As it happens less than 50 have died, each one a tragedy, while I’ve just had a lovely Christmas with 3 generations, as many others are around the motu. Sure we had to video call relatives in other countries, but their lockdown conditions today were far far worse than what we have here.
Our society has decided that nobody should die from COVID. That’s still the right answer.
There were free MIQ slots 2 weeks ago.
This sentiment should terrify you. COVID is serious, but my god, there are so much more dangerous and lethal things out there. You’ve basically just given your government a virtual blank check to do as it pleases so long as the threat is sufficiently scary.
>”many many more living with chronic conditions and the economy and society crippled.”
You’re saying this would happen with widespread Covid, but this same outcome can happen with excessive containment. So many mom and pop small business have closed in my town since the pandemic began. And I live in America, where we aren’t nearly as restrictive.
This is not even slightly true, if you were familiar with the local legislation and political climate you would know that; but you're not.
Preventing new variants? Sure at the surface that might hold some credence, but that implies future responses will be to lock down again and impose massive economic costs and second/third order negative externalities on the population again... There will be more variants gauranteed, so what is being gauranteed here is perpetual restrictions, fragility and life in a hermit kingdom.
On your point around Xmas with three generations, congratulations, but without rapid lateral flow at home testing (which is still unavailable in New Zealand - wowee!), you might have unknowingly just had a super spreading event. The slowness of NZ policy to adapt to technological innovations is a real blight.
By the way New Zealands society decided no such thing; intellectual honesty goes a long way when presenting an arguement. Did we have a referendum to determine no one should die from covid? Its quite a perposterous thing to say.
Reality is MIQ was a knee jerk reaction by the MoH in March '20, faced with the stark realisation healthcare and its supporting beuracratic system was not up for the job. It still isnt and has no path to getting there. That is the real tragedy.
Big thinking and strategy is sorely needed in New Zealand. It's a shame all we get is confusion and people like yourself who think they know something trying to lead the narrative.
I was once a proud Kiwi, now I look on from afar and am saddened at the squandered potential of the place, underacheivment and lack of awareness are rife.
Not allowing your own citizen to return home is something that should be unthinkable really.
This is hilarious. Why hasn’t your society decided that nobody should die from obesity? Obesity kills far more people every year than COVID ever will, and would be a far easier problem to solve through legislation.
Why does NZ grant visas to obese people? Why are obese people allowed to go to restaurants or work? If the government made it difficult to be fat, far less people would die.
They don’t. You go thru serious health check when getting work visa and then another check when applying for residency. If you are fat with serious health issues you won’t pass.
Obese doesn't mean morbidly obese. The former can get a work visa (very common actually) when the latter might not.
Same with a friend who had some lung abnormalities since birth - very stringent checks.
FDA authorized covid pill two days ago:
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavi...
why do things have to be never/forever? Why can't people think in terms of better/worse/later?
That’s not sensational though so it’s not reported on.
Also COVID case numbers have exploded since then so I can kind of understand NZ being hesitant to do the same.
> The MIQ system should be abolished
Incredible seeing democracies like Australia and NZ tell their own citizens “no, you cant come home”.
To be fair, it's not their first dance with authoritarian measures. Both countries also employ widespread censorship for movies and video games among other things. Perhaps it shouldn't be that unexpected that they would cross the line on this too.
It’s interesting, NZ is a very egalitarian society and it has been one of the strengths through the pandemic to date. People were/are willing to adhere to strict lockdowns (proper ones) or quarantine at the border because it was for the greater good of the entire society rather than ‘what was best’ for a handful of individuals.
The difference was, was that they didn’t fuck over their citizens when they tried to return - they did their best to accommodate them.
But amazingly NZers are willing to give the government a pass on not altruism, but incompetence and violation of a right even Singaporeans enjoy.
Some people have empathy for others and aren't purely selfish
The only notable "movie" that I'm aware of being censored in NZ was the live stream of the Christchurch mosque shooting that killed 51 people.
One example of a relatively recent ban of something popular is the anime High School DxD. Ikki Tousen was also banned. They seem to ban a lot of Japanese made stuff.
Postal 2 is a game that was explicitly refused classification. This doesn't just mean that selling the game is illegal - afaik possessing the game is also illegal.
But ultimately what's banned isn't as important, because they're operating with a whitelist. Everything's banned by default until they get classified. If every country operated a system like that then it's likely most games and movies either wouldn't get published in NZ or would be published on a delay.
https://www.classificationoffice.govt.nz/industry/exemptions...
Most things are exempt.
Nevertheless, the classifications should be voluntary and not legally binding IMO. They're absurdly capricious and incoherent as is, and stifling to free expression and the economy.
e.g. illegal to give 1998's Shogun Total War strategy game to a 17 year old but can give Battlefield Bad Company to a five year old.
This one always get a chuckle out of me. Australia is the most facist Western power. It barely has a free media because some rich dude bought it all. They wanted an egregious law forcibly drafting their citizens into being spies if they worked for tech companies. They extensively spy on the internet. They censor video games. The list goes on and on.
Without MIQ we couldn't have executed our elimination strategy. Probably thousands of people would have died of COVID, or we would have had stronger and longer lockdowns --- probably both --- all highly detrimental to the well-being of people living in NZ.
So why should the right of return take priority over all that?
There is quite literally nothing to suggest that having a higher intake would have created a single additional death or resulted in stronger or longer lockdowns.
New Zealand's own incompetence in not being able to come up with purpose-built facilities to handle overseas arrivals can't be written off with hypotheticals. It has been two years, no more excuses.
NZ has had more than enough time to prepare for COVID in a post elimination world. Why does MIQ still exist?
Why did NZ provide MIQ slots for non essential sports journeys like the Olympics and All Blacks tours. Do you think any Olympian or All Black could look the son or daughter of a dead parent in the eye and say that it was right for their space in MIQ to take precedence over the chance for a loved one to say goodbye for one last time?
> How many nurses and doctors have we recruited overseas?
I don't have the exact numbers, but many hundreds at least.
> Why does MIQ still exist?
Right now it exists to keep Omicron out while we get through Christmas, see how well we can cope with Delta using the traffic light system, get boosters into the arms of people who were vaccinated more than 4 months ago, and learn how bad Omicron is.
If the news about Omicron stays good and there are no other surprises I don't expect MIQ for NZers to exist past the end of Feb, or at all past the end of April.
> Do you think any Olympian or All Black could look the son or daughter of a dead parent in the eye and say that it was right for their space in MIQ to take precedence over the chance for a loved one to say goodbye for one last time?
There is an exemption system that gives priority for such emergency cases so it's not obvious to me how many such injudicious situations have occurred. When they have occurred, I'm more bothered by the MIQ-users who were just entering NZ for a nice holiday, or returning from a holiday. I consider it a major defect of our MIQ system that we never tried to block those low-priority users ... but I understand it would have been hard, since a lot of people have been claiming such trips are essential for their mental health.
Also I have a lack of empathy for people rushing back to NZ for forseeable end-of-life visits. In my view, if you care about your parents a lot, you live where they are so you can be with them for more than just the last minute.
Ok I can’t take you seriously anymore. You are saying no one should ever move more than a short drive away, ever. Yeah right.