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New Zealand’s decision to phase out the coronavirus was driven by both fear and ambition, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern revealed, saying there was a time when she realized the healthcare system simply couldn’t cope. to a big bud.
When the virus began to affect Europe earlier in the year, Ardern said, the only two options countries were considering were herd immunity or flattening the curve. She originally opted for the latter.
“That’s where we started, because there just wasn’t much of a view that elimination was possible,” he said. But his thinking changed quickly.
“I remember that my chief scientific advisor brought me a graph that showed me what the flattening of the curve would look like for New Zealand. And where was our hospital and health capacity. And the curve was not below that line. So we knew that flattening the curve wasn’t enough for us. “
Ardern said he was not concerned that removal might prove impossible, because even if New Zealand didn’t get there, the approach would have saved lives. “The alternative is to set a lower goal and then still fail,” he said.
There have been many potholes on the road. When a handful of unexplained cases began to surface in August, Ardern found himself defending wildly exaggerated claims by President Donald Trump, who said there was a massive resurgence and that “it’s over for New Zealand. Everything is gone. “
“Was the word angry?” Ardern said, reflecting on Trump’s comments. He said that while the new cases were deeply concerning, “to be described in this way was a misrepresentation of New Zealand’s position.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
New Zealand’s response to the virus has been one of the most successful, along with actions taken by China, Taiwan and Thailand at the start of the pandemic. The country of 5 million has counted just 25 deaths and managed to eradicate the spread of Covid-19, allowing people to return to crowded workplaces, schools and sports stadiums without restriction.
After border closures and a strict shutdown in March, New Zealand went 102 days without any community spread. But then came the August outbreak in Auckland, which remains unexplained but likely originated overseas.
“We thought we were going through the worst. And it was a real psychological blow to people. And I felt that too. So it was very, very difficult, ”Ardern said.
He said they had modeled different outbreak scenarios, but the one that occurred “was the worst you can imagine.”
That was because the outbreak had spread to various groups in densely populated areas, he said, and some of those who detected it had been attending large church gatherings. But after a second lockdown in Auckland, New Zealand eradicated the disease again.
Ardern said she felt confident in her answers even though she sometimes felt a touch of impostor syndrome in her leadership role.
“You just have to keep going. There is work to be done, ”he said. “Any doubts that you ever have, as a human being, does not mean that it always translates into doubts about what to do.”
For the world to start getting back to normal, Ardern said, comprehensive work is needed to ensure that everyone can get vaccinated and put in place a vaccine certification process that allows people to travel.
He said he was concerned that the economic impact of the virus was increasing wealth disparity and that New Zealanders had defied previous predictions by sending house prices to new all-time highs.
There was a psychology behind New Zealand’s financial obsession with housing that needs to be examined, he said, otherwise “we won’t find out how to get people back to other parts of the economy.”
Ardern said she planned to take time off during the southern hemisphere summer to spend with her fiancé, Clarke Gayford, and their two-year-old daughter, Neve. “I’m not doing anything,” he laughed. However, I will be by the sea. Will be great.”
