Bloomfield indicates up to eight weeks for Auckland to get properly vaccinated; Auckland's level three-with-tweaks set without KPIs or deadlines; No sign of vaccination mandates or passports
It seems vaccination rates respond well to fear; wherever there is an outbreak they seem to rise! Assuming reaching 90% is going to be extremely difficult and that given our limited ICU capacity the health system is going to have to triage patients anyway, is it time we considered an 'Ages 18+: no jab no treatment' policy to put a rocket on vaccinations?!
Late starts, and a failure to do any prep in the window of normality we had between wild COVID and Delta. Level 1 is a fantasy, if the Govt plan works in Ak, if we get enough vaccinated, if a few other dice rolls go our way then we might see a Level 1.5 summer. But that's a lot of if's, it could just as easily play out as body bags piled up on Hospital Rd
It's been clear for many weeks that the lockdown wasn't working. It is fine in principle. The virus was gone from Wellington within a couple of weeks, and according to the math, that is all it should take at level 4 even with delta. But of course the population is not homogeneous, and once it got into marginalized communities, the equation changed radically. All informed commentators were concerned at this point, while the 1pm broadcasts were full of talk of long tails, expected surprises, volatility and so on, but it took until yesterday for an acknowledgement from the government that elimination could no longer be the goal. September 2021 will be seen, I think, as the time that the government dropped the ball and started to toe-hack more or less blindly. Can they pick it up again and close the game with minimal damage? It depends upon whether complacency and an unwillingness to switch approaches when the facts on the ground change, or whether they can change gears and enact the policies that seem to be obvious to so many. As Rod Jackson says, at least 80% of people would support and probably less than 5% actively oppose.
Finally, here's that in microcosm. My sisters friend works as a receptionist at a big Wellington school. Two parents (out of many hundreds, over a thousand) have rang her asking (demanding) that their unvaccinated children be taught separately by an unvaccinated teacher because the vaccinated staff and pupils could "shed" vaccine and poison the unvaccinated. Utter insanity. But even more insane, the school board and principle were considering it seriously, pandering to the gibberish. I guess they two are lacking in air cover that would come from a strong government with a moral backbone.
Thanks for highlighting the Guyon Espiner piece on law firms and public prosecutions. I was shocked to hear this, and do not understand how it is acceptable given the government contracting rules. I appreciate such contracts would need to be for a reasonable long term, given the need to retain the required skills, but I would have thought five years, or maybe as much as ten, would be sufficient, after which the market should be tested. I have worked for some time in the NGO social services area, where a three-year contract is regarded as gold dust!
They caved to pressure to open a travel bubble to Oz which is how it got in. Scientists have told us vaccination will not stop delta entirely. There is no nice way to beat this they’re on a lose lose strategy trying to keep everyone happy will herd us off a cliff. Itll be a slow crash or lockdown now to catch it with daily testing of anyone leaving home for two weeks and mop it up now. Sort out MIQ equitably.
People will resist being turned into a tech digitised dystopia by stealth. Vaccinations won’t reach coverage needed and the border is our defence.Level 3 with picnics isn’t going to cut it. There is no chance of complete freedom if they don’t secure the border. Scomo calling us “absurd” internationally was pretty “absurd” given they have more restrictions and cases than us already. That’s what we have to look forward to if we cave in now. For the sake of avoiding more time to vaccinate, expanding MIQ, upscaling health services, daily rapid antigen testing for those few out during lockdown I think they’re living in an unrealistic fantasy land about how bad this is going to get given our demographics. They should nip it in the bud now to preserve our health and freedoms. It’s their job there is no excuse for being so ill equipped and unprepared. No amount of smooth talking and PR is going to change the reality on the ground against this virus if they don’t eliminate it. It’s just more groupthink wishful thinking. Governments do that a lot forcing us all to go along with their pretend magical thinking but for the population it has real world consequences they need to be held to account for.
I can understand the Government’s reluctance to mandate vaccinations. Just imagine the Nanny State response. While Government should, in my view, make vaccination compulsory in any Government Department it really can’t for the private sector. But surely businesses’ Chamber of Commerce could ask for a High Court ruling on no jab no job requirement for existing jobs.
FYI from a reader: 'In my experience hospitals are maxed out and dont have capacity - go have a look in any ED - wait hours, also there aint any spare beds - they get you out asap and docs/nurses already tired/burntout Ashley is of course trying to keep calm in my opinion, plus the dhb's aren't going to say much.'
It seems vaccination rates respond well to fear; wherever there is an outbreak they seem to rise! Assuming reaching 90% is going to be extremely difficult and that given our limited ICU capacity the health system is going to have to triage patients anyway, is it time we considered an 'Ages 18+: no jab no treatment' policy to put a rocket on vaccinations?!
Late starts, and a failure to do any prep in the window of normality we had between wild COVID and Delta. Level 1 is a fantasy, if the Govt plan works in Ak, if we get enough vaccinated, if a few other dice rolls go our way then we might see a Level 1.5 summer. But that's a lot of if's, it could just as easily play out as body bags piled up on Hospital Rd
It's been clear for many weeks that the lockdown wasn't working. It is fine in principle. The virus was gone from Wellington within a couple of weeks, and according to the math, that is all it should take at level 4 even with delta. But of course the population is not homogeneous, and once it got into marginalized communities, the equation changed radically. All informed commentators were concerned at this point, while the 1pm broadcasts were full of talk of long tails, expected surprises, volatility and so on, but it took until yesterday for an acknowledgement from the government that elimination could no longer be the goal. September 2021 will be seen, I think, as the time that the government dropped the ball and started to toe-hack more or less blindly. Can they pick it up again and close the game with minimal damage? It depends upon whether complacency and an unwillingness to switch approaches when the facts on the ground change, or whether they can change gears and enact the policies that seem to be obvious to so many. As Rod Jackson says, at least 80% of people would support and probably less than 5% actively oppose.
Finally, here's that in microcosm. My sisters friend works as a receptionist at a big Wellington school. Two parents (out of many hundreds, over a thousand) have rang her asking (demanding) that their unvaccinated children be taught separately by an unvaccinated teacher because the vaccinated staff and pupils could "shed" vaccine and poison the unvaccinated. Utter insanity. But even more insane, the school board and principle were considering it seriously, pandering to the gibberish. I guess they two are lacking in air cover that would come from a strong government with a moral backbone.
Thanks for highlighting the Guyon Espiner piece on law firms and public prosecutions. I was shocked to hear this, and do not understand how it is acceptable given the government contracting rules. I appreciate such contracts would need to be for a reasonable long term, given the need to retain the required skills, but I would have thought five years, or maybe as much as ten, would be sufficient, after which the market should be tested. I have worked for some time in the NGO social services area, where a three-year contract is regarded as gold dust!
They caved to pressure to open a travel bubble to Oz which is how it got in. Scientists have told us vaccination will not stop delta entirely. There is no nice way to beat this they’re on a lose lose strategy trying to keep everyone happy will herd us off a cliff. Itll be a slow crash or lockdown now to catch it with daily testing of anyone leaving home for two weeks and mop it up now. Sort out MIQ equitably.
People will resist being turned into a tech digitised dystopia by stealth. Vaccinations won’t reach coverage needed and the border is our defence.Level 3 with picnics isn’t going to cut it. There is no chance of complete freedom if they don’t secure the border. Scomo calling us “absurd” internationally was pretty “absurd” given they have more restrictions and cases than us already. That’s what we have to look forward to if we cave in now. For the sake of avoiding more time to vaccinate, expanding MIQ, upscaling health services, daily rapid antigen testing for those few out during lockdown I think they’re living in an unrealistic fantasy land about how bad this is going to get given our demographics. They should nip it in the bud now to preserve our health and freedoms. It’s their job there is no excuse for being so ill equipped and unprepared. No amount of smooth talking and PR is going to change the reality on the ground against this virus if they don’t eliminate it. It’s just more groupthink wishful thinking. Governments do that a lot forcing us all to go along with their pretend magical thinking but for the population it has real world consequences they need to be held to account for.
I've given up on the term "vaccine hesitant". The holdouts now are out and out vaccine deniers.
I can understand the Government’s reluctance to mandate vaccinations. Just imagine the Nanny State response. While Government should, in my view, make vaccination compulsory in any Government Department it really can’t for the private sector. But surely businesses’ Chamber of Commerce could ask for a High Court ruling on no jab no job requirement for existing jobs.
FYI from a reader: 'In my experience hospitals are maxed out and dont have capacity - go have a look in any ED - wait hours, also there aint any spare beds - they get you out asap and docs/nurses already tired/burntout Ashley is of course trying to keep calm in my opinion, plus the dhb's aren't going to say much.'