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AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Residents took action when New Zealand reported the first case of coronavirus spread in a community on August 17 in months. They robbed pasta and toilet paper from supermarket shelves, pulled masks from drawers, and escaped to vacation homes in the mountains or on the beach.
Hours later, the expected announcement came: The country would enter a highly restrictive three-day quarantine after a single case of the Delta variant. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at a press conference that day that New Zealand, one of the last countries to follow “Covid zero”, will aim to eliminate the virus once again.
“While we know the Delta is a more dangerous enemy to fight,” he said, “the same actions that defeated the virus last year could be applied to defeating it.”
Two weeks later, New Zealand is still under lockdown, which will last at least 14 days. One case was about 700, requiring almost three dozen hospitalizations. And the familiar playbook that has made New Zealand the coveted model throughout the pandemic is struggling to contain a much more contagious variant of the virus.
“The challenge is to eradicate Delta,” said Rodney Jones, pandemic advisor to the New Zealand government. “No country has eliminated the Delta.”
For now, New Zealand seems almost united behind the trial effort, with lockdown compliance high and faith in public health officials strong. But Ms Ardern and other leaders have come to acknowledge that as the virus continues to spread, New Zealand may eventually have to change course – 75 new cases were reported on Wednesday, down from about 50 in each of the previous two days – and vaccination campaign delays.
This means allowing some spread of the virus to keep the community more open, a strategy followed to varying degrees in almost every developed country.
While China has made a long-term commitment to the Covid-zero approach, the Delta variant has already dropped such virus eradication plans in Singapore, Hong Kong and many other places in the Asia-Pacific region. New Zealand’s leaders are watching closely neighboring Australia, where the state of New South Wales is now reporting more than 1,000 cases a day, after almost two months of quarantine.
Until July, Australia had not recorded a single Covid death in 2021, extinguishing every minor flare-up in infections. Now, its prime minister, Scott Morrison, has completely rejected the approach to eradicating the virus.
“Any state and territory that thinks they can somehow protect themselves from Covid with the delta strain, that’s just ridiculous,” he said last week. “New Zealand cannot do that. They were following an elimination strategy. They’re under lockdown.”
Australia is trying to instill the path of relative safety by focusing on the areas most affected by the Delta variant. This option is not available for New Zealand, which applies the lowest per capita dose of any developed nation.
the country did not ordered the first vaccine By the end of January, he had purchased 65,520 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the only vaccine he had ever used. At this point, the United States had administered approximately 50 million doses of the vaccine.
New Zealand, a country of about five million people, gave the first vaccine to about 45 percent of the population; Less than 25 percent of residents are fully vaccinated. The country has increased vaccine distribution since the new outbreak began, but Ms Ardern warned this week that the effort may need to be slowed once again without more supplies from Pfizer.
The government said it did not have to rush the vaccine approval and procurement process due to its success in containing the virus. The combination of closed borders and rapid lockdowns has brought the total caseload to less than 3,500 and the death toll to 26. And for most of the past 18 months, residents have lived with very few restrictions.
But members of the political opposition argued that the government left the population vulnerable when the Delta variant began to circulate around the world. New Zealand has been at risk of epidemics for some time, and Delta has for months accounted for the majority of cases in border hotel quarantine facilities. The current outbreak is linked to a New Zealander who flew from Sydney, Australia and went into isolation after testing positive for the variant.
“We sit ducks for the Delta,” said National Party MP Christopher Bishop, speaking on behalf of the opposition about Covid-19 policy. “We knew it would show up here and wreak havoc when it finally got into the community, and that’s exactly what happened.”
Understand Vaccine and Mask Instructions in the USA
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- vaccination rules. On August 23, the Food and Drug Administration Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine granted full approval It paves the way for people aged 16 and over to increase their tenure in both the public and private sectors. became private companies increasingly mandatory vaccines for employees. Such powers legally allowed and upheld in court appeals.
- Mask rules. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in July suggested The fact that all Americans, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks in public in areas with outbreaks was a reversal of the guidance it presented in May. See where the CDC guidance applies, and where states created their own mask policies. The battle over masks has become contentious in some states. local leaders defying state bans.
- Colleges and universities. More than 400 colleges and universities require their students to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Nearly all in states that voted for President Biden.
- Schools. Both of them California and New York City imposes vaccination requirements for education personnel. A survey published in August found that many American parents with school-age children are against compulsory vaccinations for students, but More support for mask missions for unvaccinated students, teachers and staff.
- Hospitals and medical centers. Many hospitals and major healthcare systems require their employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19. By citing increased caseloads fueled by the delta variant and stubbornly low vaccination rates in their communities, even within the workforce.
- New York City. Proof of vaccination is required for workers and customers. indoor dining, gyms, performances and other indoor situations, but the app doesn’t start until September 13. Teachers and other education workers The city’s large school system will need at least one dose of the vaccine by September 27, with no weekly testing option. City hospital staff they should also be vaccinated or undergo weekly tests. Similar rules apply to New York State employees.
- at the federal level. The Pentagon has announced that it will try to make coronavirus vaccines mandatory for the country. 1.3 million active-duty soldiers No later than mid-September. President Biden announced all civilian federal employees would have to get vaccinated against coronavirus or subject to regular testing, social distancing, mask requirements and restrictions on most trips.
Still, critical voices like Mr. Bishop remain a minority in New Zealand. Ms. Ardern’s Labor government is among the most popular governments in the country, winning a large majority in last year’s general election. New Zealand’s top health official, Dr. Ashley Bloomfield achieved rock star status and was held in high esteem for keeping the “team of five million” safe.
Although New Zealand was earlier in quarantine, it has yet to experience the confinement fatigue that plagued lawmakers in Australia’s New South Wales or Victorian states. This is partly because of Dr. It is a reflection of Bloomfield’s belief that he is the expert who can save New Zealand from the scourge of Covid.
“Not only does he have a public profile, he also has a cult-like following,” said Ben Thomas, a New Zealand political commentator and former National Party employee. “The country has a great kind of parasocial affiliation to it, this is very new to New Zealand.”
University epidemiologist Prof. Michael Baker said that despite the high costs of the quarantine, which has shut most businesses and locked everyone but forced workers into their homes, it is worthwhile to push for the virus to be eradicated for as long as possible. Otago, New Zealand.
“I am very confident that we will eradicate this epidemic and return to elimination status,” said Professor Baker, who early encouraged the government to adopt the Covid-zero approach. Discussions on next steps may come later, he added. “I’ve often framed it as New Zealand keeping its options open,” he said.
Ms. Ardern swore that she would be constantly in and out of isolation, not among those options.
“Delta changed the rules of the game and that’s why we changed our game plan,” he said at a press conference last week. “No one wants to use quarantine forever. And now I can tell you, that is not our intention.”
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