
New Zealand reinstates coronavirus restrictions - SpicyLemonZest
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/11/world/new-zealand-restrictions-intl-scli/index.html
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blaser-waffle
Yeah was wondering why they were so self-congratulatory when they were
trumpeting their 0-cases. Either they're missing them (not testing, etc), or
they're on hold for more. Pandemic ain't anywhere near being over.

Additionally, the NZ is like 5 million people in a highly isolated island;
they have it on easy-mode compared to NYC, which is centrally located and has
north of 20 million souls in the greater NYC area.

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socalnate1
Did you read this article? There are now 4 cases (all in one family), after
102 days without any. They are reinstating restrictions for 3 days so
authorities can properly do contact tracing.

Of course pandemic isn't over, but I think some level of self congratulation
is appropriate.

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makomk
There are a total of four _detected_ cases, with no known ties to any obvious
potential source of infection like overseas travel, border enforcement,
isolation facilities or anything like that, after 102 days without any.
Covid-19 cases don't just spontaneously generate - they had to catch it from
someone. Which implies there is some unknown number of undetected infections
out there spreading for an as-yet-undetermined amount of time during the
102-day period where no cases were detected. This is not a good sign and
definitely calls into question the self-congratulation. I suspect their PM
knows this.

(I've also heard claims that their testing numbers were quite low during the
period when zero cases were reported. Didn't get any mainstream media
coverage, but stuff which doesn't fit the narrative generally doesn't.)

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heisenzombie
Yeah the message was always to get tested if you had any symptoms but that may
not have always happened in practice. There was sentinel testing of border
workers, but not widespread testing of the asymptomatic public.

If they can’t definitively contact-trace the origin of this family’s
infection, then we’re probably going to have to lock down for two transmission
cycles, ~4 weeks. That would be disappointing and difficult. We’re in the
middle of an election campaign cycle right now, so I hope that doesn’t strain
our unity.

