What is the Covid-19 Exit Strategy of 'Zero Covid' countries such as Hong Kong?

[Bikeman78]

Then there are the utterly pointless restrictions they've introduced, e.g. outdoor playgrounds being shut ("it's a lockdown, how dare kids have fun") and masks being mandatory outdoors.

Playgrounds in Cardiff were closed at one point. When reopened some had signs that stated how many people were allowed in which were routinely ignored, e.g. sign said 25 people, I gave up counting when I got to 30 people. There were at least 50 in there. How are these figures even calculated?

 

[Ianno87]

Having your international borders in a state of almost permanent closure is not normality.

Fine. "Internal normality".

In the UK, I'm reasonably satisfied having the majority of freedoms back within the UK without worrying about travelling internationally (as much as I would dearly like to once again).

 

[brad465]

Depressingly although there is quite a bit of resistance to the measures shown in the originally linked tweet, one made by the Premier himself has attracted a worrying amount of support no matter how daft it is.

(1) Dan Andrews on Twitter: "On the advice of the Chief Health Officer, we will introduce additional measures to stop the spread of coronavirus in Victoria. https://t.co/iCo6gzKFEs" / Twitter

Many people are Tweeting to say that they agree, and thanking the guy for "protecting us and our children". It seems that the same level of madness we saw here during the Autumn of last year where measures were randomly introduced to "stop the spread of the virus" are still alive and well in Australia, albeit with a grim determination by Australian authorities to continue to pursue a zero covid policy.

There's now plenty of praise on twitter for New Zealand doing a one case lockdown as if to say that's how it should be done as well.

It'll be interesting to see how many of those tweets still exist if come 2-3 weeks time they're still in lockdown and cases have continued to climb. When Canberra locked down last week, there was one case; the latest measure is 45 cases in the capital territory, so there's a precedent to look towards.

 

[Bantamzen]

There's now plenty of praise on twitter for New Zealand doing a one case lockdown as if to say that's how it should be done as well. It'll be interesting to see how many of those tweets still exist if come 2-3 weeks time they're still in lockdown and cases have continued to climb. When Canberra locked down last week, there was one case; the latest measure is 45 cases in the capital territory, so there's a precedent to look towards.

Just reading about it has it happens, and apparently the person with it could have caught it from one of 23 places! So now they are preparing to lockdown, which means panic buying at supermarkets. Seems like a legit strategy....

 

[Mag_seven]

There's now plenty of praise on twitter for New Zealand doing a one case lockdown as if to say that's how it should be done as well.

No doubt from the "I live in a big house and can work from home" brigade.

 

[Kite159]

No doubt from the "I live in a big house and can work from home" brigade.

Nah

From the "I live in a big house with a big garden and have retired" brigade

 

[bramling]

Nah

From the "I live in a big house with a big garden and have retired" brigade

You mean “I live in a big house with a big garden and have retired, and want *everyone else* locked down so we can go out and about enjoying ourselves in peace”!

Having said that, to be fair the impression I get is it isn’t really the retired ones driving this. Certainly in my area, which is Work From Hone Central, it’s more the 30-50 generation, who despise commuting (one wonders why they took their jobs on in the first place), and are happy to trade that for a basic dystopian lifestyle where their leisure desires are fulfilled by a picnic in the park or a day at the beach.

 

[Ianno87]

You mean “I live in a big house with a big garden and have retired, and want *everyone else* locked down so we can go out and about enjoying ourselves in peace”!

Having said that, to be fair the impression I get is it isn’t really the retired ones driving this. Certainly in my area, which is Work From Hone Central, it’s more the 30-50 generation, who despise commuting (one wonders why they took their jobs on in the first place), and are happy to trade that for a basic dystopian lifestyle where their leisure desires are fulfilled by a picnic in the park or a day at the beach.

Which normal person would voluntarily spend £5000+ per year going to an office every single say (that is dystopian), when you can do most of your job from home and leave travel for actual, pleasurable activities, and actual productive time working with others?

People don't like commuting, and only have done because they basically previously had no choice and were "conditioned" into what was actually a poor, unhealthy, lifestyle.

Oh, and none of these people actually want ongoing restrictions. That's just in your head. Please drop the broken record.

I also recall some forum-ers at the start of this pandemic criticising People on furlough for not having saved money. Now people are being criticised for avoiding spending thousands of pounds per year unecessarily. Go figure...

 

[43066]

People don't like commuting, and only have done because they basically previously had no choice and were "conditioned" into what was actually a poor, unhealthy, lifestyle.

You cannot build meaningful relationships or network with people, sell things, influence etc. anywhere near as effectively over zoom calls as you can in person.

Like it or not, people will be required to commute again (and indeed are already starting to) for that exact reason. Maybe not for five days per week in the office, but that was already happening pre Covid…

 

[Ianno87]

You cannot build meaningful relationships or network with people, sell things, influence etc. anywhere near as effectively over zoom calls as you can in person.

Like it or not, people will be required to commute again (and indeed are already starting to) for that exact reason. Maybe not for five days per week in the office, but that was already happening pre Covid…

By "commuting" I mean 5 days a week. I agree that a mix of home and office is the future.

If you re-read my post I refer to travel for "actual productive time working with others", not travellingfor a day to look at a spreadsheet or e-mails and then travelling back again, which most folk might as well stay at home to do.

But, contrary to forum belief, very few Work From Home-ers are actively wanting restrictions to continue, but at the same time are not all in a mad rush back to the office (which are not the same thing)

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1427302191648460816?s=20

So how does this work in Australia then?!

It's to stop people drinking thier take out booze from the pub in the street. We had people go on a pub crawl in Richmond and just spend it drinking outside the pub.

Then either he's an amazing PR guy, or the people of that state are way too trusting. Because clearly he is going after an impossible result, zero covid. States like theirs had better bunker down for the long run, because they have lost their freedoms for a very long time.


3 days won't stop the spread though. They just need to ask their neighbours.

Andrews gets s*** done. That's why he's popular. There's a brand new rail tunnel and 47 and counting level crossing removals to show for it along with some shiny new (abit late) trains. The other party have a cardboard cut out as a leader and these flogs in it:

https://twitter.com/thunderson23/status/1427546950971260929/photo/1

Then there are the utterly pointless restrictions they've introduced, e.g. outdoor playgrounds being shut ("it's a lockdown, how dare kids have fun") and masks being mandatory outdoors. We've been through much the same charade here and in wider Europe - to what benefit?

The playgrounds are shut because parents are congregating around the place and spreading it. Theres even evidence at the moment the kids are spreading it like mad. Masks outdoors is just a leftover from Lockdown 5.

 

[brad465]

In New Zealand there are now 10 active cases in the community, and sequencing has linked to the Delta outbreak in Sydney:

Growing New Zealand Covid cluster linked to Sydney Delta outbreak

Jacinda Ardern warns of more cases as Auckland cluster grows to 10, marking New Zealand’s first local transmissions of Delta variant

www.theguardian.com

New Zealand’s coronavirus cluster has grown to 10, with genomic sequencing linking it to the Delta outbreak that began in Sydney, as the country woke up to day one of a snap lockdown stemming from just one case.

The prime minister’s office confirmed three new cases on Wednesday evening.

The Covid-19 response minister, Chris Hipkins, told broadcaster RNZ “we’re seeing more cases coming through, I don’t have details of those cases. But yes, I can confirm that we have further positive test results since the press conference today.”

He expected more cases to emerge overnight.

In Australia NSW now has over 8,000 active cases, and the ACT outbreak is increasing further to 67 (this outbreak is only about a week old).

 

[nw1]

You mean “I live in a big house with a big garden and have retired, and want *everyone else* locked down so we can go out and about enjoying ourselves in peace”!

Having said that, to be fair the impression I get is it isn’t really the retired ones driving this. Certainly in my area, which is Work From Hone Central, it’s more the 30-50 generation, who despise commuting (one wonders why they took their jobs on in the first place), and are happy to trade that for a basic dystopian lifestyle where their leisure desires are fulfilled by a picnic in the park or a day at the beach.

I'd expect that this generation (or maybe a little older, let's say 40-55 - I am part of this generation myself, so hopefully can speak with authority) would be one of the most lockdown-sceptic. On the one hand we are not close to retirement, on the other hand we are not a million miles away from it either. So any prolonged economic slowdown may have more impact than most on our future job prospects.

Remember also that this generation has been used to overseas travel throughout our adult lives, so might - perhaps - miss that more than other generations (I don't know, just a theory).

https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1427302191648460816?s=20

So how does this work in Australia then?!

You attempt to drink your drink wearing a mask, with the expected results.

 

[bramling]

Which normal person would voluntarily spend £5000+ per year going to an office every single say (that is dystopian), when you can do most of your job from home and leave travel for actual, pleasurable activities, and actual productive time working with others?

People don't like commuting, and only have done because they basically previously had no choice and were "conditioned" into what was actually a poor, unhealthy, lifestyle.

Oh, and none of these people actually want ongoing restrictions. That's just in your head. Please drop the broken record.

I also recall some forum-ers at the start of this pandemic criticising People on furlough for not having saved money. Now people are being criticised for avoiding spending thousands of pounds per year unecessarily. Go figure...

Whether people like or dislike commuting isn’t really the matter. It’s up to employers whether they allow their staff to work at home or not, and such decisions will presumably be made on the basis of whether employers consider it possible for employees to fulfil their full work obligations from home. In the medium term this means no more “things are taking longer because our staff are working from home”, or “we can’t offer X because staff can’t do that from home” - both of which are still pretty common at the moment.

I’m sure you’re right that few of these people want restrictions for themselves, however from what I see on Facebook - stuff like “this pandemic isn’t over, even though I’m vaccinated I’m refusing to return to my office, it’s far too dangerous” , whilst at the same time waxing lyrical about being able to go for rural walks during the day - you can forgive me for coming to the conclusion many people, especially those who *aren’t* able to deliver their full work output from home - want to big this all up so they can stretch things out as long as possible.

With workplaces being so “dangerous” it makes it harder for employers to push too hard to get people back, especially as government guidance has been quite conflicting. Meanwhile of course it’s far too dangerous for these people to get on a train to go to work, but quite safe to do pretty much anything else.

 

[Bantamzen]

It's to stop people drinking thier take out booze from the pub in the street. We had people go on a pub crawl in Richmond and just spend it drinking outside the pub.

So basically a few people went on a pub crawl and Andrews gets a bag on, coming up with a policy that makes him, the State & Australia look silly whilst doing bugger all to stop / slow the spread.

Andrews gets s*** done. That's why he's popular. There's a brand new rail tunnel and 47 and counting level crossing removals to show for it along with some shiny new (abit late) trains. The other party have a cardboard cut out as a leader and these flogs in it:

https://twitter.com/thunderson23/status/1427546950971260929/photo/1

Good for him. However a virus is not a rail tunnel or level crossing removals, nor is it a shiny train. All those things just need a bit of cash, but viruses don't care about cash, or politicians for that matter. Coming up with silly measures in a frankly pathetic attempt to be seen to be doing something should be called out even by those happy with their new tunnel. If people cheer him on when his policies go loco, well then they deserve him and deserve forever lockdowns quite frankly.

Just because a politician does a bit of good does not mean you cannot question stupid ideas. Remember Tony Blair?

The playgrounds are shut because parents are congregating around the place and spreading it. Theres even evidence at the moment the kids are spreading it like mad. Masks outdoors is just a leftover from Lockdown 5.

Only one problem here, outdoors transmission is now generally thought to be negligible. The effect on children being wrenched from their friends and outdoor activities though is just starting to come back into focus. Perhaps someone there ought to ask what Andrews is going to do about the long term effect this will have on kids, and the extra social care that some, if not many will inevitably need?

 

[DelayRepay]

So basically a few people went on a pub crawl and Andrews gets a bag on, coming up with a policy that makes him, the State & Australia look silly whilst doing bugger all to stop / slow the spread.

I wonder if anyone has mentioned the 'scotch egg rule' to him yet?

 

[brad465]

Australia logged 747 cases today according to Worldometer, which is its highest daily total to date, ahead of a peak of 721 during Victoria's surge last year. Meanwhile community infections in New Zealand are up to 21, up 11.

 

[duncanp]

The Telegraph are reporting that, in New Zealand, Saint Jacinda has shut, er, COVID vaccination centres, when the country entered "level 4 restrictions" in the latest lockdown .

This proves that Saint Jacinda is completely off her trolley, and hasn't got a clue how to get herself out of the hole she has dug.

 

[Merseysider]

The Telegraph are reporting that, in New Zealand, Saint Jacinda has shut, er, COVID vaccination centres, when the country entered "level 4 restrictions" in the latest lockdown .

This proves that Saint Jacinda is completely off her trolley, and hasn't got a clue how to get herself out of the hole she has dug.

“The ship’s going down”
“Better get rid of the lifeboats then”

 

[Bikeman78]

“The ship’s going down”
“Better get rid of the lifeboats then”

Another coffee/keyboard incident narrowly avoided!

 

[brad465]

The Telegraph are reporting that, in New Zealand, Saint Jacinda has shut, er, COVID vaccination centres, when the country entered "level 4 restrictions" in the latest lockdown .

This proves that Saint Jacinda is completely off her trolley, and hasn't got a clue how to get herself out of the hole she has dug.

According to this report below they're reopening tomorrow (or today for those in NZ) in tow places after adjustments were made to be more "covid secure" to level 4 restrictions. Considering our centres had/have loads of precautions anyway, I'm guessing no such measures existed in NZ before now and have been caught off guard a bit.

Stuff

www.stuff.co.nz

Mass Covid-19 vaccination clinics will reopen in Invercargill and Dunedin on Friday after a redesign to meet alert level 4 restrictions.

Clinics around New Zealand resumed vaccinations on Thursday after being paused during the first day of the national lockdown.

Southern District Health Board Covid-19 vaccine roll-out lead Hamish Brown said the board had to postpone the reopening of its centres “so we can reconfigure the spaces and ensure they meet alert level 4 requirements and continue to deliver at or close to the previous volumes”.

“It is also worth noting that minimal activity had been planned for today, Thursday 19 August, due to strike action, which has since been cancelled,” he said.

Whatever the case, the slow rollout so far certainly isn't helping matters.

 

[Pete_uk]

Meanwhile the rest of the western world is getting jabbed and carrying on with life.

 

[Bantamzen]

The Telegraph are reporting that, in New Zealand, Saint Jacinda has shut, er, COVID vaccination centres, when the country entered "level 4 restrictions" in the latest lockdown .

This proves that Saint Jacinda is completely off her trolley, and hasn't got a clue how to get herself out of the hole she has dug.

I honestly don't know whether to laugh or cry at this. I mean seriously the vaccines are the best way by to help mitigate for the effects of the virus, so NZ already way behind on them decide to close centres for a day to "reconfigure" vaccination centres which will almost certainly mean a capacity reduction. Are they having a laugh?

This is what happens when your dictator, erm Prime Minister decides she can stare down a virus & will accept no other result than complete elimination. And once she's done there, she can get back to ordering the tide out.....

“The ship’s going down”
“Better get rid of the lifeboats then”

I wonder if in a previous life she was on the deck of a certain Trans-Atlantic liner in the early part of the 20th Century....???

Edit: Just found this on Twitter. For those who can't access the video, it is a brief statement from the New Zealand Prime Minister telling the public that her government is the only source of truth, and that any other sources should be "dismissed".

Election Wizard on Twitter: "WATCH: New Zealand Prime Minister goes full third world dictator: “We will continue to be your single source of truth.” https://t.co/btvGErybVZ" / Twitter

Anybody still want to be like New Zealand?

 

[brad465]

Lockdown in New Zealand now extended as cases discovered in Wellington now as well, with the outbreak now up to 31:

New Zealand national lockdown extended as Covid outbreak spreads to Wellington

Total case numbers grow to 31, including three in Wellington, as Jacinda Ardern urges public to stay vigilant

www.theguardian.com

The whole of New Zealand will remain in lockdown until midnight Tuesday, prime minister Jacinda Ardern has announced, as the country’s coronavirus outbreak grew to 31 people and spread to Wellington.

The first case in the outbreak emerged in Auckland on Tuesday, prompting the government to put the entire country into a level-4 lockdown – the highest level of restrictions. Genome sequencing has linked the cluster to a returnee from Australia.

Since then, some of the cases that have emerged include a high school teacher, students at two more high schools, a nurse at Auckland City Hospital and an Air New Zealand cabin crew member.

Another 11 cases were announced on Friday, including a patient at Auckland’s North Shore Hospital, which forced the emergency care and short-stay surgical care departments to close, and a postal worker.

Nineteen of the cases are linked to the first case, a 58-year-old man. The Air New Zealand worker is not linked, while the rest of the cases are yet to be genome-sequenced. Initial investigations show they are likely to be connected to the first case.

The Wellington cases announced on Friday had visited locations of interest in Auckland before returning to the capital prior to the lockdown.

Initially, Auckland and the Coromandel peninsula, a nearby area visited by the first case, were placed into lockdown for a week, with the rest of the country locked down for three days. The whole country is now in lockdown for the same period.

On Friday afternoon, Ardern said the infectious period of the emerging positive cases still reached back into the period before lockdown.

“Soon, that should stop being the case, and that will definitely help us get that outbreak under control. Until then, though, we just don’t quite know the full scale of this Delta outbreak.

“This tells us we need to continue to be cautious, and that we need more time before we have the complete picture.”

The fact they believe at least 19 cases are linked to the original arrival shows how much this can spread, and makes one wonder if it'll take off very quickly if these other infections got some time to pass it on themselves.

 

[Merseysider]

The fact they believe at least 19 cases are linked to the original arrival shows how much this can spread, and makes one wonder if it'll take off very quickly if these other infections got some time to pass it on themselves.

Absolutely. There’s bound to be at least a handful more cases they haven’t identified, who will inevitably spread it.

Then we’ll see NZ report more cases over the weekend, so arguably only a 2-3 week lockdown would have any effect. Saying “until midnight Tuesday”, to me, seems like a way of buying time so they find a way of “selling” a longer lockdown to the public.

 

[NorthKent1989]

Australia and New Zealand are in a pandemic alright, a pandemic of insanity, this zero Covid is utterly ridiculous since there’ll never be a zero Covid, locking an entire country down due to one case is irrational, makes me grateful to live in England where things are nearly back to normal

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

Lockdown in New Zealand now extended as cases discovered in Wellington now as well, with the outbreak now up to 31:

New Zealand national lockdown extended as Covid outbreak spreads to Wellington

Total case numbers grow to 31, including three in Wellington, as Jacinda Ardern urges public to stay vigilant

www.theguardian.com

The fact they believe at least 19 cases are linked to the original arrival shows how much this can spread, and makes one wonder if it'll take off very quickly if these other infections got some time to pass it on themselves.

Even here in Australia we discovered a case in Shepperton. It was up to 17 at last count.

Shepparton COVID outbreak grows in regional Victoria, prompts fears of statewide lockdown

Country sports are cancelled as health authorities weigh locking down regional Victoria, saying "all options are on the table".

www.abc.net.au

Rumor is abound of even more restrictions.
It's got the feeling of It's the last chance saloon.

 

[brad465]

Even here in Australia we discovered a case in Shepperton. It was up to 17 at last count.

Shepparton COVID outbreak grows in regional Victoria, prompts fears of statewide lockdown

Country sports are cancelled as health authorities weigh locking down regional Victoria, saying "all options are on the table".

www.abc.net.au

Rumor is abound of even more restrictions.
It's got the feeling of It's the last chance saloon.

Yes looking at the dashboard for Australia, Victoria is now up to 349, the second highest state in Australia behind runaway leaders NSW (with nearly 9,000), with numbers going up still, so it would not be surprising if a state wide lockdown were to follow.

 

[duncanp]

And the lockdown in Sydney has been extended by another MONTH.

So that's working well isn't it?

 

[yorksrob]

And the lockdown in Sydney has been extended by another MONTH.

So that's working well isn't it?

Curfews as well - the barrel scrape of restrictions.