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New Zealand has done what no other western country has been successful at. To eliminate the coronavirus.
But the question is what happens when the country opens up slowly.
A hangover awaits New Zealand and the few countries that are investing in eliminating covid 19?
Praising Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, ordered a severe closure of the country on March 25, New Zealand had less than 150 confirmed infected and no deaths. A few days earlier, the island nation completely closed its borders. Only citizens and residents of the country can return.
Here it was not a matter of pushing down the curves, but of eliminating them completely.
Some saw it as an overreaction to a threat that had not even reached the country seriously. The economic price of the “blockade” has been very high.
But New Zealand, with a population of 5.8 million, has been the only western country to eliminate, but not eradicate, the coronavirus. Only a few new cases are detected per day, and all depend on citizens returning to their homes or the spread of groups of known infections. Infection testing and monitoring are among the most extensive in the world.
In total, only 19 people have died in covid 19. Almost all the elderly.
A few days ago, taverns began selling takeout food. Schools open but students who can be asked to study remotely. In general, everyone is encouraged to follow the rules of social distance.
The business of removing the virus is hailed as the country’s greatest success. But now the next challenge awaits.
How should New Zealand continue to remain crown-free in a world where the virus is rampant? Will it cost New Zealand to completely isolate itself from the outside world until there is a vaccine or medicine that can cure the disease?
Photo: Mark Mitchell / TT NEWS AGENCY
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Zero immunity
The population has virtually no immunity to covid 19. And, based on experience, a first vaccine is likely to provide 100 percent protection.
But I see very little discussion of this when I participate in the New Zealand media.
The country has a great advantage in its isolated geographical location. You have iron control at your limits. Foreigners are not allowed. This means that the country has to pay a high price in the form of lost tourism revenue. One in eight works in the tourism industry. Foreign students studying at the country’s university are another important source of income that is disappearing.
But on the other hand, nobody travels anymore, so the country had still lost a large part of its tourist income.
New Zealand shares its strategy with some other Asian countries. With the use of high technology and extensive testing, South Korea and Taiwan have managed to limit the spread of the infection to almost zero. China, where the outbreak began, appears to have successfully stopped the infection in Wuhan without spreading it to the rest of the country.
But all of these countries face the same dilemma as New Zealand. How should they protect themselves against a second wave of infection in a world where the coronavirus is spreading violently?
Photo: Mark Baker / TT NEWS AGENCY
The crown tests are carried out in a car park in Christchurch.
Protect citizens
All countries are highly dependent on exports and have extensive trade with the outside world. Is it possible to close the country’s borders but keep them open for commodity trade without the infection coming back?
Much will depend on how long it takes to get vaccinated. Experts say a minimum of 12 to 18 months, but it can also take much longer than that. In that case, the hope is that it will be faster to obtain anti-covid medications 19.
However, it is difficult to criticize the elimination strategy.
Countries do the main task of each government, protecting the safety and health of its citizens. The longer you can keep the disease away, the better the chances of a cure before it returns.
Australia, New Zealand’s closest neighbor, has deliberately chosen the strategy to roll back rather than kill the virus. The reason is mainly that the population is not immune and that therefore very restrictive measures would have to be maintained for a long period of time. Voices are now raised to switch to elimination tactics, as the spread of the infection remains low and only 90 have died. But Prime Minister Scott Morrison refuses to change course.
Sweden could also choose
Sweden also faced an election during the initial phase of the pandemic. At first, the goal of the Public Health Authority seemed to be to stop the virus entirely with aggressive detection of infections. But lack of evidence and open borders made it difficult to stop the spread.
Sweden also does not have the isolated geographic location of New Zealand. For Sweden, it would have been even more difficult to try to become a non-infection island on such an affected continent.
Perhaps we could have agreed on a common front together with our Nordic neighbors. Now that we have general public outreach, it is probably too late. At least that is the opinion of the Public Health Authority and many other experts.
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