Covid 19 coronavirus: Jack Tame – Why it’s time for a transtasman bubble

OPINION:

I’m going to start by crossing my fingers and tapping wood very publicly.

I’m not trying to stress you out. I’m not trying to scare anyone. But have you imagined what would happen if there was an unexpected Covid-19 outbreak sometime in the next week or two?

EEEEE …! I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It’s such a frightening prospect that I hate to even mention it. But it’s a possibility, right? We know that our border control measures are not 100% foolproof. And imagine if the government were forced to decide on another blockade a few days before Christmas. Something tells me that such a scenario could test the public’s faith in New Zealand’s elimination strategy.

So for the love of God, don’t be careless now … use the Covid app!

With Christmas so close, I understand why the powerful want to continue our conservative approach when it comes to Covid-19. Kiwis will be traveling a lot internally over the next week or two, and I don’t feel like many of us have a huge appetite for risk.

But after Christmas and into 2021, our leaders have to make the trans-tasman bubble a top priority. If it weren’t for Christmas and New Years, there are few reasons why it shouldn’t be up and running now.

I must say that I have been very careful with my words this year. Unlike many of my colleagues, I did not appear on the radio in the early days of this pandemic and said, “New Zealand is going crazy … we have to open up now!” Wait. He respected the experience. And I respected the fact that we didn’t know much about Covid-19.

But it’s for the same reason that I really think we need to put our A in G, after the New Year.

Epidemiologists here and in Australia, even the more conservatively minded, can see little reason why a bubble should not be established. Our contact tracing capabilities have vastly improved compared to the beginning of the year. The borders are effectively closed. And having been through managed isolation, I think the systems are well established. They are pretty solid.

But it is not rational to use all that resource on people who come from places where there is little or no Covid-19. My aunt has just returned from Australia and spent two weeks in controlled isolation. You can’t tell me I posed a greater threat than the people on my plane arriving from the United States. So why would we treat her the same?

We are aware of things. We manage risk. We have the ability to incorporate nuances into the system.

One of the top heists according to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is Australia’s definition of what it qualifies as a Covid-19 hotspot. It would take a state to register 30 cases over three consecutive days for a regional travel ban to be introduced. That means if a state had 28 or 27 cases in three days, hypothetically people could still travel to New Zealand.

But there is nothing to stop Ardern and his advisers from setting a different and stricter standard for entering New Zealand. Why not set a bubble with the widely publicized warning that if conditions worsen, the rules could quickly tighten?

For example, let’s say a state records 15 cases in three days; then we require that anyone arriving from Australia isolate themselves. That would be part of the deal. People can travel without restrictions, but know that if things go wrong, they will be legally required to isolate themselves. If an outbreak is really serious, we go further. We pause passenger flights until there is room for travelers coming from Australia to go through the MIQ process again.

Obviously, neither of these scenarios is ideal. There is a risk in every restriction that we choose to remove. But if we can get through Christmas and New Years, knock wood, it’s time to set our ambitions a little further.