Tagged: COVID-19

Featured image: Why strict border control remains crucial if we want to keep the travel bubble safe

Why strict border control remains crucial if we want to keep the travel bubble safe - COVID-19

Guest Author • Apr 21, 2021 •

Nicholas Steyn, University of Auckland and Michael Plank, University of Canterbury With the opening of a quarantine-free travel corridor between New Zealand and Australia this week, it’s easy to forget COVID-19 is still spreading globally, faster than ever, with more than three million deaths recorded worldwide. Within a day of the travel bubble opening, a fully vaccinated border … Read More

Featured image: COVID-19 cost more in 2020 than the world’s combined natural disasters in any of the past 20 years

COVID-19 cost more in 2020 than the world’s combined natural disasters in any of the past 20 years - COVID-19

Guest Author • Apr 20, 2021 •

Ilan Noy, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington and Nguyen Doan, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington What have we lost because of the pandemic? According to our calculations, a lot — and many of the worst hit countries and regions are far from world media attention. Typically, damage from any disaster is measured in separate … Read More

Featured image: Road to nowhere: New Zealanders struggle to get the help they need, 2 years on from a funding boost for mental health services

Road to nowhere: New Zealanders struggle to get the help they need, 2 years on from a funding boost for mental health services - News

Guest Author • Apr 19, 2021 •

Dougal Sutherland, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington As part of New Zealand’s well-being budget in 2019, the government announced an unprecedented NZ$1.9 billion increase in funding for the mental health sector. But almost two years on, there are no tangible signs of improvement and statistics show the number of New Zealanders seeking, but not receiving, … Read More

Featured image: The cost of a rolling omnishambles

The cost of a rolling omnishambles - The Dismal Science

Eric Crampton • Apr 15, 2021 •

The travel bubble with Australia has not brought room for others to come into the MIQ system from overseas. Instead, spaces are being decommissioned. Why? The system is leaky. The government cannot afford to let riskier people into those spaces, because the system can’t handle them. My column in Insights last week went through the problem. Maintaining quarantine-free travel … Read More

Featured image: so much misinformation on a page supposedly about health

so much misinformation on a page supposedly about health - BioBlog

Alison Campbell • Apr 15, 2021 •

It’s always something of a shock to come across a page run by a health-focused business that contains substantial misinformation. This one left me gobsmacked, given the sheer number of statements that are demonstrably untrue. And while a fair bit of the content is prefaced by the statement that it’s the personal opinion of one individual, the fact that … Read More

Featured image: Have introverts really fared better in lockdown?

Have introverts really fared better in lockdown? - COVID-19

Guest Author • Apr 14, 2021 •

Lis Ku, De Montfort University Since the onset of the pandemic, everyone from newspaper columnists to Twitter users has advanced the now idea that extroverts and introverts are handling the crisis differently. Many claim that introverts adapt to social distancing and isolation better than extroverts, with some even suggesting that introverts are practically “loving” the crisis, as it offers … Read More

Featured image: evidence vs spin

evidence vs spin - BioBlog

Alison Campbell • Apr 14, 2021 •

A friend of mine pointed me in the direction of this blog post by New Zealand’s “Plan B” group. While initially this group opposed the government’s use of lockdowns to manage covid19 outbreaks in this country, they seem to have since moved on to opposing the rollout of vaccines against SARS-Cov-2. And, while they claim to be “injecting evidence … Read More

Featured image: The best hope for fairly distributing COVID-19 vaccines globally is at risk of failing. Here’s how to save it

The best hope for fairly distributing COVID-19 vaccines globally is at risk of failing. Here’s how to save it - COVID-19

Guest Author • Apr 14, 2021 •

Deborah Gleeson, La Trobe University COVAX, the global initiative to coordinate the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in an equitable way, is crucial for bringing the pandemic under control. But COVAX’s aim of delivering 2 billion doses to participating countries by the end of 2021 — including 92 low-income countries that can’t afford to buy vaccines directly from manufacturers — … Read More