By Livia Albeck-Ripka
The first time New Zealand (click here) thought it had eliminated the coronavirus from its isolated shores, a mysterious outbreak in its largest city shattered any sense of victory over a tenacious foe.
Now, after a second round of strict lockdown, the country believes — if a bit more tentatively this time — that it has effectively stamped out the virus once again.
On Wednesday, New Zealand moved to lift the last of its restrictions in Auckland after 10 days with no new cases linked to a cluster that first surfaced in August. The government will now allow unrestricted gatherings, and trips on public transit without social distancing or masks, in the city of 1.6 million people.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who is facing re-election next week, called the reopening a validation of the country’s “go hard, go early” response. The strategy is aimed at eradicating the virus with a swift science-based policy, one that trades weeks of lockdown and sacrifice for an emergence to full economic activity....
They call it "Go hard and go early." It is the only reasonable response to SARS-CoV-2. By lenient policy of the Trump White House, it is dooming the USA to chronic illness and premature death, poor economics due to chronic illness and losses in qualified workers, and isolation in a world interested in eliminating the virus.
New Zealand closes it's borders and shut down its interior. As the outbreaks are contained within a short period of time by days or the longest, weeks, the country reopens.
It isn't a great global environment for the financial markets. The Federal Reserve has the greatest input with the markets. There was never a guarantee to any private endeavor that elation at profits will be showered over them forever. The fact the USA has been grossly mismanaged by Trump and the Republican Governors there is absolutely no clear vision for the future, EXCEPT, there is a need to end the virus permanently.
15 August 2020
By Eleanor Ainge Roy
...“Go hard and go early” (click here) was New Zealand’s motto, and combined with strict border controls and high compliance with lockdown measures from “the team of 5 million” it seemed to have worked. Until now.
“I was gutted obviously. We had reached 100 days so it does feel like a kick in the teeth,” said Dr Siousxie Wiles, a British microbiologist and science communicator who lives in Auckland, a city of 1.5 million.
“But we know that with people coming in there is the chance this would happen.”
Wiles praised the government’s resurgence strategy as “absolutely spot-on” and said it had shown an impressive ability to adapt and move swiftly through alert levels.
“They have been very fast and very transparent. The speed which they moved people up the alert levels really frightened people, but this is the way to do it. What we will see now is: how quickly can you stamp out an outbreak?”...
The IMF is assessing the response by each country and offering its assessment about the coming year. The views of the future definitely rely on the effectiveness of "COVID-19 strategies." Weeks of closure is a blip, not a terminal response to any economy.
13 October 2020
...The IMF (click here) estimated Tuesday that the global economy will shrink 4.4% for 2020. That would be the worst annual plunge since the Great Depression of the 1930s. By comparison, the international economy contracted by a far smaller 0.1% after the devastating 2008 financial crisis....
