'New Zealand Enters Nationwide Lockdown Over One Covid Case'

Swansman said:

Its dumb shit.

The vaccines are also dumb shit (although if it allows me to live normally, please go take your vaccines everyone).

The only way of dealing with this virus is to face it. Adapt to it and let it adapt to us and it will at some point become one of the harmless coronoviruses already around.

We've adapted to a lot of shit. Whenever we met uncontacted tribes, its easy we kill off half of them through some basic common cold virus because they have not adapted.

There is no way around it, stop hiding - it can not be exterminated - and just face it instead.

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Is it PotG? said:

I thought this time last year the Kiwis were showing the rest of the world in how to move forward.

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Swansman said:

Its dumb shit.

The vaccines are also dumb shit (although if it allows me to live normally, please go take your vaccines everyone).

The only way of dealing with this virus is to face it. Adapt to it and let it adapt to us and it will at some point become one of the harmless coronoviruses already around.

We've adapted to a lot of shit. Whenever we met uncontacted tribes, its easy we kill off half of them through some basic common cold virus because they have not adapted.

There is no way around it, stop hiding - it can not be exterminated - and just face it instead.

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Tom Hark said:

Well I'm guessing that some dumb shit is maybe less dumb shit than some other dumb shit. I'm going with getting double vaxxed being the lesser dumb shit of all currently available dumb shit options. At least it offers the prospect of being able to escape from Plague Island sometime soon

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Swansman said:

Its just a matter of time before there is some vaccine immune variation. I'm going to lick door handles until I'm invincible.

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Billy the Fish said:

I've always said that NZ/Ardern are just playing the hand they've been dealt. They're probably the only western democracy left who can use this tactic successfully. It's always been because of pre-existing immigration controls (ie entry visa for everyone except oz), their small population and the remote location.

You can't compare them to any country in Europe or hold them as an example to follow, it simply wouldn't work anywhere else.

Make no mistake though, there could be a payoff further down the line if jacinda gets a taste for her new authoritarian powers.

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crodonilson said:

They've got it right again, go hard and go early. The cluster has already grown from 1 to 10.

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LamieRobertson said:

Australia coach Dave Rennie says he is "bloody angry" about New Zealand cancelling the teams' Bledisloe Cup match without telling the Wallabies.

New Zealand will not travel to Perth for the 28 August fixture because of Covid-19 restrictions.

New Zealand has announced a snap lockdown after the country's first positive Covid case in six months.

"I'm bloody angry. Our boys all found out through social media," said Rennie.

"I thought 'New Zealand Rugby didn't even have the respect to consult Rugby Australia about their decision', so that's hugely disappointing.

"I feel like there's only one of us doing what's in the best interest of the game.

"Last year, we went to New Zealand to ensure the games were played for the benefit of both countries.

"We quarantined in Wellington for two weeks. The expectation was we made a commitment to go there this year, they'd come here and they haven't honoured. It tells you more about them than us I reckon."

The Wallabies played two matches - a 16-16 draw and a 27-7 defeat - in New Zealand in October.

New Zealand have also announced that their planned fixtures against world champions South Africa on 25 September and 2 October have also been cancelled along with their women's side two matches with Australia.

The Black Ferns were set to face Australia in Christchurch on 26 September and at Eden Park on 2 October.

"It's incredibly disappointing to be informed of this decision via the media, despite having a conversation with the CEO moments before and there being no mention that this was the intention," said Rugby Australia chief Andy Marinos.

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Poojah said:

It's strange, whenever I read a transcript that is blatantly the account of a male of South Pacific origin, I am genuinely unable to read it in any other voice than that of Home and Away's Alf Stewart. I'm not even joking, it's utterly impossible.

Just me?

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Poojah said:

It's strange, whenever I read a transcript that is blatantly the account of a male of South Pacific origin, I am genuinely unable to read it in any other voice than that of Home and Away's Alf Stewart. I'm not even joking, it's utterly impossible.

Just me?

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Poojah said:

If recent happenings in Australia have taught us anything, it's that lockdowns don't work against Delta. Once it's there, it's there - you can slow it but you can't stop.

I've given the likes of Jacinda Ardern plenty of credit over the past year or so, but it's remarkable how these Oceanic nations have got their initial containment strategy so right and yet got their exit strategy so wrong. It's almost the complete reverse of the UK. If anything, we probably have the raging capitalism that courses through our leadership in this country to both blame and thank for that.

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crodonilson said:

They have managed to keep cases very low though, had they not carried out these strict and forceful lockdowns many more hundreds would have gotten the viruses and hospitalisations would have been at a very uncomfortable level.

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Poojah said:

Absolutely, I was never disputing that. As I said, I've given shedloads of credit to the likes of Jacinda Ardern in terms of how they acted early and robustly and saved countless of lives as a result. They had geographic advantages that the likes of the UK didn't have no doubt, but their superior handling of the early stages of the pandemic is indisputable.

My point was rather that having seemingly averted disaster last year, they took their eye off the ball in terms of how they might, one day, emerge from Covid hibernation. They didn't experience the tragedy and pain that we in the UK and countless many other countries have endured, and as a result appear to have been more blasè in their vaccination strategy, which to my mind is the only viable exit strategy any nation has against Covid.

Both New Zealand and Australia currently have adult vaccination rates of around 20%. That's dismal really. These are not poor countries - there's no economic reason for it. They'll both emerge with substantially lower per capita death numbers than we've seen in the UK, but you can't argue that their approach to vaccinating their people has been well below par.

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