[ad_1]
When the virus returned to Auckland, New Zealand’s capital and the residence of half the country’s population, in August, there were roughly zero infections since early June. Then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern appeared on television in person to explain that the authorities had resorted to a new confinement.and quite severe; the outbreak had occurred in a residential building and contacts were kept to a minimum. Now, for the first time since the new restrictions began, ten days have passed without new infections: The virus is back under control, Ardern said Monday, one step away from re-election in Sunday’s elections. Her handling of the pandemic – with an air that some observers have described as maternal, that is, severe but empathetic – has earned her growing support from the population, and projections for Sunday’s elections assign only one less Parliament seat. of the 61 that would correspond to him. , to his Labor Party, to rule alone.
But what is the New Zealand recipe? Weeks of total lockdown at the first signs of a resurgence, like this August; return to normal life completely when the danger seems to have passed. I see the rest of the world how the alternatives work, and it does not seem very good to me, said Jacinda Ardern at a press conference on Monday; and has estimated the chances that the country has eliminated transmission of the virus at about 95 percent. Our small team of five million people, a bit tired this time, did what our national sports teams always do: put their heads down and move on.
Of course, with few more inhabitants in the province of Rome and a population density comparable to that of Sweden, some will object that it is easy to keep an epidemic under control. But the response from the public – school students, exhibitors, families – was extremely disciplined; and the severity of the restrictions was made more effective through widespread monitoring of infections (with a government application) and an effort to multiply tampons, as well as by an almost total closure of borders, open only to citizens and those with a residence permit. . But the clear model: the goal is to eliminate the virus, as in Taiwan, in contrast to countries like Sweden, which instead seek herd immunity. Both approaches have solid scientific bases; Its application or not depends on several factors, including the arrival, sooner or later, of a vaccine.
October 8, 2020 (change October 8, 2020 | 15:00)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
[ad_2]
