Definitely be jealous and maybe a bit angry about the lack of progress elsewhere. This picture comes from a New Zealand All Blacks and Australia Wallabies rugby game last Sunday. Some 30,000 fans were in attendance in Wellington, New Zealand with no masks or social distancing required. New Zealand has had no detected COVID cases since officials announced last Wednesday that the final six people linked to an Auckland cluster had recovered.
How did they get here?
As per the New Zealand Ministry of Health, on the day of the match, there was only 1 new imported case in New Zealand and that individual arrived on a flight from India and was in isolation.
Our total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 is 1,515. Our total number of active cases is now 45 – all imported cases. There are no active community cases of COVID-19. No one is in hospital with COVID-19 today (Oct. 11). Yesterday our laboratories processed 3,809 tests, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 1,000,764. The Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says reaching the million test mark is significant.
Aggressive testing and contact tracing + quarantining
New Zealand has been aggressive with both testing and contact tracing. When someone is diagnosed, quarantining is required, especially for those arriving from abroad. Masks and social distancing were required for all individuals in public during both the first and second outbreak. This government has been led by scientific advice.
New Zealand, under PM Ardern, took some of the swiftest and strongest actions against the outbreak. They effectively eliminated COVID in their country. Now they get to do this.
Leadership matters. https://t.co/EW2lYgGXwg
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) October 11, 2020
Match precautions
Health officials required hand sanitization before entering and upon exiting the stadium. Fans registered their attendance via contact tracing apps and were required to stay home if sick (and tested upon entry).
This photo gives me hope that travel and things like sports and concerts will be returning. It also makes me upset that we could have already be doing all these things had everyone behaved like the Kiwis.
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5 comments
Hey, be fair, Nick Saban tested positive for the virus, so we’re something right here!
— Every Crimson Tide Hater 🙂
Oops, doing something… 🙂
If only the U.S. had 5 million people to worry about. I get it but its a bit hard to compare NZ to the U.S. I have been there and they aren’t the same.
Uhm, those people have been locked indoors, and can’t leave their own country, perhaps for a full year.
If you want to say that’s success, making people prisoners BUT, they get to go to a rugby game….. you’re missing the point.
NZL is a disaster of a country. Who the heck would want to envy them?
That sounds like a cure infinitely worse than the sickness to anyone with a brain.
But, it’s sad how everyone cheers for restrictions. What times we live in.
George in France
Whaaat – that’s absolutely amazing! So happy for them (and a bit jealous at the same time)!
From Denmark