This blog follows our last- regarding Jacinda Ardern's recent PR and the subject of reopening the New Zealand border.
New Zealand has been in strict lockdown from the world... but that may be changing
Details have not been provided by the New Zealand government as to what to expect when the country's border opens.
NZ is a country of 5 million people, with roughly 1.5 million living in Auckland. After discovering Delta in mid-August the entire country was put into strict lockdown. Aucklanders today (October, 2021) can meet between two households in groups no larger than 10. Lockdowns are how New Zealand has combated Covid in lieu of a high vaccination rate.
Vaccinations and realizing an inability to contain the uncontrollable
The world has moved on with Covid, not from Covid. This is not in accordance to New Zealand's original plan, but forces the government to take a more pragmatic approach.
Factors which may have weighed into the re-opening announcement include:
What's Next? Actions will speak louder than words and New Zealand needs a plan
The fact is that Jacinda Ardern's comments are the first time we have heard any news of the border possibly reopening. We certainly invite more of it, but also wear kid gloves as her messaging recently has been contradictory. Not two weeks ago a modeler with ties to the government forecasted 7,000 deaths in a year, even with a 90% vaccination rate. Those numbers are non-starters for the average Kiwi.
In either case, a direct plan is required for the International visitor to return. People need to know they can avoid lockdowns.
An open border is fantastic for New Zealand but it needs to stay open.
“I think it is finally a realization that the elimination strategy and the modeling that justified it must be abandoned in this country,”
Simon Thornley, an epidemiologist at the University of Auckland
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