A further 41 Covid-19 cases in the community have been reported, bringing the total number in the current outbreak to 148. Of the new cases reported on Tuesday, 38 are in Auckland and three in Wellington, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says.
There are eight people in hospital, none are in ICU.
Bloomfield says the biggest sub-cluster features 58 cases linked to the Assembly of God church in Mangere. More than 500 people have been tested in relation to the church cluster. What he terms the Birkdale social group, where the original cases emerged on Auckland's North Shore, is the second biggest group with 23 cases.
Bloomfield expects daily case numbers to continue rising over the next couple of days. He says dealing with the Delta variant of Covid-19 is like dealing with a new virus. Bloomfield says modelling suggests the peak has not yet been hit, and while the numbers increased on Tuesday, it's reassuring that cases have not risen exponentially.
There are now 15,741 contacts, with most classified as close contacts. There are another 100 locations of interest bringing the total to more than 420.
Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson says Monday was the best day yet for vaccinations, with 63,333 done in the day. More than 35,000 tests were conducted on Monday with 26,500 of them in Auckland.
On Monday 35 new Covid-19 cases were reported, bringing the total number of cases in the community to 107 with eight in Wellington and the rest in Auckland. The Government also extended the Level 4 lockdown until at least Tuesday, August 31 for Auckland, and Friday, August 27 for the rest of New Zealand.
Here's the Ministry of Health's press release.
41 additional community cases of COVID-19; one new case in managed isolation facilities
24 August 2021
There are 41 new cases of COVID-19 in the New Zealand community to confirm today. This brings the total number of cases in the community outbreak to 148.
Of these 41 new cases, 19 are female and 22 are male. 31 of these are Pacific peoples, three are Asian and seven are European.
The total number of community cases in Auckland is now 137 and 11 in Wellington.
All of the cases have or are being transferred safely to a managed isolation facility, under strict infection prevention and control procedures, including the use of full PPE.
As previously indicated, it’s not unexpected to see a rise in daily case numbers at this stage. At its peak last year, New Zealand had a daily total of 89 new cases.
There are currently 9 hospitalisations, of which 8 are associated with the current outbreak (7 related to community transmission and 1 border-related).
Of the 148 cases in the cluster, 89 are already epidemiologically linked to other community cases identified in the outbreak. Investigations are continuing to determine whether and how the remaining 59 cases are linked to the outbreak. There are currently 6 epidemiologically-linked subclusters identified within this outbreak. The two largest clusters are the Birkdale Social Network cluster associated with Case A (approximately 23 confirmed cases) and a cluster associated with the AOG church in Mangere (approximately 58 cases). We will continue to release this information and new locations of interest as it becomes available.
There is one new case in recent returnees in a managed isolation facility.
New cases identified at the border
Arrival date From Via Positive test day/reason Managed isolation/quarantine location 17 August Full travel history to be confirmed Full travel history to be confirmed Day 6/routine Auckland
The total number of active cases being managed in New Zealand is currently 183.
Since 1 January 2021, there have been 123 historical cases, out of a total of 922 cases.
Our total number of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic is 2740.
Testing
Yesterday, 35,376 tests were processed across New Zealand.
Testing nationwide remains a priority in our assessment of spread and in determining the edges of the outbreak.
Yesterday, testing centres in Auckland had yet another busy day with more than 26,500 swabs taken across Tâmaki Makaurau, with around 9,000 at community testing centres and a further 17,500 at general practice and urgent care clinics
There are 22 community testing centres across Auckland today – including a new walk-in testing centre which opened today at Victoria Park carpark in Auckland CBD.
In Wellington, 2,533 tests were processed yesterday – and 11 community testing centres are open again today.
All DHBs are ensuring there is good access to testing across the regions.
For up-to-date information on all testing locations, please visit Healthpoint.co.nz.
The total number of COVID-19 tests processed by laboratories to date is 2,763,229.
The seven-day rolling average is 28,405.
Wastewater testing
No positive wastewater testing results in the most recent samples collected outside the Auckland and Wellington regions.
In Auckland, COVID-19 was detected in samples collected on Saturday 21 August 2021 from seven sites including North Shore (Rosedale, Albany).
In the Wellington region, the virus was detected in a sample collected on 22 August from Moa Point, Wellington and in the same site in the previous two days. There were no other detections in Wellington or in the wider region (22 and 23 August).
Contact tracing
Public health staff across New Zealand continue to contact trace, with a focus on higher risk locations.
The number of contacts has increased significantly. This is something we expected as we identify more cases and test in large numbers.
As of 9am today, 15,741 individual contacts have been identified and over half have had a negative a test – and this number will increase throughout the day, as records are fully processed. The majority of these contacts are close contacts.
Locations of interest
We are continuing to add locations of interest as interviews from confirmed cases are completed by public health staff.
There are now more than 400 locations of interest listed on the Ministry’s website.
Of these, 12 locations of interest are in Wellington, a few are scattered across the North Island and the rest are located in Auckland. There are also two flights between Auckland Wellington.
We will continue to update this information regularly.
The Ministry’s website also includes advice on what to do if you were at any of these locations at the time when you could potentially have been exposed. Alerts are being sent to people who scanned in using the COVID-19 Tracer App at locations during the relevant times.
If you were at a location of interest at the specified time, please self-isolate and call Healthline on 0800 358 5453 for advice on testing.
COVID-19 vaccine update
More than 2.85 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to date.
Of these, 1.82 million are first doses and more than 1.02 million are second doses.
More than 160,000 Mâori have received their first vaccination. More than 94,000 have also had their second vaccinations.
More than 106,000 doses have been administered to Pacific peoples and more than 64,000 have also received their second doses.
Yesterday 44,250 first doses were given, and 19,082 second doses were given, bringing yesterday’s total doses administered to 63,333. This is the biggest daily total to date.
NZ COVID Tracer
NZ COVID Tracer now has 3,050,066 registered users.
Poster scans have reached 328,683,310 and users have created 14,029,326 manual diary entries.
There have been 578,588 scans in the 24 hours to midday yesterday.
113 Comments
Next few days are key. Please be
What difference does to make? The horse has bolted. We need 8 weeks of level 5 to contain this.
People yesterday were asking what the polls say about the government's vaccination programme. Well now there is polling data for this. https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/24-08-2021/exclusive-poll-only-one-in…
28% say it's excellent
26% say it's good
27% say it's neutral
8% say it's bad
11% say it's terrible
This is a net approval rating of +35%. Not as good as the government's overall handling of COVID which got +67% net approval, but far far better than the National Party's response, which receives a net negative -15% disapproval rating.
Also only 26% of people want the Oz bubble re-opened this year, and 47% saying no, with 27% unsure.
Anyone bashing the government's overall response and the vaccination programme: you are welly and truly in the minority in this country, and globally.
Lanthanide, I long ago decided that you had to be an official responder for the Labour Party on this forum. Any other messages from Jacinda and co. that we might need to consider?
I have no official link to any political party at all and in the time I have been voting I have given my party vote to 3 different parties. I am also not employed by any level of the government nor have I been.
Also nothing in the comment you are replying to is coming from Jacinda and co.
Yes you voted Labour and Green and the Alliance...
Nope.
Sadly seems to sum up NZ politics at the moment. All data clearly shows one of the worst vaccine rollouts in the world, yet over half of Nzers still think the govt did good because Jacinda says so.
Or people are able to make up their own minds and are happy for other countries in dire need to get the vaccines ahead of us.
Personally I'd give them a 'neutral' rating. I've never seen a science/health based justification at the time for why they only chose to go with only Pfizer vaccine. We may possibly be benefiting from that decision in the long term, but certainly with the emergence of delta the decision isn't looking so great.
The too kind to take vaccines from other countries narrative is certainly on brand, but do we really believe that. It seems we just hadn't yet joined the queue we were supposedly at the front off. I'd probably give them a neutral overall on covid, but it's frustrating to see the effort going into polishing a turd on vaccination. 70% of people over 40 have either had 1 jab or are booked to have one, that sort of cherry picked meaningless stat is ridiculous to have to sit through in order to hear case numbers.
No one should not understand that this latest lockdown was necessary. The real question though is why was it necessary. The government knew Delta was on the horizon and that through open travel with Australia, our border control would thus be no better than theirs. That meant too given Australia’s international transit flow a far greater pool of potential carriers, incoming Delta. Our government also knew that the vaccination progress at that time was deficient in giving protection to a satisfactory percentage of NZrs from the known greater transmission ability etc of Delta. So my question is simply this. Why in the face of all these factors did they go ahead and open the bubble with Australia?
At the time the bubble was opened, delta had not even started spreading aggressively in India. So that answers that question, really.
The question is - why did they keep it open for so long, despite the spread that was happening in Australia, and why were they so slack at ensuring pre-departure tests were actually checked when they mandated them.
i was against a bubble with two states victoria and new south wales, both those states are run by noddys, that and they have to many bogans live in those two states meant when it happened they were going to be first.
the rest of the states and country are fine and have done well in controlling and stamping out community cases
Close run thing though. Too close, I submit. Open travel with Australia commenced 19 April. On that same day Manavi Kanpur writes per Quartz India website the new strain (Delta assumedly) had been building throughout April and by the 15th totalling 200,000 new cases a day. If the government was not alert to at least that trend by then,and not thinking about it and assessing the potential risk, they should have been surely? And assuming that they were and knowing vaccinations to date in NZ were not up to a level to provide sufficient protection, why did they not have a re-think then. so don’t accept that my above question has been really been answered unless of course I have screwed up my reading of figures again?
Masses of grizzling and hard luck stories that the media promoted caused the border with Australia to open when it did. That is now costing us dearly.
I can see how the temptation to open the bubble was strong ; I do not really blame the Govt for doing that .
I think the way the bubble was closed is the real problem - people were told to travel at their own risk etc. etc. - but when it came to it a week's grace was given to return bypassing MIQ , with completely botched checks of itineraries / travel history and pre-departure tests. Shambles.
Agree it was a popular move but running alongside that, to be cynical admittedly, was that politically the unpopularity of not having done so would have been much greater, and with a resultant unwelcome slide in the polls.
From the study:
"About the study
Respondents were self-selecting participants, recruited via Facebook and Instagram."
Wow, Facebook and Instagram only! Can't possibly be a biased sample then?1
Facebook, the well-known font of reasoned and sensible debate, not prone to conspiracy theories, rumours or disinformation at all.
Also just for completeness, here's the rest of the paragraph you failed to quote:
A total of n=629 sample was achieved of adults in New Zealand. Results in this report are weighted by age, gender and region to statistics from the 2018 Census. For a random sample of this size and after accounting for weighting the maximum sampling error (using 95% confidence) is approximately ±3.9%.
Nothing random about Facebook. I know I have never been on it :)
Self selected = meaningless.
Not when demographic weighting is applied. Certainly it's far from the most robust statistical method for carrying out a poll though.
If you have alternative poll data from another source, please share it and we can discuss and compare it.
Interesting. A lot of folk I speak to are still very optimistic about potential outcomes. It would be interesting to revisit this in a few months.
Hearing the PM describing 72% as having signed up for a vaccination as 'incredible' progress might give one hope, provided one didn't enquire too deeply about when one would actually receive it.
It’s for those who are in the easily confused column. Like me I suppose aged six that 100 x 0 was worth no more than 10 x 0. I did eventually move on though but some might not agree.
It's OK. We know you try our best and mean well. As Jacinda says, 'it's really tricky'. Sometimes even incredibly so.
try. well yes, that was a feature on the report cards. seemed to always progress from still trying to very trying.
It is likely to go to 500 and then come down. Looking at mid September for this episode to end.
Maybe. At present it looks like its being driven by the church service, they're the biggest sub-cluster at 58 cases. With them being a known sub-cluster, they can be aggressively targeted for contact tracing and putting people in isolation. Being a regular church service does make this a bit easier since attendance in the congregation will be generally known, as opposed to random visitors to a supermarket on any given day for example.
the good news from today is apart from auckland the rest of the country looks under control, lets hope for level 3 from monday for everybody that lives outside auckland. also brings into focus the policy of letting people fly into the biggest population center at this time,
That's short term thinking. If akl doesn't get it under control the rest of nz will be buggered too, eventually. See syd and the rest of aus.
Well if EVERYONE in Auckland is sticking to the lockdown and not traveling all over the country then it should be possible to put other regions into level 3. Level 4 lockdown in Tauranga is unnecessary, monitor the wastewater daily and while there is zero covid detected its level 3. Your just creating unnecessary lockdown fatigue. Everyone's going to have had a guts full of it in no time.
I hope it isn't loitering where I live then. Because we're all on septic tanks here.
Tauranga isn't listed as one of the monitored sites, although the wording indicates there might be more sites.
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-no…
can anyone answer - So how do you measure the percentage of population vaxed?
Is it received at least 1 shot?
2 shots?
3 shots and 1 booster?
7 shots and 4 boosters?
3 top ups within the last 18 weeks?
when do our green passes get issued?
At what point does your vaccine "passport" get a red line through it?
Just wanted to know for planning to get back to normal.
signed
confused.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/23/israel-struggles-to-cope-with-…
At present the formal measures are whether you have received 1 or 2 doses of a vaccine.
Do we have measure of the population for who receives a flu vaccine each year?
Some lefties can't accept your hard hitting questions.
I agree with you, we need firm targets to work towards. If they said 80% fully vaccinated with two jabs then we will open up and give you the vaccine passport then at least we know what's on the other side.
My crystal ball tells me:
NZ's vaccine rate will reach 70% and the government will slowly open up border.
There would be another more powerful strain of COVID and the booster shots would not meet the demand to slow down spread or alleviate symptoms.
The fittest would survive while perish for the otherwise.
NZ would declare victory with costs of around 100,000 death, and 1 million with long lasting and irreversible post COVID symptoms.
just one outcome of many possibilities
NZ's vaccine rate will reach 70% and the government will slowly open up border.
We already have enough bookings in the system (or people who already have doses) for 74% of the population to be vaccinated, and that's with only people aged 40+ being allowed to book from group 4 at present.
NZ would declare victory with costs of around 100,000 death.
Pretty ridiculous prediction, and if NZ suffers 2% of the population dying even given our record of effective lockdowns, the rest of the world is well and truly screwed and will likely be facing a depression.
New Zealand is the third most obese country in the OECD.
Coronavirus will have a field day here compared to most other countries.
Thanks for providing yet another element of data that supports our government's current approach to COVID, to eliminate it from this country.
How do we pay for it Lanth? Keep piling up the borrowing? Increase taxes? Reduce public services and spending on infrastructure?
Because long lockdowns don't come cheap...
And how about local government? Doesn't get support from the government, services and investment will need to be cut back further.
The best economic response is a strong health response.
Either we pay for a lockdown, or we pay more for the alternative. We pay either way.
Personally I think it's prudent to pay less, when the opportunity exists to do so. Kind of silly to pay more if you don't have to, actually.
I think it's questionable that we pay less for a lockdown.
Well that's what the data shows so far.
Mate no office but your speech sounds like a set of political slogans.
"The best economic response is a strong health response." - what is that supposed to mean precisely?
"The best economic response" - do you measure that in GDP/inflation/how?
"is a strong health response" - Yes, we have one of the lowest death rates in the world, but we also have one of the lowest vaccination rates within the developed world. How do you measure success and what is the ROI/correlation with an economic response?
A strong health response might also have been no lockdown and instead investing the cash in our health system.
So we may well be left with the same run down health facilities and a timing difference re covid impact.
That's the downside of not doing a cost benefit analysis.
The "statistical value of a life" is about $5 million.
How many deaths do you think there would have been with no lockdown?
This article estimated about 80,000 https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-80000-kiwis-could-di…
So $400 billion if i can count my zeros correctly.
How much has it cost so far?
No idea. How many have died from suicide, postponement of treatment? How many will go broke, how many have depression. How many relationships have split, how many partners and kids are being beaten each day (go an talk to a cop or front line nurse and ask then what they are seeing).
All are relevant, as are deaths that have been brought forward by a few months/years.
Its called thinking beyond the spoon fed narrative.
HouseMouse, NZ government debt 101 - https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/106984/opine-time-adult-conversation-about-government-debt-incorporating-21st-century
Covid 19 coronavirus: Plan to reopen Australia will cause 'substantial mortality', experts say
See
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/covid-19-coronavirus-plan-to-reopen-au…
How much more money will they need to borrow.
We have no money left we are just increasing the debt everyday.
Imagine the hospitals they could have built with these billions now we are in trouble with limited beds available we will soon be kicking people out of motels to use as makeshift hospitals.
Only winners from this is in my view are NZX stocks and maybe another property bull run starting in Spring due to more debt.
You don't build hospitals with money, you build them with energy and resources. Which are in decreasing supply and cannot assuage even current debt, meaningfully.
But you are quite correct; more effort being put into Health (training nurses, commandeering buildings) was a no-brainer we overlooked. Neoliberal economics - from both major political persuasions - kept on cutting away resilience/capacity in all social constructs. In part, that reflected the onsetting of real Limits, in part relative status/greed, but it has run its course. Hence National has no valid narrative, and Labour only a partial one (nobody else has any better, either).
We chose indulgence in barista-coffee and weekends away, over solid infrastructure and real capacity. And it's going to bite us on the bum.
You don't build hospitals with money, you build them with energy and resources. Which are in decreasing supply and cannot assuage even current debt, meaningfully.
I'm pretty sure there is still enough energy and resources left to build a couple of new hospitals.
Yes it is surprising, disappointing mostly, that early thought was nor put into tapping into the availability of medical expertise on offer. Retired doctors, nurses, St. john’s, medics and all similar all capable of handling a syringe and being trained up accordingly. That presence surely would have helped lessen the increased work load on our existing health carers.
FG. Many Govt departmental managers are currently being tapped for staff to help with contact tracing. They are gearing up for a potentially huge effort and resources being required. Fingers crossed that it won't be necessary. This weird limbo, awaiting judgment for our sin of omitting to do the right thing when we had the chance.
An 80 yr old friend was one of the first vaccinated, a son in law worked at the border. Arrived at Burwood Hospital on time and waited an hour. One nurse vaccinating others attending in case of faint etc. The nurse had been single handed since 7.30 am and would remain so until at least 10.30pm if to complete the doses on hand. This evidences that there had been no forward planning, no organisation until the eleventh hour. Yet the govt/moh had had over a year to digest that vaccination was to be the best pathway on hand. But they obviously had made no effort to even begin thinking about staffing, location & Procedure. Same with myself to a degree last month. The first jab took two hours of time from waiting to complete it was near shambles. Three weeks later excellent efficiency, twenty minutes for the same thing. So the efficiency was always achievable but nobody could be bothered to take the trouble to think early enough about it.
Becnz, NZ government debt 101 - https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/106984/opine-time-adult-conversation-about-government-debt-incorporating-21st-century
The Govt doesn't need to borrow more than it already is to cover the costs of the Wage Subsidy and other expenses associated with the lockdown in the short-term.
It has about $5 billion in its Covid-19 recovery fund that is yet to be allocated. Some of what has been allocated due to Covid-19 over the past 1.5 years has also not been spent (I can't give you an exact figure, but can say there is $38 billion in the Crown Settlement Account).
What's more, the borrowing programme for the 2021/22 year is large at $30 billion.
Interest rates remain very low, so the cost of taking out this debt is low. One needs to consider the social/economic costs of NOT taking out debt.
The question of whether the Govt is spending money wisely and getting bang for its buck is an issue worth scrutinising - in my view.
The question ought to be - who's paying the debt and are they getting good value?
The RBNZ owns most of the debt issued since the onset of the Covid-19 crisis. 'Are we getting good value?' is a key question.
and the big questions, will they redeem it or forgive it or sell it
That was my point..
Well, I suspect "good" stock is hard to come by.
A FHB had 1.46m but missed out because they were a week too late. Yes, FHB!
I suspect there is enough money out there to buy, just not enough good quality housing. Most people, younger folk, prefer a new house with modern amenities. I guess everyone is in that boat if you don't wanna DIY. This kind of housing is always hard to come by.
We all pay for the debt via inflation - particularly houses.
Good value.. if the Government did a proper cost benefit analysis involving direct, indirect, short and long term impacts I suspect the outcome might have been neutral at first (given the uncertainty of mortality etc). However with increasing data being available and the picture no more certain, I suspect the proper way forward is to vaccinate and let it run.
House inflation has run it's course. I see it more likely these values will decline as these 'asset' will need converting into cash to pay the consumer inflation that will now arise - food, power,rates, insurance, taxes....you name it.
Are you sure? It's (edit: The median multiplier is ...) at 20 in Hong Kong. We aren't even world champions yet.
Comparing it to Hong Kong?! That's like comparing Queenstown to Taumaranui.
Those funds will quickly be used up if we are in a lockdown of 4-8 weeks.
The other things is that their tax revenue will be reducing...
Another case of religious zealots damaging modern society
RNZ this AM- Covid-19 data modeller, Rodney Jones.In a nutshell -
Mondays 35 bad news, next few days need to be below 20 to show level 4 working.
Can't contract trace out of this - moves too fast.
Yesterday justified 2 not 1 weeks lock down.
Worth the 5 minute listen folks.
Yip, was interesting to hear that. Today Ashley said that they'll begin reporting on how many new cases are from exposure events post-lockdown, so we can get a feeling for whether lockdown is working or not. MoH has a feeling for whether it is working and they say that it is, based on the data they're collecting.
As I noted elsewhere in a comment, the cases now are mostly coming from the Samoan church group. Given that is main growing sub-cluster, more resources can be poured into directly following up with that community to put a strong fence around it and stop it going farther.
I see ScoMo is out scoring own goals again:
"New Zealand can't do that (sic eliminate delta). They were following an elimination strategy. They're in lockdown. The way through is to get to those 70 per cent and 80 per cent marks (for vaccination) and open safely,"
So what on earth should we do when we are at 25% vaccination rate then ScoMo?
Anything to take the heat off his countries failings, a grand game of "look over there! Don't look at me!"
At least he has given the people a target.
We have no plan and no target. We are lockdown and lockdown only.
Zero foresight by this govt.
We have a plan and a target. To offer everyone the vaccination by the end of the year, and start opening the country back up next year. It was widely publicized two weeks ago.
Well, define "everyone". What percentage?
Presently everyone over the age of 12. I expect it will be opened up to everyone over the age of 6 by the end of the year, once the trials are concluded that show this is safe.
'A PHASE 1/2/3, PLACEBO-CONTROLLED, RANDOMIZED, OBSERVER-BLIND, DOSE-FINDING STUDY TO EVALUATE THE SAFETY, TOLERABILITY, IMMUNOGENICITY, AND EFFICACY OF SARS-COV-2 RNA VACCINE CANDIDATES AGAINST COVID-19 IN HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS
Actual Study Start Date : April 29, 2020
Estimated Primary Completion Date : May 2, 2023
Estimated Study Completion Date : May 2, 2023'
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04368728?term=NCT04368728&draw=2…
Huh? They literally put out a plan a few weeks ago by my recollection? Opening up in around Q1 next year, vaccinations going to plan... in a world of uncertainty, you can't expect people to be certain. Maybe you should have a read of this and stop being one of the people that it talks about?
"you can't expect people to be certain" yet these people had no problem with making assurances like how we would be front of the queue. Or have I missed how accountability works in this day and age?
Elimination won't work. Even if it does it's not sustainable going forward.
For once SCOMO is doing the right thing - vaccinate 80% and more of the population and open up.
Ardern and co need to wise up and tell us how we can "live with covid" like other diseases and what the targets look like.
Give us a plan!
They did give us a plan. Our plan is to vaccinate as many as we can - and we're on track for at least 74% vaccination rate - and open the country up by the end of Q1 next year.
What is the target for us to open the country up? Define the target.
Ardern still thinks lockdowns are the answer.
What is the target for us to open the country up? Define the target.
As many people as possible, once everyone has been offered the vaccine. Not everyone has been offered the vaccine yet.
Ardern still thinks lockdowns are the answer.
No she doesn't. She knows and has said that a high vaccination rate is "the answer". That's why that's the central plank in our plan.
"As many people as possible". What percentage?
80%
85%
What?
It isn't a number, it's a concept. Still a target.
Part of the problem with putting a number on it is you lull (some) people into a false sense of security. People think "oh well, the government was aiming for 80%, and we're at 83% now, so I don't need to bother getting vaccinated now".
Actually, everyone needs to get vaccinated. So if you REALLY want a number, it's 100%. That's practically unachievable, so instead we will aim for "as many people as possible" because that is practically achievable.
Those people who won't get the jab won't get it either way.
We need a target so people and businesses can plan ahead.
Fish and chip shop KPIs by this govt.
Those people who won't get the jab won't get it either way.
I'm glad you can accurately predict the behaviour of every single individual in the country and therefore know exactly what the government should say and do and what they should not say and do.
You should run for PM, sounds like you know what needs to be done.
No thanks, I'm not a fool.
This was less than two weeks ago, albeit it appears many commenters here missed it or have forgotten about it already. https://www.interest.co.nz/news/111738/government-unveils-new-risk-based-system-will-be-used-early-2022-when-border-controls
You’re a joke…” It isn’t a number, it’s a concept. Still a target” - definitely lala Labour land!
Those are factual statements.
1. "As many as possible" isn't a number.
2. It is still a target.
Stop the personal insults please.
Almost 3 million doses administered and a bit over 7 million to go. If we can get the vaccination rate up to 100,000 per day we will be covered in 70 days. 63,000 doses yesterday surely we can get it higher. We have no other sensible option but the path we are on, so our best bet as a community is to commit to getting totally behind it with a positive attitude.
Yes I agreed get vaccinated. But what percentage of the population needs to be fully vaccinated for us to open up again?
Not defined.
It is defined. It's defined as "as many people as possible".
You're upset that it's not defined as a number. Sorry.
Maybe rather than a definite number it should be when the number of people coming forward for a vaccination drops to a certain point (which could be zero). It's a bit harsh on the poor buggers who can't get a vaccination for medical reasons though...
It will be defined by "our"willingness to accept maybe 10+ deaths a day long-term due to Covid and the impact on our scanty health reserves, which includes GPs, who should not have to put up with various vaccine hesitants inter al rocking in to our surgeries coughing and shivering , demanding consultations while asserting "Don't worry Doc, it's not Covid!"
A lot of doctors are on the verge of retirement and don't need any more stress.
The Australian modelling suggests 90% possibly as below
And even if the PM waits until 80 per cent of the adult population are vaccinated to open up, thousands of lives will still be destroyed, according to the modelling.
"Assuming 80 per cent vaccination coverage for only those over 16, as per the national plan, there could be approximately 25,000 fatalities and some 270,000 cases of long Covid," Grafton said.
"The consequences of prematurely and fully relaxing public health measures to suppress Covid-19, even after vaccinating 80 per cent of adults, would likely be irreversible, and unacceptable to many Australians," study co-author and University of Western Australia senior research officer Dr Zoë Hyde echoed.
"It's simply too dangerous to treat Covid-19 like the flu."
yep that wont be for a fee months as 4-6 week wait between jabs, plus if every one is back at work it will be longer to get the second jab, so may be talking another 4 months. Also question if you only get one jab is it effective or not at all?
yep that wont be for a fee months as 4-6 week wait between jabs, plus if every one is back at work it will be longer to get the second jab, so may be talking another 4 months. Also question if you only get one jab is it effective or not at all?
Wow, some of the normally rational commentators on this site look like they are going into a lockdown induced rage, clouding out rational, thoughtful comments.
Maybe we should all use the time to do some meditation, or learn it if you don't do it already. Instead of shouting at the wind with COVID conspiracy theories and politicised fear/hate mongering.
Yes TM thoroughly recommended. This rage is totally counter productive, alienates and hurts the poor angry souls and everyone around them.
There is little that this angst will achieve and this is a situation to adopt some of the Buddhist philosophy of calm acceptance.
It could will be early September before it peaks, if lucky and could be in hundreds - Lockdow for sure till end of September and if pursuing the policy of zero tolerance than sit till ........may be December / January unless one accept that virus is here to stay and will have to live with and only solution is vaccination.
Had so much time to get the entire population vaccinated not once but number of time....hoping that her luck will continue.....may be it has runout.
Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, the modelling said between 50 and 120 cases before this was brought under control according to Dr. Bloomfield. This is certainly sombre news as we have easily blown out of that estimate without signs of slowing cases, this is beyond the governments worst case scenario.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/449442/delta-outbreak-numbers-could…
Yup. It remains to be seen whether we can get it back to zero.
If we don't see a slowing of cases by Fri then I guess we can kiss elimination good bye. Most experts are saying by mid this week we should see a decline.
No more silly comparisons with Scotland please. There have been far to many of these with other countries during this whole problem. In this case, Scotland has a population density of 65 per sq kilometer. NZ has 18 per square kilometer. Scotland also has an massive uncontrolled land border with England. QED.
Yep. It's worrying Bloomfield appears to not appreciate the false equivalence. Ditto the infantile C19 pissing competition with Aussie - comparing a vast federation governed continent with NZ's two small low population density islands.
Yes and it is very worrying that he is ignoring the scientific data from Israel. Six months after a Pfizer jabbing the protection from infection and transmission drops from 90% to 40%: https://swprs.org/covid-vaccines-the-good-the-bad-the-ugly/.
The vaccines are useless against stopping transmission. They may stop severe disease but that is a personal choice. Open up tomorrow.
NO. That's your personal choice, not mine. Go and live in New South Wales, Brazil or Alabama if you desire.
My wife and I had our first jab on Sunday last. Other than being a bit tender where the needle went in for 24 hours or so it went well. The problem I see is that there are so many people out there who are not going to get vaccinated. I know a lot including relatives and if I know a lot then there must be a lot out there. Our Prime Minister with her frowning and finger pointing is not helping the country at all. She is currently turning a lot of people off. They do not watch her daily reports and they do not want to get vaccinated. Maybe someone else should front up to the nation and I am not talking about another politician as they are not respected by so many of us.
Slightly off topic... I heard people aren't getting cards to say they've been vaccinated during level 4. Did you receive one?
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