Wednesday 12 August 2020

Glum

Here we go again. Normal TV programming was broken into last night by an emergency press briefing with the Prime Minister and Director-General of Health announcing the disappointing news that, after 102 days free of community transmission, New Zealand has now rejoined the rest of of the world. Four people in Auckland with no obvious connection to anyone with Covid-19 have tested positive, and so the entire super-city region of 1.4 million people is back to Level 3 lockdown, with the rest of the country on Level 2.

Almost straight away, there were stupid queues at the supermarkets as people panicked yet again about toilet paper and flour; while the rest of us sank quietly into the Slough of Despond. Just when we were getting hopeful about being able to share a bubble with the Cook Islands! Though at least now I'm spared trying to come up with another story about Aitutaki's glorious lagoon that doesn't reference colour charts.

Australia, of course, which had been considered for a trans-Tasman bubble, has been out of contention for weeks now since the resurgence of cases in Victoria. We're going hard and strong again, in the hope that we can avoid following that path - but it's depressing and also worrying, given that the source of infection is so far a mystery. It's also a huge nuisance, because Parliament was meant to be dissolved today in the lead-up to next month's election, the timing of which is now in doubt. Personally, I wouldn't mind skipping it altogether, and just carrying on with the same leadership we have now, which has been doing a sterling job. All praise to the sainted Jacinda and Dr Ashley!

4 comments:

the queen said...

So,done in that household is lying, I would wager. I know they’re two degrees of separation from you, but I would bet there’s an adult affair with a covidian or a secret teenage dance party.

TravelSkite said...

The current research on contacts so far isn't even suggesting that sort of conspiracy. As far as anyone knows, all the active cases are returning Kiwis who tucked safely away in isolation hotels for two weeks' quarantine. There's an interesting investigation going on into whether the virus could have entered the country on refrigerated goods imported by a company called *cough* Americold.

the queen said...

I happily throw Americold under the bus.

TravelSkite said...

Hold your fire on Americold, they may well not be able to prove a connection there, it's just a theory so far.

Please do shut your president up though. He's just been trumpeting the "big surge" in NZ and scoffing at the idea that we'd had it under control. We have nine - NINE - new cases today, compared with 42,000 in the US. And we have 58 active cases altogether, compared with 5.4 MILLION in the States. Sigh.

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