Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

SoylentNews is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop. Only 18 submissions in the queue.
posted by martyb on Thursday June 11 2020, @12:27AM   Printer-friendly
from the what-can-the-rest-of-us-learn-from-this? dept.

New Zealand lifts lockdown as last coronavirus patient recovers:

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced New Zealand will lift its coronavirus lockdown allowing a return to a nearly normal life for the country's five million people, as health officials reported that the final person known to have contracted the infection had recovered.

Making the announcement at a news conference on Monday, Ardern said the government would not let down its guard over the virus and promised to rebuild an economy that has slowed because of the global pandemic.

[...] It has been 17 days since the last new case was reported in New Zealand, and Monday also marked the first time since late February that there have been no active cases.

[...] Officials were eager to stress that the coronavirus remained a concern given the growth of cases elsewhere in the world. Borders would remain closed, Ardern said, describing them as the "first line of defence". Only citizens and residents, with some exceptions, are currently allowed into the country.

[...] Elimination did not mean eradicating the virus permanently from New Zealand, but eliminating "chains of transmission" for at least 28 consecutive days after the last infected person left isolation, which would be on June 15, the ministry said.

[...] Experts say a number of factors have helped the nation wipe out the disease, including its isolated location, along with leadership shown by the prime minister, who imposed a strict lockdown early on during the outbreak.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 11 2020, @02:11AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 11 2020, @02:11AM (#1006125)

    Last I looked, around 1/3 Swedish deaths were immigrants and half from care homes. The care home workers are on contract without health insurance (incentive to work when ill) and were not provided PPE. Immigrant communities have an entirely different culture and did not heed social distancing advice.

    The argument was always that the end result would be the same but antibody tests show it's only infected a tiny percentage of the population and more harsh critics are mentioning Sweden's history with eugenics (hello Cuomo). What is woreth noting is the figures are now similar to the UK which entered lockdown late. The question remains, is lockdown going to have made a difference when the pandemic ends? Will we even have useful figures since the virus apparently doesn't spread to people protesting racism, an evil and potentially deadly assertion if ever there was one.

  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday June 11 2020, @02:58AM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday June 11 2020, @02:58AM (#1006146) Journal

    The question remains, is lockdown going to have made a difference when the pandemic ends?

    It sure could have made a difference. [Citation](https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=37954)

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 11 2020, @03:04AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 11 2020, @03:04AM (#1006148)

    First the stats:
    In year 2018, 92k people died in Sweden (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Sweden).
    This year, 4700 people or so will die of Covid-19 in Sweden (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronavirus_in_Sweden).
    That's 5% of all deaths, so a public health concern, but not the end of the world.

    Last I looked, around 1/3 Swedish deaths were immigrants and half from care homes. The care home workers are on contract without health insurance (incentive to work when ill) and were not provided PPE.

    Who cares whether they were immigrants? Treat them, and if you don't have sufficient resources then address that as best as you can (without imprisoning the population).

    Immigrant communities have an entirely different culture and did not heed social distancing advice.

    That was the entire point of Sweden's policy, to not force life to cease like was done in other countries. Social distancing is inhumane, good on the immigrants for retaining their humanity in the face of mass panic and idiocy.

    more harsh critics are mentioning Sweden's history with eugenics (hello Cuomo).

    Anything the Democrats don't like is identified with Hitler, eugenics etc. Literally. But Trump spouted off some uninformed comments on Sweden's handling of Covid-19 too.

  • (Score: 2) by toddestan on Friday June 12 2020, @05:30PM

    by toddestan (4982) on Friday June 12 2020, @05:30PM (#1006964)

    Will we even have useful figures since the virus apparently doesn't spread to people protesting racism, an evil and potentially deadly assertion if ever there was one.

    The people out protesting are primarily young people, who for the most part haven't really had a need to worry about the virus in the first place.