Hipkins announces move to 'orange' from 11.59pm tonight, which allows unlimited indoor gatherings; RBNZ hikes by 50 basis points to 1.50% to front-load its attack on inflation expectations
If Minister Hipkins (for Covid response and one of the few competent Cabinet Ministers imo) fronts up at a pre-arranged press conference to announce the Govt’s decision around Covid, but he doesn’t know what the Orange Light setting means, what confidence can we have in this Govt atm?
Have to wonder about the assumptions of the business lobby re Covid control measures, which they seem to blame entirely for loss of revenue and patronage in hospo and retail. A lot of older people especially are feeling a need to curtail their social lives to minimise exposure, now that other protections have been removed. Yes, the average risk has diminished: but the idea that you can ring a date on a calendar and declare it safe then to mingle without constraint is absurd. The prospective “certainty” they are demanding fails to recognise that the course of the pandemic is influenced by people’s behaviour and inherently unpredictable.
If Minister Hipkins (for Covid response and one of the few competent Cabinet Ministers imo) fronts up at a pre-arranged press conference to announce the Govt’s decision around Covid, but he doesn’t know what the Orange Light setting means, what confidence can we have in this Govt atm?
Have to wonder about the assumptions of the business lobby re Covid control measures, which they seem to blame entirely for loss of revenue and patronage in hospo and retail. A lot of older people especially are feeling a need to curtail their social lives to minimise exposure, now that other protections have been removed. Yes, the average risk has diminished: but the idea that you can ring a date on a calendar and declare it safe then to mingle without constraint is absurd. The prospective “certainty” they are demanding fails to recognise that the course of the pandemic is influenced by people’s behaviour and inherently unpredictable.