Covirus 19 coronavirus: Jacinda Ardern’s warning – Don’t read too much on case zero day

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Health chief Ashley Bloomfield has defended herself and officials against the “heartless” accusations, after they refused to grant New Zealanders access to dying relatives on compassionate grounds during the Covid crisis.

Twenty-four requests to see dying relatives were analyzed objectively, fairly and with great empathy, but none had been granted until last Friday when a person requested a judicial review, Bloomfield confirmed today.

“They have not awarded any like last Friday.

“Quarantine and self-isolation arrangements … are part of our broader attempts to really control this virus.”

On Friday, a judge gave Oliver Christiansen the right to see his father, and now Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has ordered a review of the other cases.

Oliver Christiansen’s father lay dying and asked, “Where’s my son? Where’s my son?”

But Christiansen couldn’t see him: He was subject to the government’s mandatory 14-day period of isolation after arriving in New Zealand on April 23 on a flight from the United Kingdom.

Christiansen spoke to the Herald about his “eight days of fighting and about 36 hours off” before his father Anthony Christiansen, who had brain cancer, passed away.

Significant restrictions were applied to all New Zealanders, not just people who reached the borders who had been in isolation or quarantined, and the latter were at higher risk, Bloomfield told Mike Hosking of Newstalk ZB today.

I did not know if any of the 24 had tested positive for Covid-19.

Bloomfield denied Hosking’s claim that the Ministry of Health had no heart and was treating the pandemic as a “medical experiment.”

The staff got out of bed every day and worked seven days a week to ensure the health of all New Zealanders, he said.

Covid-19 was not the only approach: The Ministry considered many problems, including mental health, he said.

When asked if staying at Level 3 with zero cases yesterday was “ridiculous,” Bloomfield disagreed. “Many kiwis accept that the position we are in now is because we have put in the hard yards, we are not there yet.”

Bloomfield said it had no complaints or inquiries about the PPE in the past few days.

When asked about the 700,000 flu shots, Bloomfield said there were one or two isolated cases that couldn’t get the vaccine: They should get in touch to get their share. “We can see what we can do to try to redistribute the vaccines … that’s our job and we will try.”

As of April 30, the number of requests from a returning traveler, or travelers, for a waiver to the conditions of their 14-day isolation amounted to 283. The number of those waiver requests granted was 18, this was for business such as childcare.

As of the same date, the number of requests for ‘compassionate’ or similar exemptions totaled 73. The number of requests for visiting a dying or close-to-die relative totaled 24. None of those 24 exemptions were granted.

EARLIER

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says a day of zero new Covid-19 cases is a national badge of honor, but warns that Level 3 will continue as there is no room for complacency.

Ardern is expected to clarify what alert level 2 will look like on Thursday, but stressed that the Cabinet will need the latest data on Covid’s cases before making a decision next Monday on whether to move from level 3.

Current Tier 2 guidelines discourage any nonessential interregional travel, but Ardern said she was willing to change that.

“I know that this is incredibly important for domestic tourism. I have listened not only to the tourism industry, but also to those who are regionally separated from family and friends, we are going to weigh all these problems.

It is also lowering expectations that a free Covid Transtasman bubble is near, despite the fact that it will address the Australian Cabinet National Meeting today via video link.

“Don’t expect this to happen in a couple of weeks,” Ardern said at his post-cabinet press conference yesterday.

“It will take a little time to make sure we can do it safely.”

Tourism industry chief executive Aotearoa Chris Roberts said if national tourism markets and transtasman were opened, it could save several tens of thousands of jobs.

“We would basically recover about three-quarters of our tourism industry,” Roberts told the Herald.

He said a recent member survey found that about 50 percent of tourism-related jobs were in doubt.

“In the worst case scenario, which is close to the loss of 200,000 jobs, which would be devastating. But we can save some of them by gradually restarting tourism.”

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Yesterday was the first day in seven weeks when no new cases of coronavirus were recorded in New Zealand.

The total number of confirmed or probable cases was 1,487, but the number of active cases dropped to 191, while the number of people in the hospital dropped to four.

“We can be encouraged by not registering new cases,” said Ardern.

“Despite this result, my message remains the same: stay the course.”

There were 593 level 3 violations as of Sunday night, including 154 prosecutions and 400 warnings.

Ardern said that having no new cases was due to the success of the Level 4 block, and Covid-19’s two-week incubation period meant that Level 3 success would not be seen in the numbers until later this week.

“I’m a perfectionist. I want to see those numbers after I’ve been on Alert Level 3 long enough to be a reflection of Level 3.”

“This is where we verify that we are recovering well and if we have done well. We need a few more days to verify that we have.”

Director-General for Health Ashley Bloomfield said New Zealanders should be proud of what has been accomplished, but yesterday’s result was “just a moment in time.”

“We’re almost there, but let’s not slack off now.”

He said there were two cases of recent community transmission, and both were suspected of being linked to travel abroad. Specific tests in both cases did not reveal any positive evidence.

University of Otago Professor of Epidemiologists Michael Baker said reaching zero was “of great symbolic value” but was looking for a sustained trend.

“Everyone in New Zealand should view that as a positive milestone and reflect on the fact that it is much better than the alternative we faced six weeks ago, when we were seeing an exponential increase in cases.”

“But it is not a guarantee that there are no circulating viruses in New Zealand. We will almost certainly receive more reported cases later this week.”

“It is not a basis for relaxing the guard at all.”

Baker said more security measures should be considered before moving to Level 2, including a contact tracking application and a “mass masking” policy.

“Level 2 is potentially great indoor contact in confined environments: public transportation, retail and hospitality, and indoor gatherings of up to 100 people.

“That is returning to a high level of social mixing.”

But Bloomfield said having a working app was not a prerequisite for moving to Level 2, and previously pointed to World Health Organization guidelines as a reason not to endorse wearing masks in public.

He said easing domestic travel restrictions at Level 2 wouldn’t make him nervous.

“What would make me nervous is if we didn’t maintain those basic public health behaviors that we need to maintain, particularly in relation to physical detachment, hygiene, and not going out if she has symptoms.”