Jacinda ardern’s government remains true to its plans for reopening, as New Zealand continues with unwelcome benchmarks in COVID-19.
New Zealand has reported over 1,000 COVID-19 cases last week. This is seven percent of the total pandemic infections.
Two people also died, one from the virus and the other was an individual who had been isolated at home.
Health officials reported Monday the death of an inmate at a quarantine hospital. This brings NZ’s total COVID-19 deaths to 32.
On Saturday, 206 people were admitted to hospital. Sunday’s record-breaking number of 74 admissions was also reached. It is unclear when this will change.
Auckland is still the center of the epidemic, which has produced more than 90 percent of all daily cases. The city will be in lockdown for the 13th consecutive week.
New Zealand is now at 90% for the first dose of vaccine. (Click here to see Otara, Auckland vaccination center)
New Zealand requires all people who are in close contact to customers (e.g., those working in restaurants, bars and gyms) to have vaccines.
Aucklanders have new opportunities this week, despite the high number of cases.
Ardern’s cabinet meets Monday to approve its principle decision to allow retail, public and library facilities to reopen starting Wednesday. Also to increase caps on the size of gatherings.
Shaun Hendy (a University of Auckland Physics Professor) is the top COVID-19 modeler in New Zealand and says that government must reconsider.
New Zealand’s lockdown situation has been stable for the past 13 weeks, and there is no indication of any new cases.
Radio NZ’s Hearst said that “Relaxations outpace the vaccine program’s ability bring down these case numbers so it may take a while before we see the peak of this outbreak,” he stated.
“A lot depends upon this relaxation…and possibly people’s compliance.”
Hendy claimed that it was possible to have 1000 cases per day by Christmas.
He said, “It’s certainly consistent with some simulations that we’ve done.”
Ardern stated that the government would reopen if cases drop.
She stated that based upon all projections, we know we’ll see Auckland cases increase.
“It is not about the cases, now that we have an environment with high vaccination rates.
The three Auckland regions of health have now reached 90 percent of their population, which is one of the targets the government wanted before Christmas.
For Kiwis, the holiday season is big – especially for those living in Auckland’s most populous city of 1.7million. They cannot leave Auckland currently without a travel exemption.
Ardern promised Aucklanders that New Zealanders will have the ability to travel throughout New Zealand during Christmas so they could be with family members. But, plans are still being made by government officials.
TVNZ’s She said that “We know people wish to reunite before Christmas,”
“Aucklanders must have the ability to cross the border. Then, the question becomes: Are there any mitigations that can be reasonably implemented to lower the risk of transmitting the virus?
Although Auckland is still ravaged by the Delta virus, which was brought in from NSW in August, many other regions including Tauranga, Wellington and South Island are not affected.