Meeting Size Restricted Unless it’s a Woke Protest March

Monday 1 June 2020

No cases for the tenth day in a row. Still just one person in New Zealand with the virus.

The maximum number allowed in any get-together is 100, and social distancing must be observed even then. Today we have a protest march organised in Auckland by a group called Black Lives Matter about a death of a black man by police in USA. They estimate more than 2000 people are there. Hundreds also in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. What are the Government and police doing about these acts of civil disobedience and law breaking? A spokeswoman for Police National Headquarters says, ‘we are looking to speak with organisers to remind them of the guidelines for holding gatherings under Alert Level Two restrictions’.

Hmmm…. So a woke protest march, protesting about something happening in a foreign country goes ahead with just a little chat, but a wedding or funeral or church service would be stopped if it broke these same rules. Oh, wait a minute, the organisers say that they have hand sanitiser, so that’s okay? Everyone will be fine? And Siouxie Wiles who thinks they should turn the music down in restaurants to protect people from coronavirus, says that you shouldn’t go to the march if you feel sick or have even mild coronavirus symptoms. Yep. That’s the advice from this national treasure of idiocy. It’s okay to go to the march which breaks all the meeting together rules, but please stay away from the march if you have coronavirus symptoms.

David Seymour says that the protest march makes mockery of Level Two rules. He says, ‘Scenes of thousands of protesters shoulder to shoulder makes a mockery of the Government’s Covid-19 restrictions and insults every New Zealander who’s followed them’. Winston Peters says the protesters ignored social distancing and if authorities don’t take action then we should move to Level One tomorrow. The PM and the police decline to comment.

Tuesday 2 June 2020

No cases. One person with the virus in New Zealand. Eleven days without a case.

The PM doesn’t want to condemn the police for their response to the marches yesterday. She says the marchers shouldn’t have done what they did. But the organisers are not going to be prosecuted. There is pressure on Ardern this morning to move to Level One immediately, after what happened yesterday. She says Cabinet will discuss an early move to Level One next Monday.

And then to pacify people, and to turn herself into the bringer of good news again, she announces today that apprenticeships are going to be free. That sounds like a good idea, and I am hopeful that it will benefit New Zealand very well.

Mike Hosking says, ‘Fraser Whineray – the head of Ardern’s own hand-appointed Business Advisory Council tells her that Australia is outperforming us…. Deputy Prime Minister in Cabinet tells her that she is wrong, and that the damage being done to this country outweighs the health response. The dangers to people’s health now are worse than the dangers to people’s health then. The economic catastrophe we are making worse literally every day by pretending this is still a health emergency.’

I go to the library, but there is someone sitting in the doorway with a computer, collecting names and phone numbers of everyone entering ‘for contact tracing’. I give my name as Jacinda and my phone number as her electoral office in Mt Albert. I feel gleeful. I am somehow playing the system that I disagree with.

Wednesday 3 June 2020

No cases today. One person with the virus. Twelve days without a new case.

More grumbling and comments in the media about needing to move down to Level One very soon. The organisers of the marches on Monday are complaining about Ardern. They say, ‘Jacinda Ardern, we are disappointed that you did not condemn the murder of George Floyd. … Speak up and extend your sympathy and kindness to all of Aotearoa.’ Ardern actually says she stands ‘with everyone else in being horrified in what we’ve seen’ when she is asked about Floyd’s death and the riots and protests that have since arisen in the US. That sounds like pretty straightforward condemnation of the events and approval for the marchers. But it’s not enough for the organisers of the march who broke the lockdown rules and will be allowed to get away without being prosecuted, and now can complain loudly against the one who let them get away with breaking her rules.

A couple of weeks ago we are shown a photo showing a National MP standing next to some restaurant staff. He gets a phone call from the police, ticking him off for breaking social distancing rules. But then more photos turn up including Bloomfield, and also Ardern standing next to people and not social distancing. So she is breaking her own lockdown rules. She wriggles and denies when she is questioned on it. Not embracing people, trying to keep distance, very difficult when people come up to her… And Bloomfield’s excuse for his photo is that it is only very fleeting moment for the photograph. Hmmm….

The Finance Minister, Grant Robertson, tells us that at Level Two the country is at 90% capacity. A café owner talking on the radio says his business is down to 30% – 40% of business because of Level Two. He reckons it will take him six months to get up to 80% after we get to Level One.

Ardern tells us what Level One means: no restrictions on gathering size, so concerts, church services, weddings, funerals et cetera, can all go ahead. But try to apply social distancing, don’t go out if you are feeling sick – stay at home, get tested if you feel sick, wash your hands, keep a record of where you go, use the app if possible, and you must self-isolate if you are told to do so.

There is no chance of going to Level One before next week. Ardern says that she will continue to ‘move cautiously’.

Thursday 4 June 2020

No cases today. One case only. No-one in hospital, no more deaths.

These figures are given at a 1pm press conference with Dr Bloomfield. He then goes onto to congratulating himself and the Government, as if often the case.

Todd Muller in parliament yesterday says he has a Cabinet document, leaked to him, Ardern’s own words, saying we are ready for Level One. However, Ardern says publicly that we are not ready yet. Hmmm…..

Sweden is now wondering publicly if they made the wrong call to avoid lockdown and instead have social distancing and personal responsibility. The authorities say that they should have taken more care of their elderly in the care homes. They have had a lot of deaths of elderly people.

New Zealand is in the very fortunate position of being isolated and having controlled the virus so far. We have nothing to be afraid of, and I wonder if I don’t fully appreciate the value of that compared to people in the UK, for example. They are still in lockdown, with lots of very confusing messages, worse than New Zealand, and they have been in lockdown since 23 March. The latest message is that masks must be worn on all public transport in England or be fined 80 pounds.

In New Zealand we don’t have to wear masks, thankfully, and the official word is that masks are not that effective.

A Children’s Propaganda Book Sold in Schools

Friday 5 June 2020

No cases today, still just one case in the country. People talking about Level One next week.

I am shocked to see that a children’s book buying club that runs in schools every month has a book for sale this month: ‘Taking the Lead – How Jacinda Ardern Wowed the World is an illustrated and inspiring story for children about Jacinda Ardern. Prime Minister of New Zealand and the world’s youngest female leader’. I am disgusted that this propaganda book is going out to all the school children in New Zealand a few months before the election. How is it being allowed? How is it not being picked up and blasted by media for what it is – propaganda to children and their families in election year.

People are relaxing a bit more in public places. Some restaurants are now open to customers as well as takeaways, with bigger spaces between the tables.

Saturday 6 June 2020

No cases today, for fifteenth day in a row. Just one stubborn case of the virus, which is really lingering for that poor lady, whoever she is. Thankfully she is not in hospital. I hope she gets better soon.

I feel quite alone today in my views and opinions. It appears to me that the whole world thinks Ardern and her crowd have done a brilliant job of containing the virus. A few people think like me that the lockdown is not ‘go hard, go early’, so much as ‘go late, go too hard’. I think Ardern panicked and made the decision for the hard lockdown without considering all aspects and without closing the borders, and then she had to keep up appearances at any cost. Closing the borders would have been tough on the tourist industry and on the economy, but it wouldn’t have destroyed the economy in the way the lockdown has done.

Monday 8 June 2020

No cases again for the sixteenth day running. No-one with the virus in the country. That one lady is recovered. There is not one person in the country with the virus. Yet, we are still in Level Two.

Ardern gives a speech to tell us when we will move to Level One. Everyone is expecting that it will be this week sometime.

First Ardern gives a 15-minute party political broadcast full of self-congratulation and lies. She says ‘we were projected to have 4000 cases, without that early move to lockdown. Instead, New Zealand had more than 1000.’ That is so not true. On 23 March she says that without lockdown we would have a possible 80,000 cases and we should expect thousands of cases in the first two weeks of lockdown.

Another lie: she says that New Zealand is among the most open in the world, that ‘many countries have more severe restrictions in place to prevent the virus’ spread’. This is so not true. As far as I know, Israel is the only country with stricter lockdown rules than New Zealand.

Then she tells us that we move to Level One at midnight tonight. That’s good. So now, we just have the international borders closed.

Level One – At Last!

Tuesday 9 June 2020

No cases again. Things are looking normal. Roads are busy, supermarkets have removed their tents and two metre space stickers on the floor. People are looking relaxed and there is a feeling of relief – almost happiness?

Our MSM tell us that the media overseas are reporting glowingly on Jacinda Ardern, and that all around the world, other countries are all ‘in awe’ of her. However, when I check the UK Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, BBC, I see nothing about New Zealand there.

The mainstream New Zealand press are fascinated by her. She lives with a media guy, and it appears that she has made personal friends of them NZ MSM, she is on first-name terms, beams at them, and is very engaging. It is very wrong of them to be ‘friends’ with her. The media are supposed to be the ‘fourth estate’ and report evenly on these things, holding Government to account, but they are not holding Government to account and they do not report evenly. They are her friends. And they tell us regularly that she is wowing all these other countries, and that we are the envy of the world and everyone wants her to be their prime minister.

It is wonderful to have freedom again. It feels great and I am very thankful and very aware of what it means for day to day life. A family member in the UK lives alone and he has not touched another human being for three months. My heart aches for him. My niece who sees her grandsons every day has not been able to cuddle them for three months and she is so sad about that. I truly am thankful for what I have got. I am part of a large ‘bubble’ and get to cuddle beloved family every day. I am so fortunate. But I think the way we achieved the no-Covid situation is worrying. We were controlled through terror and lies. Not good at all.

Friday 12 June 2020

No cases again. We have had no new cases for three weeks. People are feeling relaxed and everything seems back to normal so far. On Wednesday I go to the WI dinner, the first one since the March dinner. It feels good to be out, everyone is relaxed and normal. It’s a great dinner, cooked by an Italian lady who lives in New Zealand with her Kiwi husband and children.

Monday 15 June 2020

There are protest marches and riots around the world, about, of all things racial disharmony and whether black people are disadvantaged. An organisation called Black Lives Matter is organising the rallies in places where people are in lockdown, and thousands of people are breaking lockdown to go on the rallies and marches. Now statues are being pulled down, and here in New Zealand there is talk of getting rid of all European place names. It does sound extreme, and unusual at this time of worry over a virus for people to be rioting about statues.

I wonder if people are bored at home and feeling angry about the virus which they can do nothing about. I wonder why people in New Zealand, Australia, and UK are importing an American anarchical organisation and embracing it and what it stands for.

Celebrities are getting involved on social media and there are fights going on there too. J K Rowling, author of Harry Potter stories, is in trouble with other celebrities for saying that women are women, and men should not be allowed to go into women’s changing rooms and toilets on the pretext that they are transgender.

So much anger, so much social unrest. Is this because of the virus? Is the social unrest increased and exacerbated by the restrictions imposed by governments to try and control the virus?

Tuesday 16 June 2020

After 24 days with no cases in New Zealand we have two new cases today. Two women enter the country on 7 June and are in quarantine in Auckland. Then they are given permission to leave quarantine early and travel to Wellington on compassionate grounds so they leave Auckland on Saturday, 13 June and drive to Wellington. They aren’t tested before their early release, and they have both now tested positive. They visit a family member in Wellington who has since died, and the only other person they say they have had contact with is a family member who is now in isolation.

Bloomfield is saying that this is why they don’t want to release people early from quarantine on compassionate grounds. Ardern says that she won’t rule out going into lockdown again. I wonder how businesses can make decisions for the future with that comment hanging over them.

There are now more than 8,000,000 cases worldwide, with over 400,000 reported deaths. This is worse than Swine Flu of 2009, and worse than SARS of 2002/3. The Asian Flu pandemic of 1957/8 killed between 1,000,000 and 4,000,000 people. Covid-19 is heading to half a million at the moment.

Spanish flu in 1919 infected an estimated 500 million people, about one-third of the world’s population at that time. Estimates as to how many infected people died vary greatly from 17 million to 50 million. These estimates indicate between 3% and 10% of the population. 1% of the population today would be 78 million.

Sweden now has had more cases per million than the UK, but still not as many cases per million as Spain, Luxembourg, and Iceland. It’s also not had as many deaths per million as Belgium, UK, Spain and Italy. I wonder if that will change with time, as these countries had their first cases earlier than Sweden.

I am trying to work out if lockdowns help control the virus. If the countries with lockdown are succeeding at controlling the spread of the virus, or is it controlled in other ways? Is it social distancing? Population density? Whether a place is a hub for international traffic or not? I don’t know.

I try to imagine how we would control colds. A cold is a coronavirus and spreads in the same way as Covid. If you have symptoms and keep away from people, isolate yourself, don’t go to work, don’t go into public places, don’t socialise, then you won’t spread the cold to others. Questions I am asking myself – Can you get a cold without catching it from someone? Will we see very few colds in New Zealand this winter because everyone is being so careful? Will we know the answers to these questions at any time? Will anyone discuss these questions? I don’t know.

New Cases Show Up Border Chaos

Wednesday 17 June 2020

Talkback radio is running hot today with people incensed by the two new Covid cases. Sean Plunkett, a host on Magic talk is ropeable – he is swearing, he is asking how the PM is going to charm and smile her way out of this one. Callers are saying that they have lost confidence in Ardern.

Talkback radio has calls from people in quarantine or friends of people in quarantine – many stories of slack procedures and security. One guy tells of a crowd of those in quarantine who, just the other day, are invited to get on a coach to be taken to the beach for ‘some fresh air and exercise’. Others tell of mixing with hotel guests who are not in quarantine. These stories indicate that quarantine is absolutely not protecting New Zealanders.

We get more information about the two new cases. The women say that they drove from Auckland to Wellington (almost 700 km and taking nine or ten hours) without any contact with anybody en route. They say they didn’t fill up with fuel, they didn’t stop for food or for a comfort stop. This does sound implausible.

The PM calls a 1.30 pm press conference. She says she is very unhappy about the breach in protocol and it should never have happened. She cancels all compassionate leave applications and brings in an army chief to oversee quarantine security. She says that the women are blameless, but that the system has failed, and she is angry with the system failure.

How does that work? How come these women have no responsibility or culpability? They did feel sick before they set off and they kept quiet about it. Do they truly travel all the way from Auckland to Wellington without stopping for food, comfort break or fuel, and without seeing anyone? They put the country at risk of another lockdown for their own selfish reasons. This is not okay. 

No-one loses their job – not the Minister of Health, David Clark, and not the senior Health Dept boss, Ashley Bloomfield. They have failed big time, hugely in their job. But they will not be sacked. Ardern doesn’t sack the incompetent people around her, she covers for them and blames those who are questioning what is going on.

She herself is incompetent. She can’t even organise the pay cut she talked about taking a couple of months ago. Politicians are still on full pay although many New Zealanders have taken pay cuts, including executives. For example the CEO of a motorhome company has taken a 50% pay cut. That’s commitment to making things work in his company.

After all we have suffered in lockdown and restrictions, and after all the bad decisions made by the Government, we manage to get rid of the virus more by luck than by good management. And now, we are likely to get it back because of mismanagement by Ardern, Bloomfield, and Clark.

The people who are culpable – Health Minister, Prime Minister, Director of Health, all continue in their jobs. They brazen it out, without any personal consequences to them. They all blame someone else. It’s never their fault. At the same time, the ones who suffer are all those who are applying for compassionate leave, the owner of the gym who has closed her gym and gone into self-isolation, and New Zealanders who are no longer safe from the virus after all their sacrifices.

A National MP, spokesman on health, Michael Woodhouse, says that he has a reliable source telling him that the women got lost on the way to Wellington, they contacted some acquaintances who came and helped them get on the right road again, and the women and the acquaintances exchanged a kiss and a cuddle. He wants the Minister of Health to investigate this claim and dig deeper into what exactly happened.

The day ends with confirmation of the truth of Michael Woodhouse’s story. He says he has more stories. Go Michael! This is a health spokesman working to try and keep New Zealand safe. Unlike David Clark who is a bumbling bungler.

Thursday 18 June 2020

Three cases of Covid in New Zealand today. The two women who drove from Auckland to Wellington while they had the virus, and a guy from Pakistan who is in quarantine.

There are lots of stories of quarantine failures coming out. MSM having a bit of fun producing all these stories. Ten people come into the country and are allowed to go to a funeral with a couple of hundred mourners present. Some health workers taking care of quarantine people, organise a birthday party for a child in quarantine, have lots of quarantine people invited, the child blows out the candle and then the cake is cut and handed out to everyone (unbelievable – we are fighting a virus caught by coughing and sneezing, and then people gather together to eat cake that has been blown on by a child who is in quarantine). A homeless person joins the back of a queue of quarantine people going into a five-star hotel to be quarantined and has two weeks in his own room with en suite and all meals. Only discovered when they are released at the end of the fortnight. Some teenagers abscond from a tangi and haven’t been found. Quarantine people saying they can’t get tested, not even if they pay.

And Ashley Bloomfield, in charge of all this, who freely admits he has no idea how many people have left isolation in hotels without being tested for Covid, insists he does not need to stand down. In fact, he says ‘I have worked hard to keep New Zealanders safe.’ Yeah, right. Hard work hasn’t kept us safe. Hard work is not necessarily good work.

More information about the two women – a friend lent them a car and they say they got lost and started heading north, so phoned the friends who came to help get them on the right road. This sounds highly unlikely. The hotel in Ellerslie is next to the motorway, you go to the motorway and turn left. It’s not rocket science. I think it’s more likely that the friend and another person brought the car to them and they possibly drove the two friends home.

Friday 19 June 2020

More lies and deceit are showing up. Ardern says that she has appointed a big military boss to oversee the quarantine of all incoming arrivals in New Zealand. It turns out that this guy has been involved with the quarantine process for at least a month, and possibly since March. He hasn’t just been shoulder-tapped and rushing to the rescue like Thunderbirds, he is already there working on the project. It’s deceitful, if not an outright lie.

No more new cases today.

A policeman has been shot dead at 10.30 am this morning, and another policeman is seriously injured. It’s very sad and causing quite a stir today.

Sunday 21 June 2020

We have seven cases of Covid now. Four people from India, one guy from Pakistan and the two Kiwis living in the UK. The hotels in Auckland are full and they are busing people down to Rotorua to stay at the Sudima Hotel there. There are 900 people expected to arrive in New Zealand in the next two days and nowhere for them to stay. The Government says they are all returning Kiwis, they are not. We know for sure that certain professions are allowed to come in large numbers and bring their families and go into quarantine for two weeks – all paid for by the taxpayer. The Americas Cup sailors and all their families and entourage are here. Movie makers and their families are here too. Lots of stories of incompetence and disorganisation.

Monday 22 June 2020

Two more new cases today. One from India and one from Pakistan. A total now of nine active cases; seven of them from India and Pakistan. All of the new cases are in managed isolation and they are transferred to strict lockdown quarantine when they test positive.

Wednesday 24 June 2020

We have three new cases in New Zealand. Two new cases of Covid-19 yesterday, one new case today, and with one of the sisters from Britain recovered. So the current number of active cases is ten. Six are from India, one from Britain, two from Pakistan and one from the United States.

We also hear that of 55 people who were allowed out of quarantine early for compassionate reasons, 51 of them were not tested. The Government is not looking very competent, and the quarantine officials are looking like characters from Dad’s Army.

My concern is that if there are a lot of cases the country will be put back in lockdown.

Thursday 25 June 2020

We have more cases today.

It now looks as though hundreds of people left quarantine without being tested. And there are stories of boozy parties, lax security, quarantined people going for walks in the park. David Seymour says this Government couldn’t run a bath and it’s looking very like the case. Ardern is good at looking good in a crisis, but the follow-up and action just aren’t there.

Worldwide, countries are easing lockdown restrictions after many weeks of strict rules even though the case numbers in those countries are still high and still growing. The lockdown is unbearable for people and for the economy. There are nine million cases worldwide. It appears to be highly contagious. How will we keep it out of New Zealand and still function as part of the world community? I don’t think we can. I think we’re living in a fool’s paradise if we think that we can live in isolation from the rest of the world with no Covid in New Zealand. Maybe we need to work out how to live with the virus.

What Does the Future Hold?

Saturday 27 June 2020

Two more cases today from India, and one yesterday from Kenya. We now have 16 active cases in New Zealand. All imported, all from people who are in forced quarantine, most from India.

There are 2159 people who have come into New Zealand and left managed isolation without being tested between 9 June 2020 and 16 June 2020. Of these, there are still 427 of them who can’t be found by the Ministry of Health. The MoH is phoning and texting and not getting replies. In fact there are 92 people who gave false contact details before leaving managed isolation without having a test. Incompetent is a kind word for the MoH and the Government.

We are told that there are three possible scenarios for how the virus will pan out in the future. I think it will be interesting to look back at these and see how they look and how accurate they might be.

1. There could be ‘a series of repetitive smaller waves that occur’ after the current first wave. They would begin imminently and continue over the next 12-24 months, gradually diminishing some time in 2021
2. The worst-case scenario; labelled a ‘fall peak’ that could occur in the northern hemisphere autumn – Sept to Dec. ‘This pattern will require the reinstitution of mitigation measures in an attempt to drive down spread of infection and prevent healthcare systems from being overwhelmed.’ This projection mirrors what happened in the 1918-1919 flu outbreak.
3. This scenario plots a first wave followed by a ‘slow burn’ of ongoing transmission and case occurrence but without a clear wave pattern. This pattern ‘may vary somewhat geographically and may be influenced by the degree of mitigation measures in place in various areas.’

The report from the University of Minnesota, says that the future course of the virus infection ‘is still highly unpredictable’.

Scientists in Spain think they have found coronavirus in wastewater dating from March 2019. They are doing further tests to see if this is the case.

Sunday 28 June 2020

Four new cases today, all coming in from overseas. One guy arrived in the country on Wednesday and on Saturday he is taken to hospital. Sounds like he is allowed to get on the plane when he is sick.

Yesterday, a woman scales two fences and escapes quarantine. She is chased and finally caught, and the handful of police who caught her now have to go into quarantine.

There are now ten million infections worldwide. The number of infections worldwide is now higher than the annual reported influenza infection numbers in a year. China is putting some cities and regions under lockdown again.

President Trump keeps saying that it will be over soon, and that people shouldn’t worry. He refuses to wear a face mask. He keeps calling the virus ‘Kung Flu’. These things infuriate his many opponents, and also help him to gain more opponents. USA is getting a very large number of infections – so far, they have had tens of thousands of infections and thousands of deaths. It is not looking like being ‘nearly over’. At one point he says that it will be over by April, and of course, we know now that it wasn’t over by April. The problem with USA is that the State Governors decide what will happen in their state as far as lockdowns, masks, quarantines are concerned. It is looking like the Democrat states like New York and California are being hardest hit. And yet President Trump gets the blame for large numbers of cases and deaths.

We are still feeling very safe in New Zealand, although we know that in other countries they are afraid, they are overwhelmed and stressed out by the lockdowns and by the numbers of infections. Will the case numbers rise here and move into the community? I don’t see how it can be kept out of the community when so many cases are arriving in the country each day and quarantine procedures are so slack. Is the New Zealand Government doing anything to prepare for the return of the virus, as it will surely return? I don’t know. Things are very secretive.

I am working on truly enjoying the freedom we currently have. I am wondering if we could go back into lockdown, or will we move into a stricter level of social distancing and freedom of movement? I don’t know. We can be sure that the virus will be back in NZ at some stage though.

Monday 29 June 2020

Two more new cases today, both from new arrivals; one from India and one from USA. There are now 22 live confirmed and probable cases in New Zealand. All from new arrivals, all in quarantine or hospital.

There are still 367 people who left isolation without being tested and without leaving contact details. Bloomfield appeals to these people to get in touch with authorities. He says they have an obligation to contact Healthline. They certainly do. They are allowed to return to New Zealand, they get free quarantine, and then they refuse testing and go off without leaving honest contact details. It’s not okay.

Friday 3 July 2020

We now have 18 confirmed and probable cases; six people recovered this week and two more new cases this week. The health minister, David Clark has resigned. He has been a terrible Minister of Health. Virus case numbers continue to rise. Australia is having an increase in numbers of cases, particularly Melbourne where guard(s) fraternised with the quarantined people and then mixed with family and friends in the community, causing many new cases.

European countries continue to ease lockdown restrictions despite still having many hundreds of cases. Lockdown can’t continue indefinitely, and there appears to be some proof that lockdown doesn’t control the virus. But even if it does, it is an outrageously expensive way to do it. It’s like using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. Best to protect the vulnerable and allow the strong and healthy to do the work they need to do and to socialise and be productive.

Sunday 5 July 2020

We have three new confirmed and probable cases today, all on a single flight coming in from India. We now have 21 active cases. Worldwide there are over 11 million cases officially, although I believe that there will be millions of undiagnosed cases which are not in this figure. USA is looking like having among the highest number of cases per capita in the world. The top US infectious disease expert in USA, Dr Anthony Fauci, has warned that USA could see more than 100,000 new coronavirus infections per day if it does not contain the current outbreak. He says he ‘would not be surprised’ to see the current 40,000 infections per day soar past the 100,000 mark.

The virus appears to be ravaging poorer countries, and in particular, highly populated areas of poor people. This concerns me. These people will get the virus, and they will not get high quality treatment that they need. The death toll will probably rise dramatically.

An interesting story today – some people in USA microwave their library books in an attempt to disinfect them. They actually set fire to the books instead. Libraries are complaining about their burnt books

Case Numbers Grow Around the World

Tuesday 7 July 2020

Another case yesterday. A guy coming from the UK through Doha is sick upon arrival and is taken straight to quarantine. He would have been contagious when he climbed on that plane the day before. That’s not okay for him to travel on that plane in close quarters for so many hours, especially as he very likely knew or suspected that he was sick when he got on the plane.

Quarantine places in New Zealand are just about full. Megan Woods, MP, appointed to deal with quarantine because the health minister is no good, says that we need to slow arrivals so that we can fit all arrivals into quarantine. She tells Air New Zealand to cut their flights. Unfortunately, all the other airlines can’t be controlled like this, so what will she do?

A talkback radio caller tells us that her friend works in a quarantine facility, he has spoken to just about everyone in his hotel, and they are all applying for the dole when they get out of quarantine. She suggests that there should be a points system to give priority to returning New Zealanders and Permanent Residents who have a job to come to and who have not been away a very long time.

It’s school holidays and the tourist places around New Zealand are thriving with local tourists. A lot of people are happy that they are not being overrun by overseas tourists, a few of whom are rude and inconsiderate.

The Government puts homeless people into motels for lockdown. Talkback radio today reveals that some are still there, and fights are breaking out in Rotorua. So a prime tourist accommodation street, Fenton Street Rotorua, is the scene of fights and police presence. Not exactly welcoming for tourists. Not good for business.

According to the ‘Worldometers’ website, there are 11.7 million cases reported worldwide now. The number of fresh cases reported each day is increasing and is now up to about 200,000 new cases a day. But the number of deaths per day is falling from a maximum of about 8,000 a day in late April, to about 4,500 – 5000 now in early July. 99% of the 4.5 million active cases are classified as mild. Will the daily number of cases and also of deaths will increase as the poorer parts of world are infected? It would be a very worrying, prospect for those people, they have no escape, and a lockdown is even worse for many of them, as they immediately have no income, no food and no way of getting an income or food.

The case numbers in Melbourne continue to rise, and parts of the city are in lockdown again. New South Wales has closed its borders with Victoria, causing problems for those living and working near or on the border. How long can these lockdowns continue? How useful are they at preventing cases and saving lives?

Sweden’s daily new cases and deaths has dropped dramatically. Without lockdown, and with social distancing and other measures like no public performances etc. The Swedish economy is badly affected, partly because of its own safety measures and partly because of the countries it trades with. But not to the same degree as the lockdown countries. Also, the population has not been stressed and hurt by lockdown, which can be very cruel for some.

We are in a happy bubble in New Zealand. We have no social restrictions and life feels good. But the borders and the news from overseas is concerning. This WILL NOT LAST.

Wednesday 8 July 2020

One new case today, but a bit of drama with it. It’s a 32-year-old guy from India, he arrives in New Zealand last Friday, and then has his ‘Day Three ‘ test on Monday. On Tuesday evening he walks out of his managed isolation and goes to a supermarket and is missing for over an hour. His test then comes back as ‘positive’. So we have a coronavirus-positive person wandering around the streets of Central Auckland and visiting a supermarket. Not very effective quarantine at all, really. The reason there are not more breaches is because the people in quarantine are behaving themselves and not wandering off. Or maybe they are wandering off and just not getting caught as this guy did. It makes me wonder why are returnees being put into managed isolation in the centre of New Zealand’s largest, most populous, busiest city? Why put them where they could do the most damage if they were to spread the virus?

Thursday 9 July 2020

There are now more than 12 million cases of Covid-19 reported worldwide. Daily case numbers continue to rise, while daily death numbers appear to be levelling off.

Today we have three more cases in New Zealand, all newly arrived in New Zealand, two from India and one from Italy. Two cases have recovered, so the number of active cases in New Zealand is 24, none in hospital.

The managed isolation facilities are struggling to keep people in and keep them happy; they are beginning to complain and rebel. The media and politicians are referring to the positive-tested guy from India who escapes from the hotel and goes walkabout as selfish; talkback radio hosts and callers are angry with him. He says that he feels fine, has no symptoms and is misunderstood. But he doesn’t explain himself further when invited to do so.

Melbourne is back into a six-week lockdown. It’s very stressful for people there. It’s now 69 days since the last case of Covid is acquired locally from an unknown source. How much longer will it last? We are more fortunate in New Zealand, that we’re not in lockdown now. But the thought of going backwards – being afraid of the virus or being afraid of more lockdowns is not nice.

Sunday 12 July 2020

We continue to get one or two new cases a day, all from those who have returned recently from overseas and are in managed isolation.

There are some more isolation people escaping; one breaks a window to get out, another climbs down a fire escape to get out to get to the bottle shop. Four in a week. Their actions mean that isolation facilities are tightening up security which punishes all in isolation, so others are not happy at all at what these few have done. One person in isolation says that this is her fourth time of having to go into a fortnight’s isolation and she says she hasn’t once considered an escape attempt and isolation in New Zealand is better than much of her experience so far. She says, ‘It was hilarious to all of us here that someone would feel the need to escape from isolation. It’s really not that bad. Two weeks of being looked after with free food, free Wi-Fi, a fantastic room and amenities and services. It feels like a nice little holiday.’ Now wait a minute – her fourth time of quarantine? So how does that work? Obviously this lady has been overseas and back more than once. Is this fair when so many people are waiting to return home or are coming to see sick and dying relatives and they can’t get a place in MIQ? And why is the tax payer paying for this woman to have a couple of months in a hotel at no cost to herself? Is MIQ really needed? If it is needed, is it being properly handled?

President Trump is seen wearing a mask in public for the first time. The number of infections continues to rise around the world, particularly in USA, Brazil and India.

Sensationalist Headlines Continue

Monday 13 July 2020

No new cases today, and we have a total 25 active cases, none in hospital. Worldwide, the virus continues to spread, with rising numbers of daily new cases, although daily death numbers appear to have stopped climbing. There are now more than 12 million reported cases worldwide, as the number of new cases reported daily continues to rise.

The newspapers continue to feed us scary stories about the virus. Today’s story is about a woman who returns from USA to Heilongjiang Province, China. She is asymptomatic, but she stays in isolation in her flat and orders food to be delivered to her. But 71 people get the virus and the ‘virus detectives’ narrow it down to her being in the lift all alone for one minute, then others in the building go into the lift after her and get the virus and it spreads from there. The headline reads: Covid Superspreader: Woman infects 71 people in 60 seconds. Nowhere, do any of the articles on this case comment that this is a very extreme case, or that it is conjecture that people were infected in the lift; the implication is that the virus is very deadly to everyone, and we must be on guard all the time.

The sudden rise in cases in Victoria and the return to lockdown for Melbourne feels very close to home for New Zealanders. In general, people are happy with the closed borders and the freedom from community-transmitted Covid. Educational institutions want to open the borders to their overseas students, and they insist it’s safe to do so. Others don’t agree, they want to the borders to stay closed, with everyone coming in being New Zealand citizens or Permanent Residents, going into managed isolation.

It is beginning to look as though the borders are going to stay closed for months or even longer. This means that the ‘returnees’ will be needing somewhere to stay for the long term. Will the Government continue to use central city hotels? This impacts New Zealanders who want to go on holiday in New Zealand. During the school holidays there are several hotels and motels in, say, Rotorua, that have been taken over for Managed Isolation. So that tourists wanting to stay in Rotorua have to pay a premium – $200 per night and more for a reasonable place to stay for two. That’s a lot. Will the Government build any dedicated facilities? I would pick ‘no’. But this will continue for a long time. At several thousands of dollars per returnee, all paid for by the taxpayer, it is not small change. There are several five-star hotels being used for Managed Isolation, and all food, alcohol, Wi-Fi, everything, is provided free for two weeks. Not bad.

It’s a strange feeling to have closed borders; in a way, daily life is not affected, and we are all comfortable, and living normally without other restrictions. But knowing we can’t leave the country easily and will find it hard to return home is there in your mind, which is a strange thing. We can’t go to Queensland or the Islands for winter sunshine, but that’s balanced by being able to travel within New Zealand and finding that (outside of the centres holding returnees) New Zealand is not too crowded with overseas tourists. So it’s ‘swings and roundabouts’.

An election coming up in September, but because of the virus, the Labour Party is feeling so confident of a landslide victory, that they are not even bothering to release any policy statements.

Thursday 23 July 2020

We are getting a steady flow of one to three positive test results a day, all from the people arriving in New Zealand and placed in managed isolation. There are several thousand people at any one time in isolation, and it is costing the taxpayer about $3000 – $4000 per person per stay of a fortnight. There is talk of charging the returnees for this cost, but the Kiwis living in London for several years and paying taxes in the UK are angry at this and say it will be too hard for them and they want to be able to come when they want without any costs to them for isolation. Of course, as a taxpayer in New Zealand, paying for all this, I think the ones coming to this Covid-free country from badly hit countries, should pay. There is still no community transmission and daily life in New Zealand is quite normal and happy. No restrictions for us at all, except for overseas travel. However, I believe this is a calm before the storm.

How long can we keep this up? How long can we keep the borders closed and quarantine every single arrival? What are we going to do when the Government wage subsidy scheme ends in a few months? I think we are going to come down with a very hard bump, and with a Labour Government which isn’t competent enough to deal with the disaster they are merely delaying at the moment. The costs so far are equivalent to giving every man, woman and child in the country $7000. Or, every man, woman and child in the country going into debt by $7000.

Overseas, things are looking bad. Countries are suffering financially and mentally. Leaders are being blamed and vilified. The number of infections has reached over 15 million, face masks are mandatory in many places, including the UK and Victoria, Australia. Victoria’s second wave has gone very high with over 400 cases a day being reported. They start their third week of Level Three lockdown today, and the numbers are not falling. This says that lockdown might not be a solution. Also, we hear that 90% of all Victoria’s cases didn’t self-isolate when they got sick , so they passed on the virus to many people each.

It looks like lockdown is not a solution. Protecting the vulnerable, and hygiene and education would work better and be more affordable and less damaging. If someone decides to wear a mask, why do they remove the mask to sneeze, as has been seen? People need to avoid touching their faces and to wash their hands regularly. Hand sanitiser which kills bacteria, both good and bad, but not viruses is not a suit of armour – some people don’t seem to be aware of this fact.

Tuesday 28 July 2020

A trickle of new cases coming from people who have come into New Zealand and are in managed isolation. A mother and four children abscond from managed isolation on Friday night and are picked up by police quite quickly. The police helicopter is out, along with dogs, cars, police. As though this is a dangerous criminal gang. The woman feels that the system is unfair because she wants to go to a funeral and so the fortnight isolation shouldn’t apply to her, she vents on social media.

Cases continue to rise with over 16 million reported cases worldwide and 660,000 deaths said to be caused by the virus. Countries that had relaxed lockdown and opened up have increases in case numbers and some are locking down for the second time.

The UK Government gives five and a half hours’ notice that they are removing Spain from the list of ‘ok to visit’ countries because of Spain’s increase in numbers. This means that the 600,000 odd UK holiday makers in Spain have to get back to the UK in five and a half hours or else be subject to a fortnight self-isolation when they return home. Very tough for many people.

UK PM Boris Johnson says that overweight people are more susceptible to the virus and more likely to become seriously ill with the virus. He has lots of plans to help get people (including himself) fitter and thinner. He wants doctors to prescribe exercise when the patient needs it, ban junk food ads on telly before 9 pm, have a sugar tax, discourage restaurants from making it too easy for people to overeat, put calorie listings on their menus, and stuff like that. Fat-fans say it is discrimination. Really?

Here in New Zealand daily life continues as normal except for the overseas travel. How long can this continue? How long before we have community transmitted Covid? What will the Government do then? How long before someone in power wakens up to the fact that we need to work on living with the virus in the community, focus on hygiene, work on keeping ourselves fit and healthy.

Money is still being splashed around like it’s going out of fashion. Subsidies and delayed responses mean that we are not feeling the impact of the Government’s actions yet.

Thursday 30 July 2020

We now have over 17 million reported cases worldwide. USA has the most cases with over four million, but not the worst per capita. That is Qatar, while USA is at number 10 on the list. Sweden is at number 19 in cases per capita. There has been no lockdown in Sweden.

The general talk in the media and with people in general is that we are a wonderful team of five million, we have defeated the virus and we will continue to protect our borders. The Government has handled things really well, and Ardern is wonderful. The general talk in our house is the opposite of all that. We believe that the virus is not defeated, that it will be back in New Zealand, that Ardern is absolutely NOT wonderful, and we have been very lucky so far. Sometimes you can feel very lonely when you go against the tide.

Friday 31 July 2020

A guy leaves New Zealand on 21 July after travelling around various parts of New Zealand and returns to Korea. On arrival on 22 July he tests positive for the virus. Hmmm…. What does this mean? Did he pick up the virus en route through Singapore? (unlikely to show up so quickly) Did he pick up the virus in New Zealand before he left? (Where else could he have got it if he has been in New Zealand since March?) Did he transmit the virus to anyone else while in New Zealand? (That’s the big question.)

Today, Sylvia Park management learns that the guy visited Silvia Park on 16 July between 11 am and 1 pm, so (fifteen days later) they close the food court immediately for a deep clean. And they are going to do a ‘deep clean’ of the whole mall overnight tonight. Is there any common sense in this? Would the virus sit in the food court for fifteen days without infecting anyone, but suddenly the food court needs to be deep cleaned.

The guy also visited Queenstown, Milford Sound, Christchurch, Auckland, Mangere… all these places are now a worry and a concern to health authorities and people with any symptoms are urged to get a test.

Does Lockdown Work?

Friday 7 August 2020

Daily cases continue to trickle in, all from new arrivals in managed isolation. The world total of cases reaches 19 million. Media continue to sensationalise the virus news stories. There is much talk of a ‘second wave’ in European countries and some countries are moving back into restrictions and lockdown. The UK is doing regional lockdowns.

Melbourne is into its thirty second day of triple figure new cases despite being in lockdown for weeks. Does lockdown work?

In New Zealand we are heading into an election. Ardern says she doesn’t have time to talk about policies and to campaign because she is too busy sorting out Covid. There is no current Covid crisis in New Zealand today, what is she sorting out? The Labour party says it won’t be releasing new policies, it plans to keep on keeping on. And this Government is trusted, and this PM is popular. Why?

The Health Minister and the Director of Health start talking about how we might have to go back into lockdown if the virus gets into the community. They say it’s not a matter of if but when. They say everyone needs to download the (invasive) Government tracing app. They say everyone needs to have a supply of masks in their ‘emergency kit’. What do they know that they aren’t telling us?

Monday 10 August 2020

Twenty million reported cases worldwide now. The case numbers continue to rise, but the death rate is levelling off. The media is focusing on the number of cases. We are also not hearing much about Sweden’s figures, which are not any worse than some countries that have had lockdown. Does lockdown work? I would say that it damages the economy, and it might not be effective at keeping case numbers and deaths down.

It’s always the nursing homes that suffer badly. Maybe focus on protecting nursing homes and let younger healthy people keep going to work to keep the economy going and to allow them to keep paying their mortgage.

Something is going on. Suddenly, the Government is talking about masks, keeping safe, the tracing app, possibility of going back into lockdown… ? Why? What do they know that we don’t know?

There is talk of opening up with the Cook Islands as there is no Covid there. The Cook Island authorities are very keen for this, but Ardern appears reluctant. She says possibly have a decision by September and maybe open up by Christmas. Why the delay? It’s odd.

An article in New Zealand Herald today about Sweden’s response and how well Sweden is doing. Countries that have had lockdowns are now dealing with a ‘second wave’ of increased infection numbers, whereas Sweden has a steady decline in new infection rates. In fact, Sweden’s infection rates are lower without lockdown than Melbourne with weeks of strict lockdown. And they have similar numbers in unlock-downed Stockholm and locked-down London.

Tuesday 11 August 2020

I know why Ardern is reluctant to commit to opening up to the Cook Islands. I see now why the Government suddenly starts talking about avoiding complacency, about ‘keeping safe’, about the tracing app, about possible returns to lockdown. She knows a case in the community is about to be revealed!

Ardern calls a press conference for 9.15 pm Tuesday night. Ardern says she found out about a community case at 4 pm. From midday Wednesday the whole country is in Level Two lockdown, and Auckland in Level Three, until midnight Friday.

Why? Because a single family of four in Auckland tests positive for Covid; they are not returning from overseas travel and they don’t know where they got the virus from – ergo, it’s called Community Transmission.

We receive an emergency alarm on our phones – loud alarm sound, flashing light, loud staccato voice telling us we are going into Level Three. The alarm comes late at night – 10.20 pm, and again early the next morning – 6.55 am. This is not to warn us of an outbreak of war or a tsunami, or a meteorite crashing into planet Earth. This is to tell us that four people caught a cold and the Government’s response is to say that 250,000 people are unable to go to work today or tomorrow, or for an indefinite period of time.

Auckland Lockdown Level Three Again

Wednesday 12 August 2020

Midday today we are back in strict Level Three in Auckland. That means no shops, restaurants, pubs, bars, medical places open, and only supermarkets and pharmacies open. Everyone must stay at home unless on urgent business. All appointments are cancelled. All events, meetings, get togethers, church services, weddings, funerals, parties, events, concerts, shows, etc, are cancelled. Police blocks on the roads in and out of Auckland. Everyone is encouraged to wear a mask when in public.

What happens at midnight on Friday? Will the whole country go to Level Three? Or will it be over and sorted, with all back to Level One? No idea. Ardern says she won’t say until the last minute.

The leader of the Opposition, Judith Collins, calls for the election to be delayed. At the moment all election campaigning is off, and Ardern is back to her daily Party-Political Broadcast, telling us how wonderful she is, boosting herself up, frightening the population, and keeping all opposition at bay and silent. I doubt Ardern would agree to a delay, but I would like that. It gives time for Ardern to be seen as a fraud and as incompetent.

I am angry. The more we learn about the virus, the more we know it is not dangerous for healthy people. The death rate age is the same as the death age for the general population, so it is not really causing people to die prematurely. Yes, some younger, healthy people die from the virus. They also die in car crashes, from other illnesses and from accidents. Life and living are risky.

A report in the UK says that for every three people who die from the virus, two people will die because of lockdown. That’s terrible. Many people are dying because of lockdown. How terribly, horribly sad.

Talkback radio overnight has hosts (Tony Amos on Magic Talk and Marcus Lush on ZB) who approve of Ardern’s decision, but this morning there are a lot of people calling in who are not happy at all

My friend tells me that one of our weekly meetings on Thursday is cancelled because ‘we need to protect each other’. Yeah, right.

I am stinking mad this morning. We hear that in the family with the four cases, the father was off work on sick leave for nine days before testing. His boss tells us this. So the Government knew about it last week? I think they did. That’s why they suddenly start talking about lockdown returning. And when they say they got their phone calls on Tuesday afternoon, the calls were to tell them that the tests were positive, rather than to tell them there is a case. Some members of the family go to Rotorua and visit several tourist destinations in Rotorua and Taupo for three days at the weekend. I don’t think the virus is dangerous enough to worry about them doing these things, but Ardern is dangerous, of that I am sure.

Jerry Brownlee, National MP, questions the timing of the warnings about masks, and the possible return of the virus in the community and he is accused of being a conspiracy theorist and he has to backtrack on his questioning.

We are told that the police are out on the motorway, blocking the road with large trucks. A police state?

Friday 14 August 2020

Today we hear that we are staying in Level Three lockdown for another twelve days, but next Friday, 21 Aug, Ardern will reassess the situation and tell us if the date might change. Each day we are getting a handful of new cases reported, almost all are connected to the Auckland family. We are told that authorities are ‘puzzled’ about how the virus got into the community.

Ardern has daily Party-Political Broadcasts where she tells us how wonderful she is, while the Opposition is not allowed to speak and is told that they are unpatriotic if they question anything she says. It’s dreadful.

Not only that, but at today’s press conference it is announced that we are not to trust the press or anyone else: ‘There is one source of truth… and that’s the announcements we make here’ says Chris Hipkins, Minister of Health. This is arrogant, and concerning. We must not trust anyone else? Not the press? Not the Opposition? And yet, we KNOW that we have been told lies and spin almost every day at these press conferences.

The roads in and out of Auckland are completely closed and have 24-hour police or army roadblocks. Everyone is stopped, questioned as to where they are going and why, and if they don’t have a letter from the Ministry, they are turned around and sent back. 

The cost to the economy and to livelihoods of so many people is terrible. And the disruption to people’s plans and lives is hard to see. After nearly six months around the world, it is becoming increasingly clear that lockdowns don’t work, but they damage the economy, jobs and the future livelihoods of everyone. We know that the age of those dying of Covid is generally the same as the general age of death, so it’s not saving lives in large numbers. We know that lockdowns cause people to die of other causes, and for every three Covid deaths in lockdown (usually very old or sick people), there are two non-Covid deaths (usually younger people, preventable and caused by lack of medical care). We know that more people die from car accidents and pollution related illness caused by car fumes than Covid, but we don’t ban cars.

And what is New Zealand going to do when we come out of this lockdown and are ‘Covid-free’ again? Trundle along until the next time Covid is detected in the community and have another lockdown? Is New Zealand going to live separate from the world forevermore? Most of the world is realising that Covid is here to stay, it’s not that dangerous to most people. It’s not as contagious as measles and its mortality rate is lower than measles too, – that’s not something mentioned very often. But then why let the truth get in the way of a good horror story?

Saturday 15 August 2020

We are told by the Minister of Health that there is a lot of misinformation and a lot of conspiracy theories and a lot of fake news around Covid-19. We must not pay any attention to that. We must ignore social media information and even MSM information. We must only trust the Government who will tell us the truth at the daily 1 pm press conference. No-one else to be trusted? Hmmm….

Covid Plan B Group

Monday 17 August 2020

Today the ‘Covid Plan B’ group holds an online symposium. They have speakers from overseas and from New Zealand. It’s excellent. They deal only in facts, figures, and research. There is no ‘fake news’ and no ‘conspiracy theories’. It’s scientific, calm and intelligent. And it confirms my concerns about what the Government is doing. We do need to be concerned about what is happening from the Government.

We are hearing that the Government has held back truth, twisted truth and told untruths. This is the Government which tells us they are transparent and the only trustworthy source of information in the country.

Ardern delays the election by one month until 17 October. When she makes her announcement, she says that other countries are going ahead with their elections even with the Covid pandemic and she lists three countries that have their elections in the pandemic. She omits to tell us that seventy countries have delayed their elections.

She is planning to push ahead with a September election, in order to capitalise on her high popularity in the polls, until Winston Peters threatens to bring down the Government if it is not delayed.

Quoting political commentator, Richard Harman: ‘NZ First Leader Winston Peters has made public a letter saying he wants the Prime Minister to advise the Governor-General to delay the September 19 election to November 21 because of the restrictions that the current Covid-19 lockdown is placing on election campaigning… If the Prime Minister refuses a delay, then NZ First could advise the Governor-General that she no longer enjoys their confidence and should not, therefore, dissolve Parliament.’

This threat from New Zealand First forces Ardern to put fairness above political self-interest. But instead of pushing the election out until November, she chooses October, in the hope of minimising negative publicity over border mismanagement? Probably. The longer the mess goes on, the more we discover what a mess Ardern is making, and what a bad PM she is. We are also waiting to hear about policy from the Labour Party. So far, we have absolutely no policy. Covid Fear is being used to try and win the election. So very wrong.

Tuesday 18 August 2020

We have six new confirmed and probably cases today, bringing the total to 96 active confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand.

I go to the supermarket fully expecting the queues. But there are no queues to get in. What a happy relief. The marked paths, the one-way system in and out of the supermarket and all the two metre signs and ‘keep safe’ type signs are back out. You are not allowed to take your shopping bag into the shop with you; you must pack your shopping at your car – your shopping bags might contaminate the shop. About half of shoppers are wearing masks, but I don’t see any supermarket staff wearing masks apart from the guard at the door.

Where is the Minister in charge of managed isolation, Megan Woods? She is MIA.

There is much talk about masks

Government Breaks the Law

Wednesday 19 August 2020

A lawyer called Andrew Borrowdale challenges the Government lockdown in March/April, saying that he thinks it isn’t legal. He is right. The ruling comes today that the lockdown was illegal for the first nine days until the Government brought in a new law. It looks like the powers-that-be know it isn’t legal but go ahead anyway. A bigger concern is that the ruling also says that the illegal action was ‘justified’.

I am concerned that Ardern keeps talking about being the Government of transparency when they are more secretive than I have ever known. I often quote overseas info and statistics here because we don’t get to see any New Zealand statistics.

There are many big failures in the border protection: border workers working with the returnees in managed isolation don’t have the PPE that they need; border workers are not tested regularly; Government says that border workers are refusing tests; border workers say that they are begging for tests and been refused; much anecdotal evidence of returnees breaking out of isolation, of people going into the facilities, of population mixing with the returnees and of lack of testing all round. A total shambles.

Thursday 20 August 2020

I haven’t had time to write here the past week, but the news is full of stories of lies, incompetence, cover-ups, from the Government about testing and isolating at the border. I wish I could have got more of the stories recorded daily because they are very revealing.

Five new cases today, bringing the number of active cases to 101.

Ardern declares that New Zealand should not expect perfection at the border and no system is fool proof. Now how does that fit in with ‘elimination’? And how does it fit in with ‘no tolerance’ for the virus? Will we be moving in and out of lockdown regularly for the next few years? How will we afford that and how will businesses keep going and make plans for the future?

David Seymour says that the Taiwan Government set up a website where citizens could make helpful suggestions for solving the Covid problem, whereas here in New Zealand the Government sets up a website to dob each other in. Hmm… an interesting perspective.

Sweden is still getting flack for their strategy of no lockdowns. More European countries are saying masks are the way. Sweden resists. Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s state epidemiologist says, ‘it is very dangerous to believe face masks would change the game when it comes to Covid-19.’ Denmark is heading towards more use of masks, but Soren Riis Paludan, a viral infections expert from Aarhus University in Denmark says research has suggested that at Denmark’s current infection rate, 100,000 people would have to wear face masks properly for one week to avoid one single infection. There does appear to be no hard evidence on the effectiveness of face masks yet.

Friday 21 August 2020

Today Ardern is to tell us if Level Three will end early. But instead of telling us that, she tells us that she will tell us on Monday. Why? Not sure why.

Life in Level Three

Saturday 22 August 2020

There are some small protest marches around the country, protesting about the loss of civil liberties because of the Government’s lockdown restrictions. The number of marchers is small, but the marches are peaceful, and they are drawing attention to concerns. I am not alone in my concerns.

Aucklanders are not being so being so compliant on this lockdown. Is it that people are not so afraid of the virus? Or is it that they have ‘lockdown fatigue’. Anyway, playgrounds have been closed and the council has put up ‘caution tape’. But NZ Herald tells us that the tape has been pulled down in some places, and people are using the playgrounds. A North Shore councillor , Richard Hills says that he sees ‘up to 100 people at Marlborough Park’ – oh how terrible. He says they are ‘putting people’s lives at risk’. Honestly, he really believes this. The Auckland police head honcho says that ‘there are a few who don’t understand’. He’s talking about the people on the playground, I am talking about him.

Sunday 23 August 2020

A headline in today’s NZ Herald says 89% of Auckland businesses are collecting the Government wage subsidy. This means that 89% of Auckland businesses are suffering badly. Only 11% of Auckland businesses are not claiming – are they the supermarkets and hand sanitiser makers?

The WHO finally says that repeated lockdowns are not a long-term solution.

Monday 24 August 2020

We wait to hear that we are coming out of Level Three Lockdown. We expect to hear that we will move early – tomorrow instead of Thursday morning. Instead, Ardern says that we must stay in Level Three Lockdown for longer. We must wait until next Monday morning. At which point we move into Level Two + extra restrictions until 6 September. The rest of the country is to stay in Level Two until 6 September. I am so bitterly disappointed and shocked. What a foolish, cruel, and blind decision. So much more pain and suffering for many people.

We hear Ardern say ‘we know that masks protect people.’ This is a lie. We don’t know that masks protect people. They may be beneficial, or they may be problematic because people touch their faces more when mask wearing or wear them incorrectly. The few studies done have inconclusive results.

Covid Plan B group has a webinar where they discuss various aspects of lockdowns, the danger of the virus and the future.

The Government keeps talking about a vaccine in 12 – 18 months. Dr Simon Thornley says that it’s highly unlikely that there is a vaccine coming soon because of how vaccines are made and brought to market.

There is likely to be immunity already in the population because it’s a coronavirus, so we are not just sitting ducks. However, we don’t know how much immunity there is in the community in New Zealand because there are no serology tests happening. In fact, the serology tests are banned in New Zealand. Why are they banned? We don’t know.

Tuesday 25 August 2020

We have seven new cases of Covid-19, all community transmissions.

The supermarket today is peaceful and quiet at 8.30 am. Most customers are wearing masks, but the staff are not wearing masks, apart from the guard on the door. Lots of people are using the tracing app QR code reader before entering, and there is a book to fill in if you don’t have the app. No one is checking that everyone signs in, so I don’t sign in.

I tell the policeman on the road block that I am ‘not happy with all the nonsense’ of being stopped and questioned on my way to and from Pukekohe. He says he is just following orders. I get the feeling he isn’t impressed with his job either.

I pick up an order from Resene paints. I have to drive into the carpark, stay in my car, phone the shop, someone comes out and puts my order on a black plinth. Then when she has gone indoors again, I am then permitted to get out of my car and collect my order from the plinth.

I pop into Countdown supermarket for some extra bits and pieces. I can sanitise my own trolley if I care to. There is a girl standing near the door, it looks like she is playing on her phone, but then I notice she is also watching everyone going in and out. I wonder if she is keeping a record of some sort.

A news item on TVNZ: ‘First case’ of Covid-19 reinfection reported by scientists: Genetic tests revealed that a 33-year-old man returning to Hong Kong from a trip to Spain in mid-August had a different strain of the coronavirus than the one he’d previously been infected with in March, said Dr. Kelvin Kai-Wang To, the microbiologist who led the work. The man had mild symptoms the first time and none the second time; his more recent infection was detected through screening and testing at the Hong Kong airport. ‘It shows that some people do not have lifelong immunity’ to the virus if they’ve already had it, To said. ‘We don’t know how many people can get reinfected. There are probably more out there.’

We now know for sure that this virus is not as dangerous as first feared. The fatality rate is less than 1% and mainly old or sick or fat people. This fits with what John Ionadis says in March when he looked at cruise ship data. In the UK, there have been six children die with the virus, but they all had serious underlying conditions like cancer. In fact, no healthy child has died from Covid-19 in the UK. Last year many children in New Zealand died from measles.

This is not Ebola, the Plague, or Smallpox. It’s not even measles. The number of cases is rising in line with more testing. But the fatality rate is falling. And still people are afraid and governments are still taking drastic measures. It’s foolhardy. It’s worrying that people are so easily convinced to behave irrationally. It’s worrying that the governments around the world are behaving the way they are doing.

Wednesday 26 August 2020

Five new confirmed cases. Two are imported and three are in the community. So 134 active cases in New Zealand.

24 million cases worldwide. I look online at the figures for worldwide cases and deaths. The world’s worst death rate is San Marino with 1237 deaths per million. Multiply this up to New Zealand population of 5 million and we get 6,185 deaths. So if we had 6,186 deaths from Covid in New Zealand we would have the worst death rate in the world.

6,000 deaths is nowhere near the 80,000 threatened by the PM and her advisor, Shaun Hendy, five months ago on 26 March. Why is she still listening to Shaun Hendy whose modelling figures have been shown outrageously wrong many times over the past few months.

I notice that people around me are looking less happy than normal, and it’s because of lockdown and the Government response.

I see an article in NZ Herald saying that Social Media posts and comments have been analysed in this current lockdown and it is showing people not too happy at all, and ‘over it’ is a common expression. We learn that in other countries a second lockdown is not so successful as the initial lockdown. People get ‘lockdown fatigue’.

Mike Hosking asks Ardern if she had been embarrassed when the High Court ruled the country’s first lockdown as unlawful for the first nine days. Ardern says that is ‘a completely incorrect summation’ of the case. She says ‘No, no, not at all. I don’t think that’s a fair summary… What it found was that actually we had good grounds in terms of protecting people’s health, I found it quite a balanced judgment in the end.’

I am astonished. The legal ruling says illegal, but she looks only at the inappropriate extra comment from the judges saying that they understand why it is done. The judges are called on to interpret the law, and in this case they also add a personal observation – quite inappropriate. This personal observation is then used by Ardern to spin a story of how well she is doing. Mind-boggling.

Will a Vaccine Eliminate The Virus?

Friday 27 August 2020

Twelve new cases today; five are community transmission and seven are returnees. The last time we had double figure new cases is 18 April when we are in Level Four. We have 13 confirmed and probable cases that day. We will go to Level Two on Monday, but on 18 April we were still almost a month away from Level Two on 15 May.

Masks are now compulsory on all public transport with a $300 instant fine for not wearing a mask. We are now on day 17 of Level Three lockdown, with two more days to go after today. Then it’s Level Two, which still causes great pain to many businesses. Businesses are breaking and begging for an end to lockdown. Poor people are always the ones to suffer the most in times of hardship. But still Ardern waits. She is still working on ‘elimination’ and waiting for a vaccine. How can she say she speaks for the poor?

The Covid Plan B Group says New Zealand is now one of the few countries pursuing elimination and ‘hiding’ behind its border and lockdowns in hope of a vaccine. Epidemiologist, Simon Thornley says ‘The Government, and the experts it is listening to, are hell-bent on elimination. The [lockdown] extension can’t be justified for any other reason. It’s like developing policy based on winning Lotto. It is a brave call to defy the conclusion the rest of the world has come to; that we must learn to live with this virus.’

To keep up the ‘elimination’ strategy the country will have keep moving in and out of lockdown. The ruin of the New Zealand economy and the devastation of millions of lives will be the price we pay for Ardern’s hubristic goal of ‘elimination’.

Simon Thornley says that if we don’t learn to live with the virus, we can expect an increase in mortality from other illnesses (except influenza), worse measurements of wellbeing, more poverty, and a decline in standards of living, debt, GDP that are at least as bad as international levels.

And what does a vaccine promise? It is not a cure-all and doesn’t guarantee elimination. Simon Thornley says that there are several infectious diseases in New Zealand with effective vaccines or treatments that are yet to be eliminated from this country. These include: pertussis, syphilis, scabies, viral hepatitis, HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhoea, meningococcal disease, pneumococcal disease and tuberculosis. The only successful globally eradicated viral infection is smallpox and this took thirty years to achieve. When these facts are so well-known why are they not spoken about or taken into account when vaccine discussion comes up?

We are hearing of different strains of the virus. This means that a vaccine is more unlikely than ever to happen. Another survey out today reveals that three quarters of the population of New Zealand believes that New Zealand can ‘keep safe’ from the virus and continue with the ‘elimination plan’ until a vaccine arrives which will save us all. And the Government continues to propagate the myth that the virus is deadly and extremely contagious, so it’s worth the financial and social cost of lockdowns and extreme safety measures they are putting in place.

Meanwhile, reported infection case numbers are rising in Europe, with mainly younger people catching the virus, and the fatality rates are dropping.

Monday 31 August 2020

The country continues to be in Level Two. But Auckland is at a new level called Level 2.5. This means Auckland has more restrictions on size of gatherings – no more than ten. Some people outside of Auckland Region have been very unkind about Auckland and saying things like they don’t want Aucklanders to travel to their region and they don’t want Aucklanders to take the virus to their area. Aucklanders are being treated like they are unclean or dangerously infectious and it doesn’t feel very nice at all. And this is caused by the Government putting the returnees in Central Auckland. The idiocy and lack of forethought beggars belief.

So we go into lockdown Level Three when we have four cases, and we come out of Level Three when we have 120 cases. Yep. Makes sense.

Several more botches by Government agencies – telling 500,000 people that they need to get tested immediately with or without symptoms, leading to very long queues, confusion and anxiety. Then Ardern says no, that’s a mistake and she is ‘incredibly angry’ about the mix-up. Excuse me but it is your responsibility so who are you ‘incredibly angry’ with? I hear someone from Covid Plan B Group say that this is a one in 30 years pandemic turned into a one in 100-year health scandal by the Government.

Popular news reader Hilary Barry posts a photo of Chief Medical Officer Bloomfield in a High School play – all cutesy, cosy and fun for the Bloomfield fans. It appears that a lot of people have forgotten that this isn’t a popularity show, but a Government department failing again and again, with a PM who points the finger at ‘circumstances’ and ‘the virus’ when things go wrong. We need good leadership listening to wise counsellors and good science. Instead we have a personable but incompetent leader and a Government department with abysmal top leadership.

A webinar this evening from Covid Plan B Group. Very focused on facts and on science. Some facts about deaths:

• In New Zealand the average age of death from or with Covid is 81.6 years. All people with serious underlying conditions.
• The average age of death for the general population is 82 years.
• Overseas statistics say that the three main risks of death with Covid are
  • 1. Obesity
    2. Age
    3. Border control
• Deaths in Sweden this year are not higher than deaths recorded over the past five years.
• 96% of all Covid deaths in USA are people with co-morbidities.
• In the UK, there are 2000 deaths per week caused by non-treatment because of Covid restrictions.
• Bacterial infections in hospital have risen sharply because of mask wearing.

Tuesday 1 September 2020

The supermarket today is quiet. We still have restrictions on which door to enter and leave the building but no queues. Sign-in gear at the door, which I ignore. More people are wearing masks but still some not, so I am not alone.

Shopping is different now. There are Perspex screens everywhere, particularly in the large shops, separating the customer from the shop assistant. In the supermarket there is plenty of food, but a few items are no longer available. For me, it’s the very nice brown basmati rice which is no longer on the shelf, and my favourite brand of pasta, in particular, the spaghetti.

Sunday 13 September 2020

I go on a conference tour of the North Island for ten days. I wonder if we will allowed to go, or if we will be discouraged from travelling. The organisers push ahead, and it’s a great experience.

There is one occasion when someone is concerned about the physical distancing, and it isn’t any of us that worries her: another participant comes in and sits down next to her. The lady then looks around and sees that people are all sitting together and chatting, instead of sitting one – two metres from each other. She immediately jumps up and hurries to the sign-in table saying she can’t stay because people are being careless about social distancing. I am able to reassure her that others in the room knew each other and we can provide her with a seat away from others, without drawing attention to her. For me, my concern is the terror of the virus instilled by Ardern and co, that makes this woman behave so dramatically and fearfully.

It is interesting travelling around the country. I see and experience spontaneous hugs and handshakes, and most people do not seem a bit worried. I see no face masks in the street, I go into very few shops, but again, I don’t see face masks.

There is a Covid cluster which developed when a member of Mt Roskill Evangelical Church breaks lockdown rules round about 13 August to visit a bereaved family. Also, the church holds a prayer meeting on the second day of Level Three, and a neighbour calls the police. The police come and behave differently to their response to an illegal protest of 2000 people. This time they break up the meeting and warn the leaders. Through these events Covid is spread from the ‘Auckland August Cluster’, and becomes, first a mini cluster, then a ‘Mt Roskill Evangelical Church Cluster’. People are very angry about the lockdown breakers. They believe that this cluster has extended lockdown for Auckland, rather than seeing that it’s Ardern who makes the lockdown.

The weekly protest marches are getting bigger each week. This weekend we get a few thousand marching. It’s disappointing to read the slant that the Herald and Newshub put on it. They focus on the kooky fringe people who carry signs commenting on things like ‘anti-vax’, ‘anti-1080’ and ‘anti-5G’.

Monday 14 September 2020

Each Monday night the Covid Plan B group has a webinar for an hour. It’s very good and it’s encouraging too. This week I see the hosts are looking more cheerful than they have in the past. I think this is because the group is growing, the marchers are growing in number and very gradually people are becoming more unhappy with lockdown and physical distancing.