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On Thursday opposition leader Judith Collins hugged babies, on Friday she adhered more strictly to social distancing.
One of the babies she met at Ashburton the day before was 8-month-old Millie, who decided that Collins had a tasty-looking hand and quickly put it to her mouth.
Although like Aucklander Collins it should have been a social distancing, Collins on Friday downplayed his close contact with the younger generation.
STACY SQUIRES / Stuff
Eight-month-old Millie, held by her mother Charli McBride, sucks on the hand of National Leader Judith Collins in Ashburton during Covid-19 alert level 2 restrictions.
“We hug babies if their mothers want us to hug them,” she said.
“I think we just have to be a little realistic and understand that there are different rules and guidelines in schools and in young people who obviously rarely get Covid-19.”
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A recent study found that children were not immune to Covid-19 and may even play a larger role in community spread than previously thought.
Collins said she had stayed away from Auckland except for a 24-hour period, and didn’t see much of the virus in most parts of the city anyway.
“I don’t have Covid-19, I’m pretty sure about that.”
Some on Twitter questioned why Collins was sitting so close to the mother without wearing a mask, with one saying that hand sucking showed no respect for hygiene.
Millie’s mother, Charli McBride, said that when she saw the images she wondered if there would be any backlash, but laughed at any concerns about Collins’s transmission of coronavirus.
“I don’t think she would hug babies if she had Covid, and there were a lot of hand sanitizers everywhere.”
McBride said he saw Collins use the disinfectant before touching Millie, who wanted something to chew on to ease the gum pain.
“It only has two teeth on the bottom,” he explained.
“[Collins] He told me that he had also had difficulties with his son’s teething. ”
Health Minister Chris Hipkins on Thursday implored Auckland residents traveling outside the region to take his enhanced alert level with them.
“Act like you’re still in Auckland when you’re out of Auckland and follow the same rules that apply to you in Auckland,” he said.
Collins seemed to have learned his lesson overnight by offering a Stuff reporter hit the elbow at an event organized by the Chamber of Commerce on Friday morning.
He also visited Kaiapoi in North Canterbury on Friday, which is the anniversary of the September 4 earthquake.
