If they vaccinated their vulnerable quicker then maybe, they are going to be in and out of lockdowns until the end of the year.
And their long term plan is unclear, much like Australia. There are noises about reopening the borders in 2022 but there is also a commitment to Zero Covid. Further, “flu deaths” have been deemed unacceptable.
So whilst they are doing okay, they could easily fall into an Australian situation.
It’s clear that tight border restrictions are very popular politically when there is a perceived threat. It’s been shown everywhere that people don’t have a good grasp of relative risk globally at this point. There are people still hanging off every case number announcement in Ireland now when it means far less than it used to. For Ardern it will be tricky to roll back from this but I do actually admire her leadership generally. In fairness to her- she departed from the WHO advice quickly which was a brave decision. I still think that it was a high risk decision given how the rest of the world was going, but it was a brave shout.
I don’t care what New Zealand does. They have locked themselves into a zero Covid world where they believe against all science that the virus can be eradicated.
By your logic anybody who is overweight is a risk to themselves and our health system given the days and hours needed to treat obese people. If
obese people didn’t clog up our health system it would function better so public health should now focus on a carrot and humus approach to wean them off the chip and dip. Forcibly if needed.
I’ve been consistently right throughout this pandemic - as I was on the surge - because I’ve listened to actual people who know what they’re talking about, while you have rejected expertise in favour of the cottage industry of right-wing Twitter quoting addict INTERNET forum “expertise”, which means you’re now trapped hopelessly in an echo chamber with anti-vaxx, “plandemic” shrieking cranks.
I have never said we were done with Covid, in fact I have said repeatedly we will have to live with Covid for decades. You were wrong when it mattered and now you’re trying to cling to Jacinta’s skirt.
Every country in the western world that did not shut their borders early saw cases decline in summer of 2020 and then ramp again later in the year. The succession of waves seen since is as you would expect a pandemic to unfold, as it is exactly how all pandemics in history have behaved.
