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Great victory of the Labor Party: “We will continue fighting”
New Zealand in general and Jacinda Ardern in particular have been acclaimed around the world for the way they have dealt with the corona pandemic. Now he tells in an interview with the AP how it was when he decided what tactics they would use.
He had seen how Europe had begun to suffer, and how the only two alternatives countries were considering were herd immunity or flattening the curve, as it has been called.
– That’s where we started, because there was no approach that said elimination was possible, says Jacinda Ardern.
Jacinda Ardern: “I realized it was not enough”
But in a meeting with his top science advisor, he was able to see charts of what a tactic would look to flatten the curve for New Zealand.
– The curve did not fall below the capacity line of hospitals, so we realized that it was not enough to flatten the curve, says Ardern, who then decided to try to stop the disease entirely.
He was never concerned about whether it would succeed, because the tactic would save lives, whether it succeeded or not. The alternative, he argues, would have been to set the goal lower and still risk failure.
Only 25 dead in New Zealand
The first small wave stopped quickly. With borders closed and closures, New Zealand went 102 days without a single case, before a few cases suddenly appeared in Auckland in August. They never managed to find out how it came about, but with new closures, they again managed to get rid of the disease.
New Zealand, with its five million inhabitants, has only 25 deaths registered in covid-19 and with the spread halted, it has been possible to open shops, schools and hold large events.
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