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Covid - 19 - NONE POLITICAL
20-Mar-20 05:08
Here are some details on Covid-19 in New Zealand.
We have 39 confirmed cases (That's on a population of 4.5m). There has been no deaths and only one hospitalisation. All cases have been associated with overseas travel (most are Kiwis, but some aren't). The people who tested positive have had their contacts traced and those contacts tested. All but two were negative. Testing is increasing daily.
On Sunday (15/03/20) we required everyone coming into NZ to go into 14 days self-isolation. On Wednesday, it was asked that those that arrived before Sunday also go into self-isolation. Yesterday, we closed our borders completely, excluding imports & exports and some other special circumstances. The first time this has occurred!!!
The self-isolation is being followed up and those that do not do so are being placed under Police 'care' and overseas (not permanent residents) deported. What happens when the planes stop flying?
We are not a Police state, but these are strange times.
A National emergency has not been called, but personally I think it is only a matter of time. There is a fine line between keeping people informed and panicking them. There has been panic buying and the PM & shopping bosses are stressing there is enough, food, etc; and it seems to come in waves. But some people don't seem to be getting the message.
Thankfully, at the moment NZ has had no community transmissions and all schools, unis are open. A couple of schools have been closed and people tested where contact with infected people identified - all tests have been negative which is good.
Some public institutions such as zoos, libraries, swimming pools have been closed and public events cancelled. A lot of events, public and private, have been cancelled voluntarily, even where money was losted.
There are about 80k Kiwis overseas on holiday and OEs and the Government has directed them to come home. Air NZ has ceased 85% of overseas flights and Qantas 100%. The Government is talking to Air NZ about a bailout. It seems the Government is going to send 'mercy' flights to bring Kiwis and permanent residents home. No doubt we will bring our ANZAC partners and Pacific Islanders home in the flights, just like I expect Australia will do the same for us. The two countries sling off at each other on the sporting field, but at the end of the day we are cousins and probably no two countries have such a closer relationship.
As aside, Air NZ had Kiwis coming home from London on a normal commercial flight, but because it was flying into US before onto NZ, Kiwis got refused permission to go on it. The only people who did were US citizens because of Trumps rules. Fuck me they weren't going anywhere. He needs to rethink his position.
There is an election in September, but I can see the Queen being approached to authorise the delay of this. This has NEVER occurred before.
You know it's bad when all NZ rugby is cancelled; although there is talk that the NZ super 15 teams (five of them) will play amongst themselves. If they do it will be an great morel boast. Whether the All Blacks play their international season is another thing. Whatever happens, all games will be to empty stadiums. In other codes, more and more events are being cancelled or suspended (basically the same, just different words). A couple of professional teams (Football (soccer) and rugby league) got into Aussie before they closed their borders to play the seasons, but when those teams return & it seems like maybe they willsooner rather than later, the international players won't be able to get into NZ.
The current focus here is testing and self-isolation and social distance, how being referred to as physical distancing. This is as much as a mental health issue as a physical one- we all need to stay in touch. Example all ANZAC Day celebrations have been cancelled, but FB movement is saying at 5.55AM on 25/04/20, people come out of their homes and line the streets.
NZ's number of cases will go up as more Kiwis return from overseas and there probably will be a community transmission, but as the PM said the idea is to smooth out the step curve other countries have experienced into small humps allowing the health system to cope better. Unfortunately we are heading into winter and the flu season. Although not the same, the Government has ramped up the flu vaccination programme, targeting those most at risk first, then the rest of the population.
Although it's being said over and over again wash hands (20 seconds - sing happy birthday twice and don't forget to do thumb and all fingers), hand sanitiser, two metres distancing, etc; there are still idiots (uni students) who still are partying. They think they are bullet proof. The Minister of Health has come out and said they are not only placing themselves at risk, they are placing their family and friends at risk and NZ at risk.
Large scale community testing has began; GPs and nurses who have recently ceased practicing are being requested to contact Ministry of Health to create a fullback workforce. Older model ventilators (NZ medical equipment is replaced quite often) are being brought back into service and staff trained on them. Elective surgery put off and wards of non-serious patients being cleared. As I understand it is not the virus that kills, rather the underlying medical effects of a person infected. Gatherings have been restricted, no gatherings outside of more that 500. No gatherings inside of more than 100 persons - that doesn't apply to work, schools and public transport. I can see this changing.
Businesses have been told to come up with plans on the ability for staff to work from home. I am lucky, I can do my job from home. But there are lots who cannot. Tourism is worth 10% of GDP to NZ. Basically there are no overseas tourists.
The Government has released a package worth 4% of NZ's GDP (the largest percentage per capita of any country to date).
The package is to help small to medium businesses and employees and beneficiaries. The beneficiaries are being included as they are more likely to spend and etc funds have been made available to afford electricity and prevent the flu and pressure on the health system.
The Government has said that this is the first of a number of packages and there is a budget to come out in May. Although the package is for small to medium businesses, the Government is entering into talks one on one with large employers. They don't want to be paying monies to them just for it to flow onto the shareholders, especially overseas shareholders. Mum & Dad Kiwis, fine, big multinationals no.
I do think some employers will take this opportunity to cut staff, which may have already been in plan, with the use of the virus as an excuse. NZ is a country where a lot of people will take their business elsewhere when employers (especially multinationals) cut workers. A lot of the businesses are run by overseas people, not Kiwis, and a lot of money is sucked out of the country to overseas business that own NZ companies, such as the large banks. It will be interesting to see what the Government does about that. It will affect the exchange rate, might help the other markets and encourage purchasing.
That aside, the Government has said that a large number of businesses will go under and a large number of jobs go. Good think is we have low debt and very low unemployment and have experienced recent a number of major upheavals.
Will keep you informed.
We have 39 confirmed cases (That's on a population of 4.5m). There has been no deaths and only one hospitalisation. All cases have been associated with overseas travel (most are Kiwis, but some aren't). The people who tested positive have had their contacts traced and those contacts tested. All but two were negative. Testing is increasing daily.
On Sunday (15/03/20) we required everyone coming into NZ to go into 14 days self-isolation. On Wednesday, it was asked that those that arrived before Sunday also go into self-isolation. Yesterday, we closed our borders completely, excluding imports & exports and some other special circumstances. The first time this has occurred!!!
The self-isolation is being followed up and those that do not do so are being placed under Police 'care' and overseas (not permanent residents) deported. What happens when the planes stop flying?
We are not a Police state, but these are strange times.
A National emergency has not been called, but personally I think it is only a matter of time. There is a fine line between keeping people informed and panicking them. There has been panic buying and the PM & shopping bosses are stressing there is enough, food, etc; and it seems to come in waves. But some people don't seem to be getting the message.
Thankfully, at the moment NZ has had no community transmissions and all schools, unis are open. A couple of schools have been closed and people tested where contact with infected people identified - all tests have been negative which is good.
Some public institutions such as zoos, libraries, swimming pools have been closed and public events cancelled. A lot of events, public and private, have been cancelled voluntarily, even where money was losted.
There are about 80k Kiwis overseas on holiday and OEs and the Government has directed them to come home. Air NZ has ceased 85% of overseas flights and Qantas 100%. The Government is talking to Air NZ about a bailout. It seems the Government is going to send 'mercy' flights to bring Kiwis and permanent residents home. No doubt we will bring our ANZAC partners and Pacific Islanders home in the flights, just like I expect Australia will do the same for us. The two countries sling off at each other on the sporting field, but at the end of the day we are cousins and probably no two countries have such a closer relationship.
As aside, Air NZ had Kiwis coming home from London on a normal commercial flight, but because it was flying into US before onto NZ, Kiwis got refused permission to go on it. The only people who did were US citizens because of Trumps rules. Fuck me they weren't going anywhere. He needs to rethink his position.
There is an election in September, but I can see the Queen being approached to authorise the delay of this. This has NEVER occurred before.
You know it's bad when all NZ rugby is cancelled; although there is talk that the NZ super 15 teams (five of them) will play amongst themselves. If they do it will be an great morel boast. Whether the All Blacks play their international season is another thing. Whatever happens, all games will be to empty stadiums. In other codes, more and more events are being cancelled or suspended (basically the same, just different words). A couple of professional teams (Football (soccer) and rugby league) got into Aussie before they closed their borders to play the seasons, but when those teams return & it seems like maybe they willsooner rather than later, the international players won't be able to get into NZ.
The current focus here is testing and self-isolation and social distance, how being referred to as physical distancing. This is as much as a mental health issue as a physical one- we all need to stay in touch. Example all ANZAC Day celebrations have been cancelled, but FB movement is saying at 5.55AM on 25/04/20, people come out of their homes and line the streets.
NZ's number of cases will go up as more Kiwis return from overseas and there probably will be a community transmission, but as the PM said the idea is to smooth out the step curve other countries have experienced into small humps allowing the health system to cope better. Unfortunately we are heading into winter and the flu season. Although not the same, the Government has ramped up the flu vaccination programme, targeting those most at risk first, then the rest of the population.
Although it's being said over and over again wash hands (20 seconds - sing happy birthday twice and don't forget to do thumb and all fingers), hand sanitiser, two metres distancing, etc; there are still idiots (uni students) who still are partying. They think they are bullet proof. The Minister of Health has come out and said they are not only placing themselves at risk, they are placing their family and friends at risk and NZ at risk.
Large scale community testing has began; GPs and nurses who have recently ceased practicing are being requested to contact Ministry of Health to create a fullback workforce. Older model ventilators (NZ medical equipment is replaced quite often) are being brought back into service and staff trained on them. Elective surgery put off and wards of non-serious patients being cleared. As I understand it is not the virus that kills, rather the underlying medical effects of a person infected. Gatherings have been restricted, no gatherings outside of more that 500. No gatherings inside of more than 100 persons - that doesn't apply to work, schools and public transport. I can see this changing.
Businesses have been told to come up with plans on the ability for staff to work from home. I am lucky, I can do my job from home. But there are lots who cannot. Tourism is worth 10% of GDP to NZ. Basically there are no overseas tourists.
The Government has released a package worth 4% of NZ's GDP (the largest percentage per capita of any country to date).
The package is to help small to medium businesses and employees and beneficiaries. The beneficiaries are being included as they are more likely to spend and etc funds have been made available to afford electricity and prevent the flu and pressure on the health system.
The Government has said that this is the first of a number of packages and there is a budget to come out in May. Although the package is for small to medium businesses, the Government is entering into talks one on one with large employers. They don't want to be paying monies to them just for it to flow onto the shareholders, especially overseas shareholders. Mum & Dad Kiwis, fine, big multinationals no.
I do think some employers will take this opportunity to cut staff, which may have already been in plan, with the use of the virus as an excuse. NZ is a country where a lot of people will take their business elsewhere when employers (especially multinationals) cut workers. A lot of the businesses are run by overseas people, not Kiwis, and a lot of money is sucked out of the country to overseas business that own NZ companies, such as the large banks. It will be interesting to see what the Government does about that. It will affect the exchange rate, might help the other markets and encourage purchasing.
That aside, the Government has said that a large number of businesses will go under and a large number of jobs go. Good think is we have low debt and very low unemployment and have experienced recent a number of major upheavals.
Will keep you informed.
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