Threat to South will increase with release of Aucklanders
Posted: September 18, 2020 Filed under: Letters | Tags: air travel, auckland, bus travel, challenge of Covid-19, Christchurch, COVID-19, fear, novel coronavirus, South, train travel, Wellington Leave a commentThe Editor, The Press, Christchurch
16/09/2020
There is irony in the move to Level 1 in the South at the same time as Level 2 will let the Aucklander’s loose into the South. The threat of transmitting Covid-19 will actually increase for the South. Read the rest of this entry »
Irony in move to Level One
Posted: September 16, 2020 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: air travel, Ashley Bloomfield, auckland, bus travel, challenge of Covid-19, COVID-19, Jacinda Ardern, novel coronavirus, PM Ardern, public transport, South Island, South of North Island, train travel 1 CommentThere is irony in the move to Level 1 in the South at the same time as Level 2 will let the Aucklander’s loose into the South. The threat of transmitting Covid-19 will actually increase for the South. 100,000 plane tickets sold in Auckland in two hours after removal of the the need to distance on planes, trains, and busses is a startling change in movement of people which means a big change in the chance of the virus being carried around. Look at how the virus went global so widely and so fast: plane travel. So called criticisms of government ‘fear mongering’ are actually open attempts by those critics to display their ignorance of the virus. By now it is clear that the worlds of the humans and the viruses are different. The unknowns about the spread, deadliness, and the long term effects, as well as the unknowns about vaccines, are still too potentially devastating. As time goes by virus experts in the health field are learning more and their advice is paramount. Interesting that Dr Bloomfield and PM Ardern have for the first time expressed differences of opinion during this phase.
Clark and Walker done in by ignored political party shortcomings
Posted: July 12, 2020 Filed under: Letters | Tags: 2017 election, challenge of Covid-19, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Covid-19 plan, Dr David Clark, fear, fear and loathing, Hamish Walker, ignorance, Labour Party, National Party, novel coronavirus, Southland Leave a commentThe Editor, The Herald, Auckland
09/07/2020
It seems there is one similarity between the demise of the Nats’ Hamish Walker and that of Labour’s David Clark. In both cases, they have been downed by a serious flaw in the approach to the virus by their respective party leaderships. Read the rest of this entry »
Opposition (+) reveals impatience and shallowness, but government must take some responsibility for that
Posted: June 26, 2020 Filed under: Letters | Tags: Caronavirus testing, challenge of Covid-19, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Dom Post, fear, Level 4 restrictions, novel coronavirus Leave a commentThe Editor, The Dominion Post, Wellington
25/06/2020
It should be no surprize there are teething problems with the virus border control processes. Read the rest of this entry »
New coronavirus cases not surprising – government knows it
Posted: June 17, 2020 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: Aotearoa, challenge of Covid-19, community transmission, COVID-19, Level 4 restrictions, New Zealand, novel coronavirus, UK, United Kingdom 2 CommentsFrom the very beginning of the novel coronavirus pandemic in Aotearoa/New Zealand the government had focused on getting all 5 million of us to commit to Level 4 lockdown. They did not tell us they were not going to do enough testing to be sure they knew the extent of community transmission. It worked through Level 4. But then the quick movement through the other Levels engendered some complacency and a lot of impatience amongst many of the 5 million.
Things were happening so quickly at the start that there was some inevitable looseness (“self isolation” is loose) but we managed to prevent devastating spread which other countries have had no chance with. But this was also because we are a small outlying island which had fewer borders for the virus to be brought in over. The lack of dedication to protocols evident in the current case of the two over from the UK and not tested is a sign of this impatience within a traditional feeling of moat-like isolation. This may not be surprizing but the government could have told us early on they would not be testing enough to have confidence in knowledge of community transmission. Likely there would be less impatience now.
The pandemic effect of coronavirus and the overheated reality of air travel – any connection?
Posted: May 28, 2020 Filed under: Letters | Tags: air transport, air travel, airline industry, challenge of Covid-19, CO2, CO2 emissions, COVID-19, eighties, globalization, Hong Kong, integrated food production, neo-liberal economics, novel coronavirus, pandemics, tourism Leave a commentThe Editor, The Dominion Post, Wellington
28/05/2020
The novel coronavirus seems to have spread around the globe about as fast as it takes a fleet of airplanes to travel around the globe. Some of those planes carried the virus to NZ. Is there any other connection between air travel and the virus, perhaps in the economic drivers which may have led to the extravagant growth of both? Read the rest of this entry »
