Covid Watch

An error by Stuart Nash caused a scramble for answers.
The Labour Party Politician told Mike Hosking yesterday, people in level two south of Auckland can drive through the city, to holiday in Northland.
The Prime Minister has today confirmed that's wrong.
Far North Mayor John Carter told Heather du Plessis-Allan they've had a busy 24 hours trying to pin down the rules.
He says it caused a moment of needing to focus, but that's the reality of politics, and the main thing is everyone works together to find a solution - which they have.
Air New Zealand is offering a way to bypass Auckland - launching daily flights between Wellington and Kerikeri from Monday.
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Covid-19 could be a firm part of our future.
Health officials are watching other countries for an idea on how to re-open New Zealand once vaccine rates are high.
The Prime Minister's confirmed it's still the Government plan to slowly lower border restrictions next year.
A Melbourne epidemiologist says the most likely approach is to aim for low cases - rather than elimination.
Tony Blakely says vaccines still don't offer perfect herd immunity.
He says we would need light restrictions - including keeping hospitality venues half full and using rapid testing.
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Alert Level Two hasn't provided some Wellington businesses the boost they'd hoped for.
Venues outside Auckland can operate with patronage limits, as long as staff are masked, people are separated, seated and signing in.
But Mojo Coffee CEO, Pierre Van Heerdin says their 24 cafes in the capital, have looked like sites in a ghost-town.
He says foot traffic yesterday was way below already low expectations ... because people just haven't returned to the city.
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If you’ve been spooked today at the thought that the government is going to back away from its plan to reopen NZ to the world early next year, I reckon you can chill. 
They are still going to have to reopen, and I think they know it. 
I suspect people are overreacting a wee bit to Chris Hipkins’ comments yesterday  
He definitely said Delta has forced a rethink...but not a rethink of the intent to reopen, just of the plan for how to do it. 
The fact of the matter is the government is probably going to have no choice. We will be the laughing stock of the world if we are sitting here with our borders welded shut mid next year while Sydney and Melbourne reconnect to the world, fly to Singapore for business and go on holiday to Bali. 
Name another western country planning to do that? 
And never mind the world laughing at us, I doubt very much that we will tolerate it. Can you imagine your family in Australia completely reconnected globally and sending you pictures of their lovely holiday in Greece while you sit here unable to do anything because MIQ is still jammed full of people? 
No way will you think that’s fine as we head into a third NZ winter despite all being fully vaccinated. 
Already the public is moving on. That Herald poll on elimination last week was completely misinterpreted by most people. What it actually showed is that there is only 46% of the public who want to run elimination (aka closed borders) forever. 13% want to get on with life and 39% want to drop elimination (aka open borders) once enough of us are jabbed. 
That's a majority – 52%- who accept that this cannot go on forever.  That will probably only ratchet up as more of us get jabbed and as we watch our closest cousins reconnect with the world. 
So don’t panic too much if you think it sounds like the government’s getting cold feet.  They might, but they might find the rest of us are moving on.

Covid-19 lockdowns have given Dads a lot of food for thought and they are now re-evaluating their work-life balance. 
For many fathers, it's given them a chance to have the family time they wanted but couldn't make happen. 
It's also opened the eyes of a lot of men as to the work their partners do running their families, and in many situations, the male contribution to domestic housework and childcare has increased. 
To discuss this shift in the gender balance, Associate Professor of Employment Relations at AUT, Dr Katherine Ravenswood joined Kerre McIvor. 
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It feels like a raw deal doesn’t it? We’re locked down, grocery prices are creeping up and up and up, and then we get the news that we’re in for an expensive Christmas. 
Shipping lines have announced a ‘peak season surcharge’ on containers coming in from China and Singapore, and other shipping lines will likely follow suit.  
So, when the cost goes up for them to ship stuff to us, they’re going to pass that cost on to us, and yet again, the consumer gets pinged.  
Kiwibank’s chief economist said in one report that we can expect higher prices this Christmas, and potentially even some empty shelves. There may also be deliveries that just don’t show up in time due to delays.  
He says that ‘significant delays and disruptions in the supply chain don’t seem to have abated since last year’ when we had ‘a shocking whiplash in global logistics’. 
If we haven’t caught up this year, then we know it’s not great news for the Christmas shopping. And Christmas, by the way, just to freak you out, is just over a hundred days away.  
Here’s the thing we’re learning in lockdowns, though, aren’t we? The simple life is where it’s at; gratitude for the little things. Suddenly we are zeroing in on the small pleasures in life and realising, do we really need the big things? (Although I am debating whether or not I need an air fryer, but that’s another story) 
It’s Catch-22, though, isn’t it.  
Businesses need us to come out of lockdown and spend, spend, spend like last time and get the economy booming again, but many who’ve been badly financially impacted by lockdown may be a bit more wary this time round. 
I just don’t know whether we’ll be so loose with the purse strings after this one because as they keep telling us, Delta has changed the game. And there’s that prickly little fear that even if we get rid of it, it’ll be back and we’ll potentially be in lockdown again, so I’m not sure we’ll feel as carefree as we did last time. 
I could be wrong, but I don’t see the surge in spending being as massive, especially with inflation and rising costs of living. If you’ve been locked out of work unable to pull in your usual revenue, as well as had to keep staff afloat and pay increasing costs for food and rent, then are you really in a position to fritter money away on extras?   
And is it going to get worse from a supply chain point of view? 
It was reported yesterday that the ‘shippers who’re being forced to swallow massive freight cost increases, have become increasingly concerned about the market power wielded by the global shipping lines.’ And it’s a double edge sword – fees on containers are a cost bump, plus access is a problem; can you even get a container for your goods in the first place? 
So, sorry to sound like the Grinch here, but when they say Christmas may be a bit tough this year, I think they're probably right.

If you missed what Chris Hipkins told Parliament yesterday, the re-opening plan is on ice. 
The Sir David Skegg plan, the trial of people who go offshore, come back and self-isolate is on hold. 
When this Government says things are hold, you’ve got to sink into your chair with some real despair because no one delivers less and takes more time to deliver less than this lot. 
Hipkins says Delta has changed the game; heard that one before? 
So, what was already a pretty conservative view of the world, a world in which a trial gets an outing before Christmas with the possibility of some sort of border easing next year, is now worse. We are allegedly back at square one. 
Here is why it is so dangerous. By the end of November, the vaccine programme should be done, and we will at last have joined most of the rest of the world in doing basically all we can to keep Covid at bay. At that point the deal was, and should be, that we live with it. 
Yes, we are in lockdown right now because they couldn’t roll out the vaccine properly. But once that is over are they seriously now telling us that reopening is an issue? Are they seriously now telling us that the vaccine actually, isn't it? The Sir David Skegg guidance was vague enough as it was. 
By the way, small red flag. While NSW is targeting 70 percent vaccination rate, Australia nationally is at 80 percent and the bulk of the rest of the world has opened up on 80 percent or less. Don't be surprised if this lot suddenly nominate 90 percent as some sort of target for freedom to stall for time. 
The so-called freedom, now, given what Hipkins is saying, is in real question, given even the vaguest of outlines is now “on ice.” 
If this drags into next year, and the likes of Australia and Singapore are travelling and doing business, and the world has worked out that living with it is the only realistic way to go, and we are still banging on about elimination, then watch the exodus begin. 
The nurses have already gone, the work visa holders stuck here are bailing, the applicants to come and work here are giving up. The bright, the prosperous, and the ambitious will be off for better days, better options, and better countries. 
The only thing the Government appears to have successfully delivered in 18 months of Covid is the policy of procrastination.

The Government may have to rethink how it goes about re-opening the country early next year, thanks to the Delta strain of Covid-19. 
It may also have to slightly delay a trial of self-isolation for vaccinated low-risk travellers, due to the current outbreak. 
But Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson told Mike Hosking the overall reopening plans remain well on track, due to our faster than expected vaccine roll-out. 
"It's all about making sure we get as many people as possible vaccinated and then the options open up. We are pressing on, we are doing really, really well and the percentages are looking good. There is no shortage of vaccines, but we need people to get in there." 
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New research has confirmed what many of us suspected about scanning complacency. 
A group of Otago University researchers is welcoming mandatory QR code scanning as part of the alert level changes.  
It's after new data has revealed just nine percent of Dunedin residents were scanning into businesses before the current lockdown.   
Researcher Philip Hill says everyone needs to take responsibility.  
"It's clear that there is complacency and we're all at fault I think, just about everybody would have forgotten or neglected to do QR code scanning when they're out and about." 
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The latest Delta outbreak has forced a Government rethink, on recently announced plans to reopen the border. 
The Government still intends to go ahead with a trial, to allow some fully vaccinated overseas travellers from low-risk countries to self-isolate at home upon arrival. 
But the plans on how to reopen borders early next year will have to be completely rew 
Auckland University Emeritus Professor of Medicine Des Gorman told Kate Hawkesby Delta strain seems to have caught the Government by surprise. 
"We've known abut Delta since late last year, yet when this outbreak occurred we simply weren't ready, 80 percent of us weren't vaccinated." 
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