More Covid Comments
Like many others I am trying to make sense of all of the
information and misinformation flying past us every day, every hour. Will the
vaccine fully counteract the next variant or successive variants? Will NZ
itself generate another variant? How often will vaccine top ups be needed? Do
all viruses come from China? Is there a worse virus cooking up somewhere else
in the world? All manner of spooky questions could have us not wanting to leave
home ever again.
I came across a New York Times headline a few days ago: “Do
Republicans Actually Want the Pandemic to End”? That is another spooky thought.
It seems the Republican party and its supporters in parts of the USA are doing
everything possible to stymie the uptake of vaccines and the wearing of masks.
A small number of states are going to the point of passing laws against mask
wearing. All of this to wreck any of President Biden’s initiatives. School
boards wanting to protect children are having to ward off the anti-vaccine and
anti-mask forces. As an outsider looking in all I can say is that America’s multiple
problems, racial, social, economic, could take generations to remedy.
Even though many of our problems are on similar pathways do
we want to see NZ politicians following the USA methods? Our point of
difference is we do not pursue causes with anything like the degree of passion
displayed in other places. The last passionate issue was the 1981 Springbok
tour protest. I cannot see any point in marking the protestor’s 40th
anniversary except to say the protest was a grand failure in all respects. For
the record I was pro-tour. Apart from small pockets of the population the
general NZ psyche seems somehow to have become fully vaccinated against showing
any real passion or emotion.
Back to Covid matters. The Covid/Delta outbreak is a fast
moving invisible beast. Here in NZ it is difficult to escape the feeling that
the decision makers are in some sort of bind or quandary over which way to go –
Elimination, Containment, Mitigation? The vaccine stories seem to change from
day to day. Isolation facilities continue to produce bad news stories – absconders,
infections, accommodation issues, etc. etc.
As mentioned above the information and misinformation flys
past every hour. Are some stories simple speculation or valid prognoses. A CNN
story suggests that vaccination rates are slowing down in some countries, for a
multitude of reasons. Following on from any slow down the virus is expected to spread
among the unvaccinated thereby allowing the virus an opportunity to mutate
further.
The UK vaccination target is said to be 80% to 90%. Australia’s
target is said to be 70% to 80%. What is the optimal target? I have no idea
what NZ’s target is. Whatever the target we seem to be just getting by in a
very pedestrian fashion. If the outbreak intensifies and the vaccination target
timeframe recedes can we look forward to even more severe lockdown conditions? To
me, today’s answer must be vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate – at a much faster
pace. That will be the only method to escape lockdowns.
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