New Zealand has a population of 4.9 million, 5.5 times that of South Dakota. Yet they’ve had only a quarter of the confirmed cases of coronavirus and a third of the deaths reported in South Dakota. And the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern just announced that they no longer have any active cases:
Ardern announced the milestone during a press conference on Monday, saying that the government is confident that community transmission of the virus has been eliminated.
“We almost certainly will see cases here again,” she added. “That is not a sign that we have failed. That is a reality of this virus.”
Ardern said that New Zealand health officials tested nearly 40,000 people for COVID-19 over the last 17 days and none tested positive. She noted that the country’s last case of community transmission came 40 days ago.
Ardern added that the last person to contract the virus via community spread completed a self-isolation period 22 days ago.
“So today, I can announce that the Cabinet has agreed we will now move to level 1 to get our economy fully open again,” Ardern said, referring to a directive that will remove restrictions from mass gatherings and the way businesses can operate. Sporting events and concerts will be allowed to take place without any limitations.
However, the border will remain closed to only New Zealand citizens and residents, The Associated Press noted. People who enter the country will still be required to quarantine [Justin Wise, “New Zealand Has No Active Cases of Coronavirus: ‘This Is a Milestone’,” The Hill, 2020.06.08].
PM Ardern ordered a nationwide lockdown on March 23 and took the pandemic much more seriously than Governor Kristi Noem:
New Zealand, which responded quickly to the threat of the disease, is often cited as a model for how other countries might handle the crisis. In March, it imposed a two-week quarantine on anyone arriving from abroad and quickly followed that with a month-long stay-at-home order for all New Zealanders. Cases peaked in early April and then quickly fell off over the next few weeks. By late May, New Zealand had just one active COVID-19 case [Scott Neuman, “With No Current Cases, New Zealand Lifts Remaining COVID-19 Restrictions,” NPR, 2020.06.08].
New Zealand has the advantage of geographic isolation, but it also has an advantage in leadership:
Jacinda [Ardern] is a brilliant communicator and an empathetic leader,” says Prof Michael Baker from Otago University’s Public Health Department, who helped advise the government on its response. “But what she’s said also made sense and I think people really trusted that. There’s been a high level of compliance.”
…While telling the public in detail the rules of the lockdown and the trajectory of the new cases, Ms Ardern has also focused on kindness.
She has ended almost all her public appearances with the same message: “Be Strong. Be Kind”.
…The overwhelming response in New Zealand has been public praise for her manner and steadfastness.
“Every decision is made with the disclaimer that she knows how difficult it’s going to be for people,” Thomas Weston, an Auckland-based insurance administrator, told the BBC.
“It’s delivered with kindness but also very decisive. It’s clear what we can and can’t do.”
In that vein, the prime minister recently announced she, ministers in her cabinet and public service chief executives would take a 20% pay cut for the next six months, to recognise the impact on other New Zealanders [“Coronavirus: How New Zealand Relied on Science and Empathy,” BBC, 2020.04.20].
Well done, PM Ardern.
Imagine what it would be like to have that great a leader in the USA. We’ve had some good ones in the 20-21st centuries, but I think the last one we had of PM Ardhern’s stature was probably the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt team.
Great leaders don’t concern themselves with mundane details such as the number of lives that could have been saved had leader known what he was doing. Just ask drumpf….
Deaths:
113,106
Here’s Marlboro Barbie’s idea of great leadership….
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TheHill.com
Trump tweets spark fresh headache for Republicans
BY JORDAIN CARNEY – 06/09/20 08:28 PM EDT 1,259
1,425
Just In…
The president this month has weighed in on the handling of protesters, called out several Republican senators by name and, most recently, amplified a conspiracy theory about a 75-year-old man injured by police in Buffalo, N.Y.
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) distanced himself from the president’s latest tweets on Tuesday but acknowledged that GOP senators would also largely prefer to not have to talk about Trump’s social media habits.
“Most of us up here would rather not be political commentators on the president’s tweets because that’s a daily exercise,” Thune said.
What else has MB done in the past three years? Not much except stand for photos with McCTurtlefartface.
McCTurtlefartface Quisenart Disscusants Cuisinart.
Ive suspected Cory makes up elite words but u mfi, the good doctor too? And bcb is suckered into this leftist espionage? Notice that Q’anjob’alan has two branches, Q’anjob’alan and Chujean. The Q’anjob’alan are Mocho’ (Motocintlec) and Tuzantec in one subbranch and Q’anjob’al, Akateko, and Jakalteko in the other subbranch. Chujean is composed of Chuj and Tojolabal