
MoH: COVID-19 – Aviation sector
Wikipedia: Index Case
MoH: 4 cases of COVID-19 with unknown source
Newsroom: Questions raised over international aircrew rules
ODT: ‘There will be more lockdowns’: Otago expert unsurprised by outbreak
MoH: COVID-19 media update, 1 July (transcript)
Air New Zealand: Frequently Asked Questions – Who owns Air New Zealand?
TVNZ: Air NZ investigating allegations of lockdown breach by flight attendant
MoH: COVID-19 – Aviation sector
Additional
The Spinoff: The ultimate guide to New Zealand quarantine and managed isolation hotels
Stuff media: Covid-19 – A guide to managed isolation hotels, and what to do if things go wrong
MIQ: Facility locations
NZ Herald: Auckland students fly out to Otago despite lockdown
Previous related blogposts
Life in Level 1: Reinfection – Labour’s kryptonite
Life in Level 2: The Curious Case of the Very Invisible Virus
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. Acknowledgement: Guy Body
This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 24 February 2021.
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2020: The History That Was – Part 2
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America: The Empire Strikes Back (at itself)
Further to my comments in the first part of 2020: The History That Was, the following should be considered regarding the current state of the US. They most likely will be by future historians pondering the critical decades of the 1920s and 2020s.
On at least two fronts, the world is witnessing – in Real Time – the United States eating itself alive.
The Not-So Invisible Enemy
As this is written the pandemic in the United States continues to wreak havoc with rising numbers, hospitalisations, and death toll;
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The most technologically advanced nation on this planet seems powerless in the face of a viral pandemic. Like scenes from Third World and developing nations with minimal resources, American hospitals are creaking under the weight of surging covid cases requiring hospitalisation;
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The pandemic has exploded under a presidency that has been more concerned with it’s own political survival than the crisis affecting 380 million Americans. Even the roll-out and distribution of the much-heralded vaccine has been ineffectual;
More than two-thirds of the 15 million coronavirus vaccines shipped within the United States have gone unused, U.S. health officials said on Monday, as the governors of New York and Florida vowed to penalize hospitals that fail to dispense shots quickly.
US healthcare workers are not only over-worked and near burn-out, but have started to fight back against ineptitude and lack of meaningful leadership over the vaccine roll-out;
Protests erupted Friday at Stanford University Medical Center Hospital in California, where frontline medical residents and fellows staged a walkout in frustration over the hospital’s botched Covid-19 vaccine distribution.
[…]
Demonstrators accused the medical center of prioritizing more senior doctors and other medical workers who don’t directly interface with patients over employees at the highest risk of contracting Covid-19 from patients.
The nation that sent human beings to the Moon through 384,400 km of cold vacuum in a space craft that was little more than a small, fragile steel can; to the crushing, frigid depths of the planet’s oceans; that developed atomic weapons that could obliterate an enemy; and a myriad of other technological and scientific achievements – is losing it’s greatest challenge since it entered WWII against the might of the Axis powers.
The Enemy Within
Alongside America’s leadership paralysis is the vocal, and often right-wing covid-deniers and mask-refusers. Led by an ignorant narcissist in the Oval Office, refusing to follow even the most basic of health precautions has become a political statement against the so-called “liberal establishment”;
For progressives, masks have become a sign that you take the pandemic seriously and are willing to make a personal sacrifice to save lives. Prominent people who don’t wear them are shamed and dragged on Twitter by lefty accounts. On the right, where the mask is often seen as the symbol of a purported overreaction to the coronavirus, mask promotion is a target of ridicule, a sign that in a deeply polarized America almost anything can be politicized and turned into a token of tribal affiliation.
The virus – unsurprisingly – cares little for our political affiliations and ideologies;
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Hyper-individualism has been well canvassed by Dr Ronald Pies, examining the phenomenon in the Psychiatric Times;
I argued that, up to a point, this rugged individualism serves as a useful counterweight to the communitarian impulse—the belief that the community is a “bearer of rights”, to which an individual’s interests may have to be subordinated in some cases. But carried to an extreme – what I called, “hyper-individualism”—the “Don’t Tread on Me” mentality can become an insidious force for societal disintegration.
In my view, many mask refusers are acting out of a debased form of individualism that some would call “toxic masculinity,” and which I would call machismo. I hasten to add that I am using the latter term in a broad, generic sense, and not as a trait endemic to “Latin” culture or society. A very useful definition of machismo is
“Exaggerated pride in masculinity, perceived as power, often coupled with a minimal sense of responsibility and disregard of consequences.”
In my view, this brand of American machismo helps explain the behavior of many (though not all) mask refusers. In effect, refusal to wear a mask in public settings has become a mark of being “a man’s man” – someone who won’t be pushed around or “muzzled” by governmental “tyranny”.
Dr Pies also refers to the “eternal child” or “American man-child”, quoting Jungian analyst, Frith Luton;
“. . . is used in mythology to designate a child-god who is forever young; psychologically, it refers to an older man whose emotional life has remained at an adolescent level . . . He covets independence and freedom, chafes at boundaries and limits, and tends to find any restriction intolerable.”
How many times has a certain Orange-hued President been referred to as a “man-child”? A Google search using the parameters “Trump man child” yielded “621,000,000 results”.
The Other Enemies
One thing that has not been well traversed is that the US has demonstrated itself to be utterly unable to stem the advance of an implacable enemy. This is a lesson that has not been lost on those who would happily see either the destruction, or neutralising, of the United States as a functioning power. To paraphrase H.G. Wells from The War of the Worlds;
“No one would have believed in the early years of the twentyfirst century that this super-power was being watched keenly and closely by intelligence agencies as effective as America’s; that as Americans busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water…
…Yet across the gulf of oceans, minds that are to American’s minds as theirs are to their rivals, intellects calculating and cool and unsympathetic, regarded American hegemony with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against them.” (Apologies to H.G.)
America is vulnerable. It’s savage, internecine political in-fighting; it’s crazy and deadly culture of hyper-individualism; the spreading toxic cancer of conspiracy fantasies impacting on Real Life events – have revealed an Achilles Heel to this super-power’s defences that no amount of atomic megatonnage can ever hope to over-come.
America’s enemies will not have failed to notice this dangerous, critical weakness from the planet’s greatest super-power.
The next pandemic to strike the United States may not be a product of nature. A lone malevolent operative, flying a small phial of a new deadly micro-organism into New York airport, would be infinitely more devastating than flying planes into buildings.
Postscript
Those who shrug and dismiss the above scenario as not affecting Aotearoa and therefore none of our concern should recall how quickly covid19 was transported across borders from China to our very first infection detected on 28 February last year.
We would simply be “collateral damage”.
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References
New York Times: Coronavirus in the U.S. – Latest Map and Case Count
Washington Post: Coronavirus death toll in U.S. increases as hospitals in hot-spot states are overwhelmed
NZ Herald: Covid 19 coronavirus – Overwhelmed US hospital treating Covid patients in car park
Reuters: U.S. under siege from COVID-19 as hospitals overwhelmed before holidays
CNN: 200 hospitals have been at full capacity, and 1/3 of all US hospitals are almost out of ICU space
New York Post: Map reveals how US hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients
Reuters: Most U.S. COVID-19 vaccines go idle as New York, Florida move to penalize hospitals
NBC News: Stanford apologizes to doctors after protests erupt over botched vaccine rollout
Politico: Wearing a mask is for smug liberals. Refusing to is for reckless Republicans
Metro UK: Covid denier admits he was wrong after being hospitalised with virus
ABC News: Louisiana Congressman-elect Luke Letlow dies from COVID-19
5NBCDFW: Oak Cliff Woman Admits She and Her Father Were COVID-19 Deniers and Now Her Father is Dead
Psychiatric Times: Masks, Machismo, and the American Man-Child
RNZ: New Zealand confirms case of Covid-19 coronavirus
Additional Reading
Vice/Motherboard: US Power Will Decline Under Trump, Says Futurist Who Predicted Soviet Collapse (12 July 2016)
Bellingcat: The Making of QAnon – A Crowdsourced Conspiracy (7 January 2021)
Previous related blogposts
Life in Level 2: Two Tier Welfare; A Green School; Right Rage, Wrong Reason
2020: Post-mortem or Prologue?
2020: The History That Was – Part 1
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Acknowledgement: Rod Emmerson
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This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 14 January 2021.
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2020: The History That Was – Part 1
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American Burlesque
As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents in recent history.
Trump’s failure to secure a second term has come as a result of his erratic, divisive, and controversial behaviour; his apparent reluctance to condemn far-right militants; alleged corruption, and his disastrous inaction to control the covid19 pandemic that – at time of writing – has claimed 354,000 American lives out of 21 million cases.
The Presidential election results have taken much longer to resolve with narrow margins separating Trump and Biden. Far from a “blue wave” of total repudiation that many – myself included – expected, surprisingly just under half of voters still cast their ballot for the Republican incumbent.
America has barely dodged the fascist bullet – this time.
But the underlying causes that created the fertile ground for a vacuous, reactionary, lying, corrupt narcissist like Donald Trump still exist.
Make no mistake, free trade agreements – the cornerstone of the Neo-liberal Experiment – still export jobs from the United States to low-wage nations like China, Vietnam, India, etc. The same has occurred in other western nations, including our own Aotearoa New Zealand.
Globalisation – one of the mainstays of neo-liberalism (the others being de-regulation, tax cuts, and privatisation) began in earnest in the 1980s with Thatcherism in the UK, and Reaganomics in the United States.
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Thatcher and Reagan – Apostles of the neo-liberal “revolution”
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Check your shoes: they almost certainly originate from China. As do the clothes you are wearing. Or the electronic devices in your home. Probably even the peanut butter in your pantry (unless its “Sanitarium”, “Pics”, etc).
In the United States, once high-paying jobs, industries, and services have been “exported” to low-wage societies. Manufactured goods from those same industries are then re-imported into the US to sell to American consumers.
Unfortunately, as those high-paying jobs – especially in the “rust belt” states – vanished, so did workers’ spending power. Meanwhile, corporate profits increased, leading to higher shareholder’s dividends and share buybacks. The much-vaunted, promised rewards of trickle-down economic theory never eventuated, except for a privileged few.
Writing for Investopedia, Will Kenton and Charles Potters point out;
Trickle-down policies typically increase wealth and advantages for the already wealthy few. Although trickle-down theorists argue that putting more money in the hands of the wealthy and corporations promotes spending and free-market capitalism, ironically, it does so with government intervention. Questions arise such as, which industries receive subsidies and which ones don’t? And, how much growth is directly attributable to trickle-down policies?
Critics argue that the added benefits the wealthy receive can distort the economic structure. Lower income earners don’t receive a tax cut adding to the growing income inequality in the country. Many economists believe that cutting taxes for the poor and working families does more for an economy because they’ll spend the money since they need the extra income. A tax cut for a corporation might go to stock buybacks while wealthy earners might save the extra income instead of spending it. Neither does much for economic growth, critics argue.
This has led to a steadily widening chasm between worker’s wages and corporate profits, with the trend accelerating from the 1980s onwards. As this graph, constructed by Robert B. Reich, Thomas Piketty, and Emmanuel Saez demonstrates;
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The Great Prosperity, The Great Recession
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The worsening trend continues unabated;
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Meanwhile, unsurprisingly, corporate profits continue to soar. When comparing Employee Compensation/GNP with Corporate Profits/GNP, the disparity is glaring;
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Note where recessions are marked with gray columns. Note how the immediate consequence of each recession – on the main – are wages down and corporate profits up.
Similar infographics abound throughout the internet.
As Erik Sherman writing for Forbes.com put it succinctly;
“…every financial crisis somehow manages to become an additional upward transfer of wealth. At least it isn’t the downward transfer that so many fear from a coming “socialism” that never arrives.”
Yes, socialism. The great bogeyman of American politics, as current Republican senatorial candidate, Kelly Loeffler recently “warned” her countrymen and women on the Georgian campaign trail;
“We’ve got to hold the line. We’re the firewall to stopping socialism in America.”
Except… Trump is not in office to serve the common wage-earning man and woman. His policies have continued to enrich corporations and the wealth of the top 1%;
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As Ben Steverman wrote in the above article;
Millionaires and billionaires had far more to celebrate. A Republican overhaul of the tax code left wealthy investors and corporations paying lower overall tax rates than most working professionals. It’s also never been easier to avoid the U.S. estate and gift tax, and pass on wealth to heirs. When Covid-19 hit, the Treasury and Federal Reserve propped up markets, primarily benefiting the top 1%, who own the majority of stocks held by U.S. households.
Rex Nutting, writing for “Marketwatch“, was even more blunt;
With unemployment still in the stratosphere, wages and salaries are depressed. Fewer people are working, and the ones who are working aren’t getting raises. According to separate report released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, wages in the private sector have increased just 1.7% in the past year, only half as fast as prices have been rising.
So Friday’s news is grim, but it’s not really news, is it? Everybody knows the fight is fixed, as the poet has sung. “The poor stay poor and the rich stay rich. That’s how it goes, everybody knows.”
And that, readers, is at the core of the social crisis that allowed a corrupt, amoral, semi-intelligent human being like Trump to be elected; “Everybody knows the fight is fixed… That’s how it goes, everybody knows“.
74,223,251 Americans certainly know it and were prepared to vote for a man many acknowledged as deeply flawed and repellent to them.
The rage from Trump supporters is not on their President’s behalf. It is a deep rage that “the fight is fixed” and even the power of their vote appears insufficient to change the system and improve their lot. The slogan “Stop the Steal” is ubiquitous at Trump rallies.
Of all the analysts who have examined how a parody of a human being could be elected to be a parody of a US President, American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges‘ insights are worth considering. He has looked into the soul and psyche of his country and his findings are troubling.
As he recently pointed out with brutal crystal clarity;
“The physical and moral decay of the United States and the malaise it has spawned have predictable results. We have seen in varying forms the consequences of social and political collapse during the twilight of the Greek and Roman empires, the Ottoman and Hapsburg empires, Tsarist Russia, Weimar Germany and the former Yugoslavia. Voices from the past, Aristotle, Cicero, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Joseph Roth and Milovan Djilas, warned us. But blinded by self-delusion and hubris, as if we are somehow exempt from human experience and human nature, we refuse to listen.
The United States is a shadow of itself. It squanders its resources in futile military adventurism, a symptom of all empires in decay as they attempt to restore a lost hegemony by force. Vietnam. Afghanistan. Iraq. Syria. Libya. Tens of millions of lives wrecked. Failed states. Enraged fanatics. There are 1.8 billion Muslims in the world, 24 percent of the global population, and we have turned virtually all of them into our enemies.”
As the empire wanes;
“The virtues we argue we have a right to impose by force on others — human rights, democracy, the free market, the rule of law and personal freedoms — are mocked at home where grotesque levels of social inequality and austerity programs have impoverished most of the public, destroyed democratic institutions, including Congress, the courts and the press, and created militarized forces of internal occupation that carry out wholesale surveillance of the public, run the largest prison system in the world and gun down unarmed citizens in the streets with impunity.
The American burlesque, darkly humorous with its absurdities of Donald Trump, fake ballot boxes, conspiracy theorists who believe the deep state and Hollywood run a massive child sex trafficking ring, Christian fascists that place their faith in magic Jesus and teach creationism as science in our schools, ten hour long voting lines in states such as Georgia, militia members planning to kidnap the governors of Michigan and Virginia and start a civil war, is also ominous, especially as we ignore the accelerating ecocide…
…I speak to you in Troy, New York, once the second largest producer of iron in the country after Pittsburgh. It was an industrial hub for the garment industry, a center for the production of shirts, shirtwaists, collars, and cuffs, and was once home to foundries that made bells to firms that crafted precision instruments. All that is gone, of course, leaving behind the post-industrial decay, the urban blight and the shattered lives and despair that are sadly familiar in most cities in the United States.
It is this despair that is killing us. It eats into the social fabric, rupturing social bonds, and manifests itself in an array of self-destructive and aggressive pathologies. It fosters what the anthropologist Roger Lancaster calls “poisoned solidarity,” the communal intoxication forged from the negative energies of fear, suspicion, envy and the lust for vengeance and violence. Nations in terminal decline embrace, as Sigmund Freud understood, the death instinct. No longer sustained by the comforting illusion of inevitable human progress, they lose the only antidote to nihilism. No longer able to build, they confuse destruction with creation. They descend into an atavistic savagery, something not only Freud but Joseph Conrad and Primo Levi knew lurks beneath the thin veneer of civilized society. Reason does not guide our lives. Reason, as Schopenhauer puts it, echoing Hume, is the hard-pressed servant of the will.”
Chris Hedges understands the problem will not go away;
“Those overwhelmed by despair seek magical salvations, whether in crisis cults, such as the Christian Right, or demagogues such as Trump, or rage-filled militias that see violence as a cleansing agent. As long as these dark pathologies are allowed to fester and grow–and the Democratic Party has made it clear it will not enact the kinds of radical social reforms that will curb these pathologies–the United States will continue its march towards disintegration and social upheaval. Removing Trump will neither halt nor slow the descent.”
And therein lies the problem; the essential crisis confronting us, but which few have considered.
Trump is but a symptom of the decay of the United States. As with the rise of the Nazi Party in the 1920s and 1930s, with social and economic upheavals brought on by the Great Depression; high levels of unemployment; defeat in World War One with humiliating loss of national pride, and punitive Treaty of Versailles demands – likewise Trump is the culmination of decades of corruption; political self interest; rising poverty and inequality, and worsening social and economic stresses.
The very fabric of American society is unravelling – and we are watching the spectacle in Real Time.
The election of Joe Biden will not make the poisoned soil that spawned Trump go away. Far from it, this is but a momentary respite.
Trump ended his political career and torpedoed his chances of a second term only because of a lack of self-awareness; self-discipline; and intelligence. He was an unsophisticated, ill-mannered, man-child trying to fill an adult’s shoes.
His successor, Trump 2.0, will likely have none of his obvious weaknesses.
The next Trump 2.0 will be less Chaplainesque and more shrewdly subtle at manipulating the American public at doing his bidding. If Trump could convince 74,223,251 Americans that he was fit for the most powerful role in the world – what could a competant, credible authoritarian figure achieve?
It is worth recalling that the US President who enacted neo-liberalism, minimal government, de-regulation, and globalisation was Ronald Reagan – a Republican.
The US President, who railed against neo-liberalism and globalisation, was Donald Trump – also a Republican.
The first offered neo-liberalism as a “solution” to America’s ills.
Twentyseven years later, his successor offered a “solution” to the ills caused by neo-liberalism.
What will the next Republican president offer as a “solution” to Trumpism?
If Donald J. Trump 1.0 was the prototype, the next upgrade is already on its way. And the fertile ground of discontent has been well prepared.
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References
Wikipedia: 2020 United States presidential election
CNN: Trump condemns ‘all White supremacists’ after refusing to do so at presidential debate
Republic Report: Ten Reasons Trump is the Most Corrupt President in U.S. History
Wikipedia: Thatcherism
Investopedia: Reaganomics
Investopedia: Share Re-purchase (buy-back)
Investopedia: Trickle Down Theory
New York Times: The Great Prosperity, The Great Recession
The Economic Policy Institute: The Productivity–Pay Gap
Naked Capitalism: Corporate Profit Margins vs. Wages in One Disturbing Chart
Forbes.com: Corporate Profits Skyrocket As Post-Holidays Look Grim For Millions
NBC News: Trump throws grenades into high-stakes Georgia Senate runoffs in final stretch
Bloomberg Wealth: U.S. Billionaires Got $1 Trillion Richer During Trump’s Term
Marketwatch: Corporate profits’ share of pie most in 60 years
The Atlantic: Why People Who Hate Trump Stick With Him
Wikipedia: Chris Hedges
Youtube: Chris Hedges – The Politics of Cultural Despair (transcript: Scheerpost)
Additional
Bellingcat: The Making of QAnon: A Crowdsourced Conspiracy
Feminist Giant: Feminist Killjoy Here To Wreck Your Parties
Washington Post: Federal judge rejects GOP request to intervene in Clark County ballot-processing
Youtube: President-Elect Joe Biden & Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris Address the Nation
Previous related blogposts
The Rise of Great Leader Trump
The Sweet’n’Sour Deliciousness of Irony: Russia accused of meddling in US Election
Trump escalates, Putin congratulates
Trumpwatch: Voter fraud, Presidential delusions, and Fox News
Trumpwatch: Muslims, mandates, and moral courage
Trumpwatch: The Drum(pf)s of War
Trumpwatch: “… then they came for the LGBT”
Trumpwatch: How Elon Musk can overcome Trump’s climate-change obstinacy
Trumpwatch: One minute closer to midnight on the Doomsday Clock
Trumpwatch: What’s a few more nails in the planet’s coffin?
2020: Post-mortem or Prologue?
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Acknowledgement: Mr Fish