New Zealand aims to eradicate virus
With most countries working on ways to support the coronavirus, New Zealand has set itself a more ambitious goal: eliminating it altogether.
And experts believe the united states could pull it off.
The virus "does not have superpowers," said Helen Petousis-Harris, a vaccine expert at the University of Auckland. "Once transmission is stopped, it's gone."
Geography has helped. If anyplace could be described as socially distant it will be New Zealand, surrounded by stormy seas, with Antarctica to the south. With 5 million people spread across an area how big is Britain, even the cities aren't overly crowded.
And Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has taken bold steps, putting the united states under a strict lockdown in late March, when no more than 100 people had tested positive for the brand new virus. Her motto: "Go hard and go early."
New Zealand has up to now avoided a widespread outbreak, and new cases have dwindled from a peak of about 90 each day in early April to just five on Tuesday, leaving the target tantalizingly close. Only 13 people have died so far, and Ardern has been personally briefed on each death.
"We have the chance to do something no other country has achieved: elimination of the virus," Ardern told reporters last week. "Nonetheless it will continue to desire a team of 5 million behind it."
Petousis-Harris said the country had were able to avoid the confusion and half-measures which have hampered the response in many other places.
"New Zealand got everything right," she said. "Decisive action, with strong leadership and incredibly clear communications to everybody."
Ardern on Monday announced the country would stay in lockdown for another week before slightly easing some work restrictions to greatly help restart the economy. A lot of the social restrictions will stay in place.
She also tried to temper expectations of her goal, saying elimination didn't mean that new cases wouldn't arise later on but they would be stamped out immediately.
New cases tend when New Zealand eventually reopens its borders, but questions remain about how well prepared medical system is to implement effective contact tracing should a widespread outbreak occur. Petousis-Harris pointed to problems this past year when the country didn't include a measles outbreak.
Even if New Zealand does purge itself of the virus, the consequences will linger. Before the outbreak, tourism was booming. About 4 million people visited each year, drawn by gorgeous scenery and the lure of adventure sports. The industry employed a lot more than 300,000 people and accounted for approximately 10% of New Zealand's entire economy.
"It's been devastating. No question at all," said Stephen England-Hall, the principle executive of Tourism New Zealand, a promotional agency. "No-one can really intend to go from 100% to zero in three days."
A report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development discovered that due to its reliance on tourism, New Zealand's economy could in the beginning be among the hardest-hit by the coronavirus among developed nations.
The government, which arrived to the crisis with its books in relatively very good condition, has been handing out billions of dollars in non permanent wage subsidies to prevent mass unemployment. More than half the country's workforce has suddenly become reliant on government handouts.
Still, most people may actually support Ardern's strict lockdown, under which schools are closed and persons working nonessential jobs can set off limited to groceries or exercise. Google mobility data indicates there's been high compliance.
Many have found imaginative methods to cope, like 28-year-old fitness expert Jessee James. Rather than meeting her clients in gyms or at their homes, she's been leading virtual sessions over Zoom and FaceTime.
Some of her clients are employing cans of beans instead of dumbbells, or laundry baskets rather than sandbags. Many want to talk more about their feelings, just like the business owner who had a need to lay off employees or your client with emotional issues who needs encouragement.
"Normally they might just talk to the persons around them," James said. "It has been quite different."
Probably the most symbolic casualties of the outbreak has been Air New Zealand. The airline have been a source of pride for many since it expanded internationally and won industry awards. In a series of frank updates, Chief Executive Greg Foran described the way the carrier had reduced flights by 95% and would need to cut its workforce by at least 3,750.
One individual who doesn't yet know if he will retain his job with the airline is 27-year-old pilot Scott Beatson. He and partner Bella Ashworth, who just finished law school, bought a residence earlier this year, and they are both now worried about their futures.
"It's quite sad," Beatson said. "Right before the lockdown, I was talking with a baggage loader and a check-in person, and everyone took such pride in the business."
An eager fisherman and hiker, Beatson has taken to camping in his backyard while stuck at home. Like many around the united states, he's been tuning into a few of the daily briefings given by Ardern and Ashley Bloomfield, the director-general of health.
An unassuming official who spent a year working at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Bloomfield's calm and reassuring existence has turned him into an unlikely heartthrob.
Singer Maxwell Apse wrote a song about Bloomfield that has been viewed a lot more than 75,000 times on YouTube. "EASILY had one wish, I'd make it this: I'd maintain your bubble," go the lyrics.
When New Zealand does come out of its bubble, the path forward remains unclear. It will need to continue counting on its traditional strength in farming to market things abroad like milk products, kiwifruit and wine.
Some have suggested the united states could first reopen its borders to Australia, which includes also been successful in flattening its virus curve.
England-Hall, the tourism executive, said New Zealand will look to first rebuild the domestic tourism market. He said being virus-free could eventually turn into a feature abroad for the united states.
The conundrum is that to remain virus-free, New Zealand might need to continue its current requirement that new arrivals spend fourteen days in quarantine. Considering that the average tourist during the past has stayed for approximately 11 days, it appears an insurmountable obstacle.
Ever the optimist, England-Hall foresees a fresh kind of tourism product in which wealthy people could possibly be pampered throughout a quarantine period - a sort of isolation spa.
But with travel curtailed, some worry that New Zealand could revert to a more insular version of itself, before cheap flights allowed its citizens to roam the world, and foreigners to go to. A place where isolation could be both a blessing and a curse.
